Chichen Itza and Ek- Balam

September 15, 2017

Today we toured the Mayan ruins at Chíchen Itza and Ek- Balam and went swimming in Hibuku cenoté. The Mayan civilization was located on the Yucatán Peninsula. About 5 million Mayan descendants still live on the peninsula. Our guide, Pablo, was fantastic. He is a Mayan descendant and was able to give us a lot of the history of the area. The Mayans invented astronomy, and they had their own writing system, numerical system, and of course-- calendar. The Mayan calendar was based on a 52 year cycle. The Mayan writing system is one of the earliest known in human civilization, following Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Sanskrit. Pablo said that scholars believe that the Mayan language was based in Mandarin. Given that the earliest known civilizations existed in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, that makes sense. 

Chíchen Itza is a religious structure. Its architecture reflects a lot of religious symbolism. In the Mayan religion there were 22 Gods, nine gods of the underworld and thirteen gods of the heavens. The nine platforms of the temple pyramid were related to the nine gods of the underworld. There are fifty two rectangular panels, related to the fifty two years of the Mayan calendar. Each side of the pyramid has 91 steps. 91x4=364 + 1 upper platform makes 365. Makes you think about how much  the Mayans knew about the world we live in, doesn't it? Mayans could time the equinoxes and solstices by the position of the pyramid relative to the sun. That is how they knew the seasons. Twice during the year the sun hits the pyramid so that the shadows form the body of a serpent. The head of the serpent is on the ground. 

The architects who designed the pyramid were not only interested in shadows-- they also played around with echoes. If you clap your hands in a certain way the echo off the stones of the pyramid are that of a bird called a quetzal.  The quetzal, the jaguar, and serpents were important animals to the Maya. Archaeologists have recently discovered that Chíchen Itza is a pyramid inside of a pyramid inside of a pyramid. The original pyramid was built over a cenoté. 

Ek- Balam was an administrative palace that contained over 70 rooms. The Mayan empire was divided into fifty city states. Ek- Balam was the capital Talol, of one of the wealthiest and strongest city states. The city's original name was Casablanca. Ek- Balam was a fortress with a double wall. It was so large that there were secret tunnels that ran between chamber and even some that went outside of the city. 

Hubiku cenoté is one of many on the Yucatán peninsula. Cenotés were very important in that area because of a lack of freshwater lakes and rivers. Cenotés are in underground caverns that are formed by fresh rainwater that seeps through the porous ground. Ancient Mayans saw cenotés as an entrance to the underworld. This is also represented by the fish detail that can be found on the temple at Ek- Balam.