Chichen Itza!

As directed, I was down at the hotel lobby at 7:20 AM.  A small white van arrived soon after and I was the first passenger.  For 45 minutes we visited various resorts further north, picking up passengers.  Eventually, where we met the road west from Cancun, we all transferred to a big bus that was collecting groups of passengers from small white vans that had arrived from around the Yucatan.

On the bus, we were treated very well, with beverages including beer, and narration in English and Spanish by our guide, Hector.  We headed west toward the center of the Yucatan.  Easily we slipped into dozing.  Eventually, after a long truck west across the peninsula through featureless flatlands, we were awakened with our entrance into the town of Vallidolid.  A typical Mexican town, but on the outskirts Mayan hovels.  Soon we were at Ik Kil cenote.  We passed through a large gift shop, which I opted out of, and walked on to view the cenote where there was the opportunity to swim, with or without renting a life vest and/or a locker.  Since Ik Kil is 130 feet deep, I opted for the life vest.  And for $2 the locker.  The locker room was pleasant.

I headed down the stairs to the cenote, but did not choose the big jump, just the 5 foot jump.  Oh, pleasant relief from the heat!  I swam across the cenote, and then over to the area where vines hung down and small waterfalls descended.

We were on a tight schedule, so one tour around was sufficient.  I exited and retrieved my clothes from the locker and returned to the bus.

 From there we took a short trip to our lunch spot.  Clearly set up to handle the bus loads of tourists on their way to Chichen Itza.  But offering an excellent choice from the buffet.  We sat down to eat, and slowly made ourselves known to each other on this short excursion in a distant land.  We were entertained briefly by a dance troop.

On to Chichen Itza!  Although one of the Yucatan's largest and most accessible ruins, it actually dates from a very late period of Mayan history.

 Our guide Hector provided an excellent introduction to the site.

 

He took us to the infamous ball court and explained the intricacies of the game.

Some Mayan children who had been dogging us were eventually allowed to put on their performance of the national anthem in Mayan:

Then we were let loose to wander:

 Our bus took an exhausted group of tourists back to the coast where we were loaded into little white vans and delivered back to our resorts.  My trip was excelerated in contrast to the morning, for which I was very grateful.