For today’s Film Flashback, we go back to 2002 and travel to Mexico to visit the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Yucatan Peninsula, the ruins are an easy day trip from Cancun. Although the most famous site on the grounds is El Castillo, the great pyramid temple of Kukulkan, the grounds consists of multiple structures, including the famous ball court, and two cenotes, Cenote Sagrada de Chichén Itzá and Cenote X’toloc.
I was armed with my Canon EOS Elan II and a backpack leaving me free to climb, more accurately crawl, up the pyramid. The climb up, although steep, was not much of a problem. The way down was a different experience altogether. I first tried sliding down on my backside, but ultimately decided it was easier to face the pyramid and step down, the reverse of the climb up. Visitors are no longer permitted to climb the pyramid since the tragic death of a visitor in 2006. I’m surprised that it was allowed as long as it was. When you reach the top, you really appreciate how steep it is, and how far up you traveled.
As viewed from the top of El Castillo, from left to right, the Templo de las Mesas (Temple of the Tables), Templo de los Guerreros (Temple of Warriors), Columnata Oeste (Columnade West), and Columnata Norte (Columnade North).
The Juego de Pelota (The Great Ball Court),
Tzompantil, the platform of the skulls.
Plataforma de Venus (Platform of Venus)
A Chacmool.
Cenote Sagrado (The Sacred Cenote).
More Mexico film scans to come!