In this vlog, we tour one of the 7 wonders of the world: Chichén Itzá. Join us as we explore all of the incredible ruins that this ancient city has to offer.
Chichén Itzá is an ancient Mayan city located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The Mayan people are believed to have inhabited the area from 300 – 1200 AD before eventually being abandoned for reasons still unknown to archaeologists. About 40 of Chichén Itzá’s structures have been found in by archaeologists so far, but many more are believed to still be buried deep in the thick jungle. The most impressive and iconic building of Chichén Itzá is the main temple, often called El Castillo, which is one of the biggest pyramids discovered in the Americas.
However, there are many other impressive structures to explore in Chichén Itzá, including the biggest Mayan ball court found in the Americas. We took our Chichén Itzá tour from the Excellence Resort in Cancun, Mexico. Our tour guide was, Homero, who was very knowledgeable about the history of Chichén Itzá and the Mayan people in general. There are little to no signs in Chichén Itzá that can help people who want to skip a tour, and we didn’t see any audio tours offered on our way in. That’s why we would highly recommend going on a private tour of Chichén Itzá if you have the money for it.
Homero was able to provide some excellent historical context to all of the buildings we were seeing in the site through stories, illustrations that he brought with, and through demonstrations with local plants (which he used to show how Mayans created color that they used on buildings).
After our tour of Chichén Itzá, we stopped by one of the many ancient cenotes in the area for a swim in the ancient cave’s waters. Unfortunately, our GoPro ran out of battery right when we were about to film the cenote, so we weren’t able to film our swim. But we would highly recommend stopping by one of the Cenotes in the Yucatan peninsula.
The Map Pinners 