Mexico Day 26 - Chichen Itza & Colarades

We pre arranged a private tour to take us to both Chichen Itza and Las Colardes today - setting off early to beat any queues we arrived to Chichen early enough to be one of only 30 or so people there!

The centre piece known at El Castillo was the first thing you could see walking in and at just under 100ft in height it was a sight to behold. With 91 steps on each side and one at the top to denote a full year and impresive acoustics that meant it acted like an echo chamber it was so interesting to hear the detail and practicality that had gone in to making this building!

We were guided around the rest of the site rather quickly but stopped at the Mayan Ball Court where a game between two teams was played with a small rubber ball and the target was to shoot the ball with your hip through small ringed hole on top of the wall!! We were told the losing team captain would lose his head! (Although speaking to another Mayan recently he mentioned them not being sure if it was the winning or losing captain that lost his head as it could have been seen as an honour/reward)

After Chichen we headed on a 3 hour drive to the pink lakes of Los Colaradas. The process of making salt caused the water to turn pink in certain sunlights and the scale of the production was insane - we were told its the 2nd biggest producer of salt in the world! Unfortunately the sun wasn't at its brightest for our visit so the pictures don't do it justice, but it was amazing to see at the time!

We finished our long day with another 3 hour drive to our next stop Merida and after checking in found a nice falafel restaurant called Pita before getting an early night!Read more