VIVA MEXICO DAY #2: Chichen Itza

VIVA MEXICO DIA NUMERO DOS

(that means "day number 2" in English)

This day was a special day.  Not only was it day 2 or the first morning that we woke up in Mexico, but it was Sunday.  Meaning...we were going to try and keep the sabbath holy so no noses got broken (this may or may not have happened in my past life).  We did the best we could.  We decided to head over to one of the Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza (which also happens to be one of the 7 wonders of the world).  As we figure (or justify...your call), Chichen Itza could very well be the site of some of the Nephites and/or Lamanites.  It was as close as we could get to religion that day. 

By taxi/car Chichen Itza would have been about 2.5 hours from our hotel.  By long, slow, boring, full of useless information tour bus it was about 8 billion hours away (kidding it was about 4, but felt like 8 billion).  Come to find out later if we would have taken a taxi it would have only been about $30 more.  Totally worth the extra bucks to save about 5 hours.  We had one stop before Chichen Itza...some tourist shopping center.  Not too interested in anything they had to offer.  However, we did find some sombrero's for the upcoming BYU football season (which we kindly took pictures of instead of purchasing)      

FINALLY...Chichen Itza.  It was pretty common (and weird/scary) to see these uniformed military/police men with their machine guns.  I guess security was heightened that day because the President of Mexico was there.

"Book of Mormon Stories as my teacher tells to me, are about the Lamanites in ancient history.."

That thing poking out is a snake.  The Mayans had some weird obsession with snakes...I'm sure the tour guide told us, but I wasn't paying attention.

More snakes.

This was the Goddess Venus's temple/house or something.

This was a cenote where the Mayan's threw in sacred objects to their gods or something (remember I wasn't paying much attention)

STORY TIME...

Once upon a time there was a husband and wife.  They wanted to go to a sacred place called, Chichen Itza.  It was a beautiful (yet very hot and humid) sunny day.  They would only be at this sacred place for about 3 hours.  1.5 hours for a tour and then the remaining 1.5 hours would be left for lunch and for them to explore the ruins on their own.  During the 1.5 hour tour, the tour guide kindly asked all the people to refrain from taking pictures during his tour.  The 1.5 hour spent in free time would allow for plenty of picture taking.  Although the wife didn't want to comply she did (she was a very kind hearted, and respectful person).  It is important to remember that the husband and wife were also offered an umbrella to provide shade from the heat and also in case some random rain shower evolved, but they declined.  So the tour guide talked for 1.5 hours.  The husband intently listened.  The wife was b-o-r-e-d out of her mind, but kept her mind sharp and focused by thinking about ice cream, running up stairs, Buffalo's, and poop.  Finally it was over.  The husband and wife were starving so they decided to run to the restaurant and eat a quick lunch and then hurry back and explore and take all the pictures they could.  It must be noted that they had these fabulous Mayan tacos.  They truly were fantastic.  As the husband and wife were getting ready to head back to the ruins to take pictures the rain magically appeared out of no where.  And it wasn't a sprinkle...it was a downpour.  I'm talking like sheets of water.  Remember the umbrella they declined...yeah that would have come in handy.  How could they get any good pictures in this hurricane???  Oh the wife was mad.  Really mad.  Really, really mad.  Like practically throwing a tantrum mad.  Like stomping around throwing her arms up and down in the air mad (anyone who has seen the cows get out on the farm knows who she gets this from).  The husband...well he quietly followed his irate wife.  Never saying a word, just following.  Oh yeah he did offer his hat to his wife at one point, but I'm pretty sure she snapped something ignorant.  Anyway the rain lasted for about 30 minutes and then the sun came out and so did the wife's happy attitude.  It was like night and day, snow and sand, sugar and salt.  The wife apologized over and over to her dear husband and asked him why he kept his cool and didn't say anything to her when she was acting all crazy.  His response, "because I knew that the rain wouldn't last all day and that when it was all over that you would feel really bad."  He knows her well.  Well the wife was able to get quite a few pictures in the 1 hour they had left and all happiness was restored (although the wife smelled and looked like a wet dog in all the pictures...)

Before we got back to the hotel we stopped at a cenote (pit or sinkhole with water).

Does it seem like this post is going on forever?  Well so did our tour.  Absolutly loved Chichen Itza, but neither Clayton nor I are tour people.  We were picked up at our hotel at 7am and didn't get back until around 9 pm.  Too long.  Seriously I highly recommend spending the $30 extra dollars and getting a taxi or even renting a car. 

Dinner that night was provided by room service. 

SUSHI on the balcony!

Fun fact for the day:

Found out that Cancun means "Snake Nest"

Where did come???