We went on a tour of Ek Balam, Chichen Itza and a cenote (a swimming hole that is made from an underground fresh water river). We booked it through ldstours.com and it was amazing. Our tour guide, Alma, was wonderful. She did such a great job explaining the history of the people and giving us a background of the culture so we could better understand what we were seeing. It was just so fascinating to see everything and being able to picture the Nephites and Lamanites from the Book of Mormon in places like this a very long time ago.
This is the entrance to Ek Balam. It is one of the few ruins that you can still walk up to the top. It isn't as crowded as Chichen Itza and there is still a lot that has not been excavated. In these pictures, all of the hills you see are actually ruins that have not uncovered yet.
This was the gateway that everyone had to enter through to go on the temple grounds. This little stone rectangle was actually a place to wash your feet before you stepped inside the sacred grounds. I also found it very interesting that there were no steps up to the gateway. It was just a very steep ramp. They built it this way so no one could walk upright and face the temple directly. It was to force people to bow and show reverence to the temple.
Can you see our little iguana friend in the middle of the picture? He was one of many!
Here was the ball court at Ek Balam. It was very small compared to the one at Chichen Itza.
Here's the main temple at Ek Balam. The last governor who lived here actually changed it from a temple into his residence.
I'll admit it, I was a little nervous climbing up these steps. They were just a little steep. Again, it prevented anyone to directly face the temple as they were climbing up.
Here's our guide, Alma.
A view from the top
Another thing that makes Ek Balam different from some of the other ruins were the full body carvings.
Here's Brian and I on top of another building with Ek Balam behind us.
After our tour of Ek Balam, we went to a restaurant that served authentic Mayan food. It was delicious! They also had 4 people there that danced some traditional dances for us.
I had to laugh at this and take a picture of it. These were above the bathrooms.
After lunch we went to Chichen Itza. It was so hot and crowded, but so fascinating.
This is an alter where human sacrifices were performed. It was close to the ball court.
Here is the ball court at Chichen Itza. It was huge compared to the one at Ek Balam. If you look closely, you can see the hoops on the side walls where they had to get the ball through. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of this game. And to say it was a game doesn't truly describe it. It really was life or death. It was an honor to play on the teams. It was an even greater honor to be on the winning team, but not the way you would normally think. The captain of the winning team actually was sacrificed and beheaded, thinking that he would automatically go to what they thought was heaven or paradise. To think that was what they were wanting.
The next 2 pictures show the carvings on the sides of the ball court. The first is a colored picture so you can see the details. The second picture is the actual carving.
This is the place where the winning captains' heads were placed to honor them. If you look closely, you can see the carvings of skulls on each block.
This is the Hall of a Thousand Warriors. Each of the pillars represented warriors. At the top of this ruin was another altar for human sacrifices. In the Book of Mormon it talks about having a "broken heart and a contrite spirit". These people took that saying very literally and "broke" or removed the hearts of the people being sacrificed. Crazy.
While we were there, the excavators found that the original building in this spot was much bigger than the ruin that is now there. They are going to document what they uncover and then actually bury it again. Our guide was fascinated by this. She had not seen it before.
This is in the "Older Chichen", as our guide put it. These ruins were built long before the famous Chichen Itza ruins were built. This is the observatory.
After Chichen, we went to a cenote to cool off in. It was absolutely beautiful. The pictures do not do it justice. The water was so cool and refreshing after being in the hot sun all day. It was a perfect way to end the tour.
Can you see the fish swimming in the water? There were so many of them!
Here's Brian getting ready to jump off the 16 foot high platform. They built the steps and platforms from the rock inside of the cenote. It was very well maintained.
Here we are at the top of it. It was just amazing. I think my favorite part was being in the water and looking up through the roots dropping down into the cenote. Birds were flying through the roots and the fish were swimming next to us. It was so relaxing and just beautiful!
This was taken our last night in Cancun. Such a fun and amazing trip! There will definitely be a next time!!
