Chichen Itza

This ancient Mayan temple complex is about a 2.5 hour bus ride from Cancun and well worth the trip to see it once in your lifetime. It was voted into the New 7 Wonders of the World last year. It's kind of like Stonehenge in that it's all laid out according to the sun and the temples cast really cool shadows twice a year during the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.


Don't let these photos fool you into thinking you'll have the place to yourself though. I actually had to get quite creative in my shooting angles to not get hordes of people in these shots! It's a very popular tourist attraction now so unfortunately most of the temples are cordoned off and you are not allowed to climb on them anymore.


If you want to learn more about the history you can click here. I normally don't rely much on Wikipedia, but it actually has one of the best descriptions of the place I've been able to find online. It seems like the rest are all links to discount tour companies. And speaking of tour companies, they offer various packages ranging from about $59 to $99 per person. We decided to splurge on the Sky Luxury Cruiser tour, which was definitely worth the extra money because it's an all-day trip.


The tourists are outnumbered only by the souvenir vendors here! I was totally captivated by all the brightly painted ceramic bowls, but I was afraid they wouldn't make the trip home without breaking so I refrained from buying any. However the wood and stone carvings were fair game!