2001-09-11-dzibilchaltun-yucatan-mexico.md (4137B)
1 +++ 2 title = "Dzibilchaltún, Yucatán, México" 3 date = "2001-09-11T00:00:00Z" 4 slug = "dzibilchaltun-yucatan-mexico" 5 tags = ["Mexico", "Travel"] 6 +++ 7 8 About halfway between Mérida and Progresso lie the ruins of Dzibilchaltún, an 9 important centre in the ancient world of the Maya. The name means 'The place 10 with writing on the stones.' 11 12 {{< figure src="/post/2001-09-11-munecas-door.jpg" alt="View framed by the doorway of the of Templo de las Siete Muñecas looking out over the ruins of a stone building and four-sized stone stela on a raised platform. A path leads past the ruins, through the low jungle, and towards the horizon." >}} 13 14 Dzibilchaltún covers an area of about 16 square kilometres, in which there are 15 about 8400 structures. The central part of the site covers three square 16 kilometres, which includes several temples and pyramids, as well as a cenote of 17 unknown depth, one of the largest in the Yucatán. Many of the structures date 18 back as far as 500 B.C. 19 20 From downtown Mérida, you can catch a colectivo that stops down the road from 21 the temple. A 10 minute hike from there along a trail through the jungle gets 22 you to the entrance to the site, where they charge 50 pesos per person ($7.50 23 CDN) to get in. The day we arrived, it was a scorching 40-something degrees, 24 with 100% humidity, so the fact that the small museum on the site was 25 air-conditionned was worth the price of admission in itself. 26 27 The site is divided into two parts, separated by a one kilometre long road. At 28 one end is the Temple of the Seven Dolls, named after seven ceramic dolls found 29 there as offerings to the gods. At the other end is a courtyard, a pyramid, a 30 ball court and the cenote, as well as an open chapel that was constructed 31 during the Colonial era, in the late 16th and early 17th century. 32 33 {{< figure src="/post/2001-09-11-munecas-outside.jpg" alt="View of the Templo de las Siete Muñecas from the path. In the foreground, a hiker walks toward a large worn stela on a raised platform." >}} 34 35 The Temple of the Seven Dolls is probably the most interesting part of the 36 site. At least it was to us. At one time, the temple was adorned with plaster 37 friezes, molded to the shapes of intertwined serpents, hieroglyphs, and masks, 38 though these friezes are no longer on the structure itself. The building is 39 thought to have served as an astronomical observatory, and during the Vernal 40 and Autumnal Equinoxes, an interesting phenonmenon can be seen at sunrise. 41 During the Equinoxes, the sun is perfectly aligned such that the morning 42 sunlight passes directly between two sets of opposing doors on the temple, 43 casting the light down into the courtyard facing the structure. Many people 44 pile into Dzibilchaltún between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning to witness the 45 sunrise, then run back out and pile into a bus to Chichen Itza to watch the 46 more spectacular effect of the sun casting light in the shape of a giant 47 serpent slithering up the side of the temple there in the afternoon. If you 48 don’t happen to be a teacher who has classes on these days, this is apparently 49 the thing to do. 50 51 The cenote on the other side of the site is open for swimming, if you don’t 52 mind thousands of little fish chasing you around the whole time. What’s 53 curious, of course, is that there are any fish at all in the cenotes, since 54 they’re fed by a series of deep, underwater channels of water that snake 55 beneath the entire peninsula. There are no rivers or streams connecting them on 56 the surface, so the fish have to descend to incredible depths (over 100 m) to 57 move between one cenote and the next. From what people have told us, the fish 58 that live in the cenotes are blind, which is kind of cool. 59 60 We hiked back out to the road after a few hours of wandering around, the sat 61 waiting for a colectivo to drive by and pick us up. For 30 minutes we sat 62 around, the air totally still and boiling hot, with only the sound of the 63 mosquitos and the cow in the field next to us. I’m not entirely sure what was 64 wrong with it, but the way it hollered made it sound demented and insane. I 65 honestly hope I never drink any milk from that one; no way that’s safe.