Together with Hanne from Belgium we visited Chichen Itza on our way to Merida. Chichen Itza is the most famous Maya ruins in Central America, but not because it’s the biggest but because it’s the most accessible ruin site, plus the closest to Cancun and all the other American overtaken beaches.

When we arrived many large buses were parks outside and inside guides with flags or hands up were followed by hundreds of tourists. Great! We on the other hand didn’t take a guide or tour. We had all day to explore the ruins.  You can if you want see all of it within a few hours, but if you want to take it easy, walk slow, and most important if you want to take photos without tourists on it, you need time and have to wait until the end of the day. Around four most tours are gone and the sights are tourist free. Perfect!

Chichen Itza is compared to Tikal more open, I mean they cleaned the jungle around the most ruins so you can see them from all sides. Tikal was more left hidden under the earth to preserve them. Both sights are in the deep jungle - Tikal has more jungle paths and in Chichen Itza you follow well made trails.

But it’s whatever I say it’s worth going to Chichen Itza and get an idea how great the ruins of the Mayas are. Truly a miracle for those days. Spend the whole day there to make the 111 peso worth the money!

El Castillo

El Castillo means ‘The castle’ and is the biggest pyramid in Chichen Itza and right in the middle and also the first thing you see when you enter the park. The pyramid has 91 steps on three of the sides and 92 on the north staircase, which adds up to 365 steps, or days of the year. And because there are only 91 steps they had to make them really big in order for the pyramid to be that high.  Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to climb the pyramid because last year a person fall down from it and died.

And now enjoy the photos!