Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Chichen-Itza

We took a little adventure on Wednesday. Early in the morning we loaded onto a bus and began the trip 140 miles deep into the jungle of the Yukatan Peninsula to check out one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Chichen Itza is one of the most famous Mayan Ruins on the planet.
On the way there, we stopped for lunch in a mayan village where Max and Meredith jumped into a 150 foot deep sinkhole in the middle of the jungle. It was BEAUTIFUL! I only got one picture with my camera, so I'll have to post more when Max and Mer send me their pics.

While we were in the village, Ryan NAILED the Mayan buffet. He loved it. He ate more food at that meal than any other meal on our trip. Unfortunately, the Mayan buffet nailed him back the next day - but he doesn't regret it. I'll have to admit, the rice an beans were quite delicious.

Our tour guide Luigi gave us a lot of incredible history and interesting information about this archeological site.








It's amazing - to put it simply. The Mayan people were using science and mathematics brilliantly, not just in creating the design of these buildings, but creating the calendar that we use today. We were especially impressed by the Observatory, which NASA has sent tems out to study.


So I guess I need to go see the new Indiana Jones movie since it takes place in some Mayan ruins.












and finally...the most hilarious picture of the day: Ryan posing for the crowd.
Hey Luke, let me know if you want more info so you can turn this into a unit for your 4th grade students. Ryan will come in to give your class a little presentation.

4 comments:

Lanette Rajski said...

Oh my gosh Amber - I think we were there at the same exact time. Wouldn't have that been hilarious if we would have bumped into each other? We did a 3 day at Hacienda Chichen - we could see the top of the tower from our room. Funny isn't it that I haven't seen you in years and we were probably in the same obscure part of Mexico at the same time?! The Mayans are fascinating to me and I am in the process of researching mission opportunities - I hope to live there some day! Glad you had fun and that you are back home safe! Check out my blog to see more about our Yucatan adventures.

Lanette Rajski

Anonymous said...

That would be great if Ryan would come up for a presentation. As long as he doesn't pull out the "...and present" portion of his number (like it appears he was about to do in the picture of him alone) and sticks with frisbee dad, he would be a hot bed of information.

Dan Blacketor said...

Jo and I took that same trek several years ago. It was 107 degrees in the shade the day we were at the ruins. As I announced I was going to "run up to the top" Jo calmly stated that she was going to find a shady area and just watch. Also, I loved the sink hole... there is something about no guard rails and being able to jump off from various heights - I was feeling pretty macho jumping from the 20 meter point until I watched a 10 year old local launched from half way up (or down) depending up your viewpoint.

J Aquila said...

The family went there back when I was in jr high. That was a cool place. I fell down into a hole, inside one of the building there, after the tour guide said not to wander off ... because there are many unlit places ... with plenty of holes to fall into.

Instead of seeing Indy 4 (it sucked) rent Mel Gibson's "Apacalypto" instead . Much better film and some really cool action and cinematography.