From Merida we headed east to Cancun. After almost always going south in Mexico it is a bit of challenge to orient oneself to driving east to west.
Sunday our big stop of the day was Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is on the cover of both of our Yucatan guide books and is the most visited of all Mayan sites.
There was never a single monolithic Mayan empire. Instead thee were independent city states in an almost constant state of shifting alliances. This reminds me of the city states of Italy.
The classic Maya era is considered 250 AD to 900 AD. Chichen Itza is the one city in the post classic Maya era (900 Ad - 1500 AD) to surpass the glory of the classic era.
In contrast to Edzna which we visited on Saturday, Chichen Itza had a lot of visitors when we were there. Partly because it was a Sunday and partly because Chichen Itza is at he top of everyones must see list.
Chichen Itzu is impressive. As you walk in the first thing you see is El Castillo. It is huge!
As we wandered around the site which covers a lot of ground it started to rain. It rained hard for about 15 minutes. This actually felt really good. The cool rain was a nice change from the heat and humidity.
We continued to explore and bought a few souvenirs.
Back at the car we changed into dry clothes. One really nice thing about southern Mexico so far has been how many butterflies (mariposas) we see. They are ubiquitous out in the countryside.
In Cancun we are staying at our friends' house. Unfortunately they are on vacation back in the U.S. right now so we don't get to see them.
When we got here we went out to the store and bought food for dinner and breakfast. It is great to be able to do laundry and just relax. We are at about the half way point for distance on our trip.
Here Duke is eating a Pitaya or Dragon Fruit. It was good.
