Day 2

On the second day we went to another ruin called Chitza Nitza.
This was my favorite ruin. It was also built in the height of the classical period. Everything was so ornate. It seemed like every stone had a carving on it. They think it took about 53 years to build the big temple in the center.




One thing that was fun about Chitza Nitza was the shopping . There were tons of stands set up by the side of the walkways. Most of the things were made by the people who where selling them, which was kind of fun. The only bad thing was that you really couldn't just stop and look without someone hounding you. The sellers were not just lined up on the walkways, they actually were all over the ruins and they would yell out "One dollar, only one dollar!" they would actually be holding up something really nice, but then if you said, "I'll buy that for one dollar." They would either pull something else out of their pocket to sell for one dollar, or say it was one dollar off. It would have been ideal if they just stayed by the walkways so you could enjoy the ruins without being pounced on, but it was pretty fun to bargain. Devon actually got 2 masks and a wooden carving of a Mexican sleeping. The guy who made the carving started out at $114 dollars, but eventually sold it for about $28 dollars. Devon was very excited about that purchase.






We got so caught up in buying stuff that we saw very little of the ruins in the morning. We went inside the building to get lunch, and then it started pouring! We stayed inside for quite awhile, but it didn't look like it would clear up. We bought some ponchos and went out again. It was actually kind of fun to walk around in the rain. We were soaked, but it wasn't cold. A few times it let up a little so we felt okay about taking out our camera to take pictures.


One of the most amazing things in Chitza Nitza was the ball court. It was huge! My sister told us later that one person could stand at one end and talk in a normal voice, and could be hear very clearly by people at the other end because it is perfectly acoustic. The walls were so tall. So the short version-(the only one I know) of the Mayan ball game is that people had to get a rubber ball through the ring at the top of the wall using only their elbows, hips and knees, no hands. Some people say the loser was sacrificed at the end of the game, others say it was the winner, but the consensus is that someone died at the end of the ballgame, which could last for days.




The second and third nights we stayed in a little town called Valladolid. We stayed in a nice Mexican hotel. I love nice Mexican hotels. They are economy price (this on was about $60 a night for 3 of us) and they have so much character. I love the courtyards. I just love the atmosphere, it is so relaxing! This is the view from the balcony of our hotel.

These are some pictures in the courtyard, which also had a pretty good restaurant in it. We ate there the first night was stayed in Valladolid.




After we got back from Chitza Nitza we had some time to explore the town. We actually went to this restaurant that was recommended in our book. It was a very good food. Right by it was a park with lots of people selling stuff, and one of my favorite things about Mexico- people dancing and playing music.