The same day that we went to Villadolid, after a delicious lunch of pork slow-cooked in achiote and bitter orange juice, our tour guide took us to the Mayan ruins of Coba'.
Okay, hold on for a second as I give a quick history lesson.
In Mexico, the only part of the country inhabited by Mayans is the Yucatan peninsula, which is where we were. The other major ethnic groups/civilizations were located in northern/central Mexico were the Olmecs and Aztecs. The Olmecs were more like the mother of all Mexican civilizations, so they were the oldest. The Mayan golden age came next, then the Aztec golden age. However, as the Mayans declined, the Aztecs were flourishing and expanding. So, many later Mayan ruins show strong evidence of Aztec influence, including human sacrifice (or, at least more human sacrifice than previously, if I understood the guide correctly) and temlples built in platformed pyramids rather than towers.
Coba', the ruins we visited, had its peak rather earlier than other ruins, such as Chichen Itza, Coba's rival, so It exhibited more destinctly Mayan flavor. It is also huge!
This is the first temple/plaza that we visited.
Inside one of the passages into the temple. Unfortunately they had blocked the path into the heart, otherwise we could have done some more exploring.
A wall from one of the local Pok-a-Tok ball courts. These were probably practice facilities, the big games being played in Chichen Itza.
These are some images of the large temple that we got to climb.
(Note tower shape)
Looking down on the top of the Jungle and all those ants, er, people down below.
A funny little relief sculpture on the crown building of the temple.
My family (minus Mom, who was taking the picture) climbing down the temple. It's steep, so I held on to the rope (Explaining my awkward position in this photo :D)
Okay, once back on the ground, we peddled (did I mention that we got around the site on bike?) over to another ball court, were this smily stone skull was sitting right in the middle of the court. I can see why its a skull, the players would trip over it and kill themselves! But seriously, what it really represents is the fact that in the real ball games played at religious ceremonies either the winning or the losing team (they haven't decided which one, yet) was sacrificed. I guess this is something like a Mayan motevational poster ;).
These are Mayan glyphs carved into the side of the ball court. What they mean I don't remember (They probably weren't another motevational poster, though. Not many Mayans could read).
With this I shall conlude, because I got photo-tired and didn't take any more pictures.
Bye, all!
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