Chichen Itza - Can't See the Forest thru the ....

Vendors... too many street vendors! Chichen Itza is one of Mexico's most popular tourist destination and it has been overrun by its own success. There were vendors along virtually every section of walking path between the archaeological ruins. Pervasive. Annoying. Necessary? The entrance fee for Chichen is a very modest (US) $10 so I am guessing that the park service gets a kickback or substantial squatter's fee from all of the vendors. But I'd be happy - VERY happy - to pay more money for an archaeological site like this without the excess of mercantilism.

Last Friday, the four of us (Tracey, Kathleen and Giancarlo Antona and myself) rented a nice Ford Ecosport mini-SUV from Playa del Carmen and trekked the three hours to the site. Good easy drive, great weather all around. In fact, I cannot think of a more pleasant day we could've visited Chichen Itza. We pretty much toured the whole grounds, with me lagging behind changing lenses every few minutes. This was a great opportunity to play with my new 24-105mm f/4L lens and the circular polarizer. (The picture above was taken with the older 10-22mm rectilinear wide angle lens.)

Okay.. what is Chichen Itza? I can't go into too much detail because I really haven't learned much about the history, but suffice to say it is an old (1000+ yrs) Mayan capital city that was abandoned, gloriously intact, by an old Mayan civilization for reasons unknown. What is left are many gorgeous monuments, temples, a sports arena, and of course the enormous Mexican pyramid which is famously depicted on many artworks... it is also the one in the picture above.

Until recently (2-3 years) people were allowed to climb up the pyramid and view the spectacular jungle landscape. But a year ago on our first visit this was no longer allowed and neither was it permitted this trip. In fact, since last year they have roped off even more sections of stonework courtyards and temples, making this site a little less fun to visit. But still... for $10 you get quite a lot of excellent sight seeing. (If you still want to climb an ancient pyramid, the one in Coba - about 100 miles southeast - is still open according to recent reports.)