El Castillo, the giant pyramid shaped temple of
Kukulcan seen here in its entirety and in close up to emphasise the steepness of its 365 steps.

We were able to book tours directly from our hotel, and within an hour of settling into the Hotel Caribe, we had fixed ourselves up with a trip for the next day to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza about 70 miles away to the east. A minibus arrived the next day and we were then transferred to a coach that rumbled through an unchanging scenery of low growing scrubby trees. The first view of Chichen Itza was indeed impressive. The whole area was dominated by El Castillo (or temple of Kukulcan - the Mayan feathered serpent). This giant pyramid which curiously has 365 steps, the same number as the days in a  year, has a feature during the spring and autumn equinoxes whereby serpentine shadows trickle down the north staircase to join the carved snake heads at the bottom. Two other areas particularly impressed us, the Juego de Pelota (ball court) and the court of the thousand columns. The ball court because only the night before on television we had seen a re-enactment of this curious game, and the pillars because their were just so many of them. They were also so perfect in their shape and alignment. 

     Two days later we were trundling through the same sort of countryside again. It was early afternoon and we were travelling some 60 miles south to the ruins at Uxmal. In the Mayan language, 'Uxmal' means three times built. It was apparently built in three stages from around 600 AD. Its wonderful Puuc architecture (named after the surrounding hills) makes it in the eyes of some experts, superior to Chichen Itza. Its most prominent
feature, 'the Piramide del Adivino' (Pyramid of the Magician), is certainly every bit as
impressive (first photo left above), particularly when viewed from atop the Governor's
Palace (as seen in the second  photo from the left). Whilst walking around the base of the many impressive monuments I was equally taken with the wildlife, many different colourful birds  and huge iguanas (see the third photo above). In an environment such as this where rain doesn't happen very much, a god of rain (Chac) becomes a very important figure. In the fourth photo above the symbols at the corner of the building represent a thanks to Chac for the rain he has brought. If those shapes were inverted they would look like
begging hands and they would represent a plea to Chac for him to bring rain. I don't think he would be very popular in England somehow. An enjoyable afternoon here was rounded off with a spectacular sound and light show centred on the 'Cuadranglo de las Monjas'.