The Blue Monkey Review: Chichen Itza

March 6: On Monday I spent the morning at Coba, an amazing site from the classic period, the centr of a gridwork of roads leading to other Mayan cities. From the top of the pyramid you can take in the surrounding jungle for miles, and better appreciate the achievemnt of the Mayans. Not to dismiss their great works of city-building, but it was amazing that they could live her at all. This peninsula is a flat shelf of limestone, with little in the way of surface water except for the cenotes that dip down into the limestone rivers below. The organization of labor around agriculture must have provided the base for organizaing it around religion and civic life. I�m sure it�s true that it takes a village to raise a child. Here, it took a city to raise a crop.

From Coba I took what seemed like an endless drive to Chicen Itza. Along the way I reconsiderd my interior dialogue about my approach to tourism and decided that maybe it would not kill me to take a chance on a poshy resort. I�m flexible enough to think of trying comfort as a way to challenge myself. So, just outside the park entrance to Chicen Itza I pulled into the Mayaland Hotel. I asked for a room and turned over my VISA number to open an account (since then that VISA has stopped working, giving me messages about being overdrawn--I�m sure there�s not relation). I won�t say how much my �Superior Room� cost, but will tell you that it cost more than my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th most expensive nights combined.

And, I won�t say it didn�t bite a little to have the spacious room, the balcony with a view of the archeological site, the huge swimming pool, and the spacious restaurant with gourmet cook. The puritan still lurks within. I think I settled down and enjoyed it all pretty well. Mayaland, begun in 1923, has both beautiful rooms and cabanas. It�s kind of a Maya them park, with pavilions made with thatched roofs and dance troops entrtaining the busloads of tourists who stop there with some kind of Mayan bottle dance. The cabanas are built to give the impression of Mayan huts, though about the size of 10 or maybe 20 of the real huts. It�s the kind of place that appeals to middle-aged, middle-class travelrs from Georgia and Germany. It�s the kind of place that has peacocks wandering around the grounds.

I arrived late afternoon and had planned to se the site the next day. That night, though, I went to the laser light show at the Great Pyramid. I�m not recommending it, though it did provide an overview of the history of Chichen Itza and some genral information about the Maya. But it attempted to maintain a dramatic delivery throughout the 45 minutes of the presentation (no jokes, no local color). I have to admit that my attention wandered several times.

I did meet interesting people(just as predicted), John Eric and Sarah, a young couple from San Francisco here in the Yucatan to go to a wedding on the beach, near Belize. It�s at an eco-resort, so no elctricty and private-communal bathrooms. I wanted to go along, but I don�t think the dean would be happy if I didn�t make it back by Monday. We had dinner together, and discussed our various professions. Sarah is a civil enginer, whose company is building the new Bay Bridge. John Eric works in environmental insurance. Still not clear what I�m doing.

John Eric and Sarah both recommended that I show up at the ruins early. I did, and was happy about it. (One of the advantages of staying at Mayaland is that it has its own entrance to the park.) I shared the Great Pyramid with one other tourist (no, we didn�t climb--not allowed), and wanderd through the Thousand Columns section pretty by myself. Even by the time I left, later that morning, there were still fewer toursits than vendors at the site.

I can�t possibly say anything about Chichen Itza that would go beyond the rave reviews of your friends who have visited. It�s well worth the effort to make a visit.