Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza is an iconic Mayan city, the most famous of all Mayan ruins on Yukatan peninsula. Not only it is a very scientifically important sight, it is very popular with tourists. Having wonderful friends giving tips on making our trip perfect (and honestly, it worked like a charm), we visited Chichen Itza early. I don't only mean coming at the opening time but also it was our third day in the country (counting with arrival day, which was mostly evening for us). Being a very popular tourist attraction there are many people there literally all the time. It steals some charm so it's better to face audience when you are only getting a hold of historic tourism. Each and every other sight we visited (and we also visited Coba, Muyil and Tulum as well, I'll tell you all about it later on) was way more quiet and private, most of the time we felt alone with the stones (it is incredible!). Also Chichen Itza has built in market. I still don't know how I feel about it: partly it's distracting, partly charming and definitely noisy. Good news is this market offers good prices so you can feel free to bargain and get your souvenirs cheap and in between of looking at the ruined temples. I think being that populated and that famous makes Chichen Itza less impressive for many tourists, you might feel disappointed waiting for something with more magic. That is way we've been very grateful to our friends who pointed it out prior our trip. So we went there early making Chichen Itza not clouded with other impressions and didn't expect a miracle. And we loved it there. 

  

 

Also we've noticed a part with observatory is way less crowed in Chichen Itza, you might want to go there if you feel tired of too many people around or take better photos. Surely the photos I show here don't do the historical sight justice. We did our best to take photos without other people. We chose spots we find better for it. And after all, seeing it with your own eyes makes the whole experience more vivid and proper than any photo or video can ever dare to give. However I am definitely posting the photos of it anyway.

And last but not least. My travel outfit. I wore shorts made from my transforming pants (tons can be found in Decathlon or similar places, check out hiking pants). These pants/shorts is probably the best travel purchase I ever made, so handy, comfy and save up tons of luggage space especially if you travel from cold to warmth. I find baseball cap a necessity for active outdoor strolling. It helps you to protect yourself from the sun, occasional rain and other small inconveniences like small parts of the trees in your hair (might not be an issue if you have straight hair like I do but could be very uncomfortable with curls). I go with flip flops almost everywhere but I did wear sneakers to different ruins where I could climb up for more stability. Sunglasses are very useful too, after all you can't wait for sun to be proprly positioned to enjoy the views). A comfy backpack is not a burden for me too. It helps me to hold water, camera case and camera accessories, sunscreen (don't forget to reapply it ever so often), spare masks, sanitizer,  a snack or extra clothes if needed (for example swim suits for cenotes to relax and enjoy yourselves after the sightseeing; Tip: leave it in the car if you rent one, you can't use it in Chichen Itza, the cenote is present there but is not open for you to interact with). You don't see it on photos but you are required to wear mask at all times in historic sights of Mexico. I took it off for a quick photo only. (and it makes perfect sense in Chitchen Itza since it's very crowded and you need to be extra careful)

I was wearing:

Befree llama yoga top

Fila Flip Flops

shorts (also pants) and backpack from decathlon

 

Have a nice day,

Lyosha