Izamal

Kristin and I travelled to Mexico for our wedding anniversary in 2009 – the plan was to spend the first half of the trip in Chichen Itza (what Kristin refers to as the Discovery Channel part of the trip) and then the second half at a beach resort on the Rivera Maya.  For Chichen Itza I found a hotel that was on the site – it was perfect.  Great view of the observatory, separate entrance to the ruins, plus a pool and an onsite restaurant – exactly what we were looking for.

Except – 2009 is the year of the swine flu.

When we arrived at the resort we had to pass by the general entrance to Chichen Itza, which was blocked by a tank.  Mexico had put into place a strict quarantine due to the epidemic and all cultural sites – including Chichen Itza – were closed.  We had arrived at Wally World.

We tried to make the best of things – we enjoyed the pool and explored the ruins that were on the resort’s grounds.  But it was not what we were looking forward to – we could see the Observatory from our room and just about every place on the resort but we could not get to it, nor could we get to climb the steps of El Castillo, which was just a short walk away.

In talking with the manager at the resort, he suggested that we take a day trip to Izamal, which was a 30-40 minute drive away.  He explained that Izamal was a Mayan city, like Chichen Itza, but was not abandoned or destroyed by the Spanish like many other cities had been.  Instead, a modern city grew around the Mayan ruins – so as you walked through the city streets, you pass the post office, a residential building – and then a huge stone pyramid from the Mayan times.

The massive Kinich Kak Moo Pyramid lies near the center of Izamal – the base is over 600 square feet and is approximately 60 feet high.  On  top of the rectangular base is a ten-tiered pyramid, approximately 50 feet high.  We stumbled upon the structure from the side and could not even see the top pyramid – we thought the base of the pyramid was it.

I was determined to climb a pyramid on our trip, so I started the climb up the side – Kristin stayed at the base.  The blocks were large and easily scalable.  When I reached the top of the base I was shocked by the top pyramid and told  Kristin follow me up the side of the base.  We explored the top of the base, which was massive and offered incredible views.  I also found the stairs from the visitor’s center at the front of the base, which would have made the climb a lot easier than scaling the side.  Oops.

Then it was time to climb the top pyramid, which was an obvious decision but not an easy task as the stairs were not in the best shape – especially after the quarter level mark where the stairs crumbled into a pile of stones, making for a difficult ascent.  But we made it to the top and it was worth it as the views were insane – especially given the sunny day and the passing clouds.

The first image in this gallery is one of my favorite Holga images and really shows the joy of shooting through a plastic lens.  You can see in the overlay of the film sprockets in the upper right of the image but then in the upper left you can see an image that I had shot of the Observatory earlier in the day at Chichen Itza.  Neither of these images were visible when I first scanned the negative but appeared as I lightboxed the image.  Both are the result of the quirkiness of the Holga camera.