Early start from the hotel in Merida to get on the road to Chichen Itza.  A two hour drive got us there and the place didn’t seem too busy.

Straight to the main temple, probably the most photographed of the Mayan temples, and is most famous for the optical illusion of the moving Serpent at the solstices.

The ball court here is the ‘Wembley’ of Ball courts, much bigger than anywhere else, and carrying the carvings of two teams of 7 facing each other, with the lead player from one team having been decapitated.

Many other splendid carvings, with a a story of two brothers who went to fight the underworld and lost, so one was beheaded (theme here?), the carvings show the other  brother going back for revenge.

On to the temple of the warriors, and temple of 1000 columns (678 actually) .

Finally an unescorted potter round to the observatory and the ‘Nuns palace’.

This was the first Mayan site where we had traders on site. Properly spoiled the whole place.

As we came out, the crowds were building to the awful. Glad we got there early.

A short drive to the restaurant, and an opportunity to swim/jump into a 60m deep Cenote (natural well)

Finally, the 2 hr drive back to the Riviera resorts and the Gran Bhia