The Ancient Mayans

Beckett really limited the excursions we could take while in Mexico. No zip lines, scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming with dolphins or in cenotes for us--all of which sounded awesome. Luckily taking Beckett to see the Mayan ruins was no more difficult than hanging out with him at the hotel, and seeing these impressive structures would have been at the top of our to do list even without a 15-month-old in tow. Having Beckett along did force us to forgo the official hotel sponsored tours. The tour for Chichen Itza, for instance, left at 7am and didn't return until 10pm so there was no way we were doing that. Instead we rented a car, and it was great to have the freedom to come and go as we pleased.

On Sunday we went to visit Tulum, located about an hour south of our hotel on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. A port city for the Mayans, now Tulum is basically an absolutely gorgeous beach with some impressive ruins. The locals were all there to swim.
We didn't take a tour at Tulum because of The Little B and written information was rather sparse with poor English translations. About all I know is that Tulum's heyday was from 1200-1581 AD and that Tulum was a major link in the Mayan's extensive trade network which transporting items to and from the inland Mayan cities to locations as far south as Guatemala.
Beckett runs through the jungle.
We saw lots of lizards. This one out distanced Beckett in a thrice.
The iguana was much slower. Beckett probably could have caught him if I had allowed it.
This was the wheel chair ramp. Steep and threatened by the encroaching flora.
Tulum's castillo or light house. Blue sky and blue ocean.
The next morning we left at 6:30am for Chichen Itza. For once we weren't too sad that Beckett got up at 5:20am. The drive to Chichen Itza from our hotel took almost 3 hours, but the roads were nice, the traffic was sparse, and we beat the tour buses.

We took a tour at Chichen Itza from a local who spoke great English and was willing to be flexible with our limitations (read: a demanding toddler). Here's our tour guide talking about the Observatory.
The Observatory is in the older section of Chichen Itza, which Nate and I really liked. Chichen Itza rose to prominence around 600 AD and fell around 1000 AD. It's considerable older than Tulum and Nate and I decided that these were some of the oldest, if not the oldest, structures we had ever seen.

I think that Nate is standing in front of the Temple of the Priest--named such because archeologists thought that's where the priests lived, although now we know that was probably not the case.
Also in the older section of the city stands this building that was one of my favorites.
Luckily when we got to Chichen Itza Beckett was asleep and for the first 20 minutes or so of the tour he lounged in his stroller not sure he was ready to wake up. Then he woke up for good resulting in the following shots which I like to call: baby wanders through ruins (and pulls everything out from under the stroller).
Beckett had a great time at Chichen Itza. It doesn't take much to entertain this kid, just some water and a bench. It was so hot that we didn't make him wear his shorts.
In the newest section of the city we saw the Temple of Warriors. Each pillar is meant to symbolize a soldier.
We also saw the ball court.
Here the Mayans played an intense game where two teams had to get balls through these hoops. The games ended with a human sacrifice, but we don't know if it was the losers or the victors who became the sacrificial victims. Because Mayans believed in reincarnation, some scholars think that being sacrificed was actually an honor worth competing for.
We also saw the famous temple to Kukulcan or Queztalcoatl, the feathered serpent.
At the base of each staircase are two serpent heads.
During the equinox shadows form on the staircases making it appear as if the feathered snakes are undulating. It was actually the fall equinox while we were there, but we didn't stick around for the light show. And we were happy not to.
Here's the troops in front of the pyramid.
We spent about two hours at Chichen Itza before we got back in the car. Beckett slept most of the way home after devouring a hot dog, and we were back to the hotel in time to spend two hours at the ocean before heading to our dinner reservation. Chichen Itza was well worth the effort it took to get there.

PS. Although everyone (including all the locals) told us it was extraordinarily hot at Chichen Itza, we thought, and our tour guide agreed, that Tulum was hotter.