The Chichen Itza Pyramids and Cenote Ik Kil are both located in the Yucatan city of Piste, Mexico. Chichen Itza is one of the most famous and best restored Mayan ruins in the Yucatan. With its large pyramid “El Castillo”, picture perfect ball court, and central location between the cities of Cancun and Merida, you will often find throngs of picture-snapping tour groups wandering among it’s many buildings. Tour buses line the parking lot from late morning until early afternoon, so arrive early to avoid the crowds. It is definitely the busiest of the Mayan ruins we’ve visited, but also one of the biggest and most impressive. For its large size, it is actually pretty compact with many buildings and structures found right in the main Plaza. Notable was the main pyramid, El Castillo, which was built to represent the mayan calender.
On the spring and autumn equinoxes the shadows of the pyramid simulate a large serpent moving down the pyramid. Also notable in my opinion was the largest ball court I’ve ever seen, and the Grupo de las Mil Columnos with hundreds of sculpted columns still standing. It looked like a forest of giant stone columns – what a great location for taking pictures!
Another interesting aspect of these ruins were all the platforms used for sacrificial purposes and displays of human heads and hearts. Chichen Itza, like some other Mayan archaelogical sites in the Yucatan, also has a night light show. It was okay but not spectacular. If you go, make sure to rent a headphone translator, as you will understand more of the Spanish-language presentation. We thought the light show provided a good narrative of the history, and they duplicate the serpent moving down El Castillo as it would look like during the equinoxes. However, I thought the Uxmal light show was a little better.
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After visiting Chichen Itza we went to Cenote Ik Kil to cool off. Cenote Ik Kil is located a few kilometers from Chichen Itza, just outside Piste. It was beautiful but overpriced (comparatively for Mexico) at 60 pesos per person to get in. The cenote’s water is 20 meters deep so you can’t see the bottom. It is very clear for snorkeling and you can see many fish. There was also a spot to dive into the water that was about 20 feet high. Chad was brave enough to dive in, but I was just satisfied swimming around. It was a nice experience. Other people were diving off the ledge, and a few were snorkeling. There is a nice hotel located at the Cenote. We stayed back in Piste at the cheaper Piramide Inn. The Piramide Inn has a nice manicured garden in the back where we camped, a few meters from the large, pleasant pool.
To view more of our photos from Chichen Itza, click here: More Chichen Itza Photos
To view more of our photos from Cenote Ik Kil, click here: More Cenote Ik Kil Photos
July 27, 2010
60 pesos overpriced???!!!! Come on guys, that’s only like 5 US dollars and you can use the other instalations of the place, bathrooms, showers, etc. It’s perfect.
Chad says: Enrique, you’re right. I didn’t realize how cheap we were until I re-read our own post! I think we originally wanted to convey that we noticed a definite price jump in the 3x range the closer we got to Chichen Itza/Cancun and the other areas in the Yucatan Peninsula that see a lot of tourism. Cenote Ik Kil is overpriced compared to most of the places we’d visited in Mexico in the previous 3 months. However, for out-of-country visitors and middle-class Mexicans it’s still a good deal. You are also definitely correct in that it is a beautiful place, great for swimming, with nice facilities. Thanks for calling us out on this one!
I once spent an amazing afternoon in that cenote. It was just me and a few friends and fellow tourists, for a total of maybe eight people. It was magical. I would love to go back one day. What a privilege to see such well-preserved natural beauty.
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