As I stated on Friday, I am in Cancun this week! I’m hanging out with my mom and sister and spending a girls’ week catching up, eating, sightseeing, and shopping. It’s been a fun and wonderful trip so far. I absolutely love Cancun and yesterday’s excursion to Chichen Itza is definitely one of the trip’s best highlights.
On July 7, 2007, the New7Wonders Foundation announced a “new” set of the Seven Wonders of the World in order to update the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World concept with a modern list of wonders. In case you were wondering, they are:
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Christ Redeemer, Brazil
The Great Wall, China
Machu Picchu, Peru
Petra, Jordan
The Roman Colosseum, Italy
The Taj Mahal, India
Chichen Itza is an ancient Mayan capital, about 120 miles west of Cancun in the jungles of the Yucatan, a trip of about 2 ½ hours. It is one of the largest and best preserved archeological sites in Mexico.
What makes Chichen Itza so special is to see this archaeological site and understand that while Europe was still in the midst of the Dark Ages, the amazing Mayan people had an incredible understanding of the solar system, were masters of mathematics, evolved the only true writing system native to the Americas and were the ones that invented the calendars we use today. Brilliant people with amazing foresight!
Another phenomenon: at one of the structures, El Castillo (also known as the Pyramid of Kukulcan), a natural phenomenon occurs each year during the Spring Equinox: the sunlight creates a shadow image of a plumed serpent descending down the pyramid’s stairs. This unique experience draws about 30,000 people from all over the world on this day.
We were lucky to be there for the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, on Tuesday, June 21st, where the South and West sides are in total darkness between 7 -7:30am. Of course, we were not there to see it, but were still thrilled to be there on an eventful date.
It was a wonderful excursion and I definitely recommend that it should be on your list of things to see! Personally, I’m on a mission to see the 7 wonders of the world above! I can now cross off 4 of the wonders, so I have 3 left to go!
Who’s up for a trip with me?
No Ugly Duckling 