The burning Mexico sun was already draping down upon us at only 7:30 in the morning. “Are we there yet?” I stammered.
“We’re almost there,” my mom replied.
We had been walking for merely fifteen minutes and I was already exhausted and could feel my skin burning like I had just ate a batch of blazing hot chili peppers. We were enclosed by miles and miles of jungle, the gigantic sun that was hanging over our heads, and countless tourists. As we got nearer and nearer, I was able to get glimpses of the tops of the pyramids over the canopy of trees. Ten minutes later, my family and I came across a sign that was written in Spanish. None of us knew what it meant until a tour guide came along. He told us it meant, Welcome to Chichén Itzá! At that moment, I figured that we were finally here.
I swiftly took out my camera and began taking random snap shots of the Mayan pyramids. You could see that every one-in-five people were also taking pictures of what was ahead of us. We were still quite a distance away, but it didn’t look as big as it was said to be. People from all around came just to see this? I thought to myself. What a rip off. Despite my selfish thoughts, we strolled closer and closer and the tiny temple grew to a height of a ten story building. Before we knew it, we were already standing at the base of the gigantic temple. There had to be at least forty steps leading up to the top of the pyramid. I was just about to step forward onto the first stair step, but someone jolted my shoulder and caused me to drop back on my behind.

“You are not allowed to climb this pyramid!” some tour guide hissed at me. “It is now forbidden to climb up due to deaths and for attempts to preserve this National Landmark.”
Well, ok then, I thought to myself. It made sense that they blocked it off considering the fact that the steps were crumbling into tiny stones and chalk. The steps also had to been only about five inches wide, barley big enough to hold half my foot! Even though the best part of our trip to Chichen Itza was blocked off, there was still much to see.

Sweat was now dripping down from my hair line as I stood impatiently waiting for this tour guide to stop chatting. It was like I had just run the mile in record timing. Half the time I didn’t even understand what he was talking about, so I just stared and nodded my head. When we finally started to move on, our next stop was the Great Ball Court. It was a colossal field filled with tourists’ ooing and aahing at the great metal rings hanging at the very top of the side walls. The field was filled to the max. It was as crowded as an amusement park on a humid summer day. You couldn’t move an inch in that madness! However, when the lines of people cleared out, it was actually quite interesting to amble around the court. We saw where the fans would sit and where the player dug outs were located. In addition, we had the chance to see the stone table where the winners’ heads would be chopped off in honor of the Mayan King as a sacrifice. Just like in those old time fairy tales, the Mayan King would shout “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!” Yikes! That right there made my day!

The scorching heat slowly crept down as the day went on. The masses of people began trickling out gates headed back to the massive castles they call hotels. Another great day in Mexico was coming to an end with much done in the hours we were awake. The moon was glistening from above us and all you could hear where howler monkeys chirping from a distance. We limped back to the bus with sore feet and sunburned shoulders. Although, we were anxious to feel the cool air surround us on the air conditioned bus. The two hour bus ride back to our Villa in Puerto Morelos, Mexico was spent dozing in and out of sleep having nightmares of my head being chopped off by the ancient Mayans. ¡Buenas Noches!