The Slow Road
Two Women Wandering the World
The main temple at Chichen Itza, one of the largest Mayan cities in Mexico, which flourished from about 700 to 1,000 AD
Chris walks through one of the many ball courts at Chichen Itza
The game required hitting a heavy rubber ball through a ring high on the wall
Serpent carvings on the ball ring
A jaguar-shaped throne next to the ball court
Chichen Itza was originally a colorful place, painted in shades of red, blue, and green. A few of the carvings still have their original pigment.
A ritual platform covered in carved skulls
The biggest temple at Chichen Itza, known as El Castillo (the castle)
Some of the sides of the temple are less well preserved than others
Serpent heads at the base of a staircase on El Castillo
A carved face in profile
Jaguars are common motifs here
The Temple of the Jaguars
The city had several cenotes, natural sinkholes that expose the water table under the limestone bedrock. They provided fresh water and were ritual places where objects and people were sacrificed to the Mayas' watery underworld.
A local woman, who is probably of Mayan descent herself, lays out textiles for sale on the path to the cenote
The face of a god carved on the corner of a small temple
A jaguar and an eagle holding human hearts
A ceremonial platform with carved animal heads
A carved figure in an elaborate headdress holding a human head and surrounded by serpents
These columns once supported wooden or thatched roofs
Faces of beak-nosed gods carved on a building
The only circular tower at Chichen Itza, this is thought to be an observatory whose openings are aligned to the path of Venus
An unusually shaped pyramid at Coba, another ancient Mayan city in the Yucatan Peninsula
Mayan architects built arches from layers of flat stones, each projecting a little farther than the layer below it.
Coba's ball courts are smaller than those at Chichen Itza and have sloping walls
Coba is more forested than Chichen Itza, and many of its ruins are still partly covered in trees
The 137-foot Nohoch Mul Pyramid, one of the few Mayan ruins that visitors are allowed to climb
The view from the top of the pyramid
Bright bougainvillea
A blurry picture of a fast-moving coatimundi, a raccoon-like animal native to Mexico
