at the mouth of the well

at the mouth of the well

of the wizard of water, 

a Maya woman 

hawks her hand-embroidered

floral handkerchiefs

The ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá is now populated by hordes of tourists and Maya locals hawking their wares of hand-embroidered handkerchiefs, hand-carved masks, obsidian daggers and the ubiquitous T-shirts with the image of the pyramid of Kukulkan, the feathered serpent deity.

          The pyramid, constructed around 1050, was probably used as a calendar. The four sides face the four directions and each has 91 steps. Including the top step, this adds up to 365 steps, the number of days of the year. The step pyramid beckons one to climb its nine terraces to the temple at the top. Unfortunately, the pyramid has been closed for climbing since 2006 when a woman from California fell to her death.     

          Death was no stranger to the ancient Maya. The Yucatán peninsula is an arid region where all rivers run underground. When the limestone roof above a river collapses, it forms a sinkhole, called a cenote, which looks like a huge open well. In ancient Maya,  Chichén Itzá means "at the mouth of the well of the wizard of water." During times of drought, the people of Chichén Itzá made sacrificial offerings to Sagrado Cenote, the sacred cenote, which provided life-giving water to the citizens. Materials recovered from the cenote include gold, obsidian, jade, pottery, shell, wood, rubber, cloth and the skeletons of men and children.