2004 July 7 nt. Graduation Cruise to the Western Caribbean with Angie on Carnival Elation: Progresso; Belize; Cozumel
July 4, 2004:
This was another mother/daughter trip. The excuse for this trip was celebration of her graduation from K-state the month before.
We got an early start to the day. Our
flight to Houston left at 6:30 am, so we were at the airport about 5:45.
We arrived in Houston about 8:30 where we retrieved our luggage, then
waited until 10:45 for our shuttle to Port Galveston to catch our cruise
ship, Carnival's Elation. One thing we discovered from this
cruise---when you cruise out of Texas, 90%+ of the passengers are down
home Texans! Lots of ye-haws and cowboy hats! Nothing wrong with that,
just found it interesting and amusing.
I picked this particular cruise for a
couple of reasons. I always heard about the great barrier reef by Belize
and wanted to snorkel there. The other reason was because I found a
travel agent selling that cruise on Ebay for $450@ + $150 onboard
credit.
And that's it for another great mother/daughter trip.
7-6-04 Chichen Itza
I'm not sure this town, Progresso, is going to make it as a cruise ship
port. There really isn't much here. That didn't bother us any, though,
for we had an all day excursion to Chichen Itza booked. We arranged for a
wake up call at 7am and had room service for breakfast shortly after
that. Since our excursion was to leave at 8 am, room service for
breakfast came in handy.
This was what we saw of Progresso from our buss window on our way out of town.
Our ride to Chichen Itza was about 2 hours each way.
Our cruise ship at the Progresso port
the huge cruise terminal
We had about 1 1/2 hour guided tour through Chichen Itza.
Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the
Maya civilization and is located in the northern center of the Yucatán
Peninsula, in the Yucatán state, present-day Mexico. The ruins are
divided into two groups. One group belongs to the classic Maya Period
and was built between the 7th and 10th centuries A.D., at which time the
city became a prominent ceremonial center. The other group corresponds
to the Maya-Toltec Period, from the later part of the 10th century to
the beginning of the 13th century A.D. This area includes the Sacred
Well and most of the outstanding ruins: porches, galleries, colonnades
and carvings depicting serpents, birds and Mexican gods. The Toltec
influenced the Itza in more ways than just architecture. They also
imposed their religion on the Itza, which meant human sacrifice on a
large scale. As the political base of Chichen-Itza expanded, the city
added even more spectacular buildings: the Observatory, Kukulcan's
Pyramid, the Temple of the Warriors, The Ball Court, and The Group of
the Thousand Columns.
The best known structure on the site is Kukulcan's Pyramid, a
square-based, stepped pyramid that is approximately 75 feet tall.
Kukulcan's Pyramid This
pyramid was built for astronomical purposes and during the vernal
equinox (March 20) and the autumnal equinox (September 21) at about 3
P.M.. the sunlight bathes the western balustrade of the pyramid's main
stairway, causing seven isosceles triangles forming the body of a 37
yard long serpent that creeps downwards until it joins the huge
serpent's head carved in stone at the bottom of the stairway. It also
makes an interesting hat in pictures!
the Great Ball Court is the largest ball court in ancient Mesoamerica.
It measures 166 by 68 meters (545 by 232 feet). The walls are 12 meters
high, and in the center, high up on each of the long walls, are rings
carved with intertwining serpents. Each end has a raised "temple" area. A
whisper from one end can be heard clearly at the other end 500 feet
away and through the length and width of the court. To this day the
aquostic principles here have not been explained.
Legends say that the the winning captain here would present his head to
the losing capitan, who then decapitates him. The Mayans believed this
to be the ultimate honor---the winning captian would get a direct ticket
to heaven instead of going through the 13 steps that the Mayan's
believed they had to go through in order to reach heaven..
At one end of the Great Ball Court is the North Temple, popularly called the Temple of the Bearded Man.
Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the second-most visited of Mexico's archaeological sites. In 2007, Chichen Itza's El Castillo was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
The Temple of the Warriors complex consists of a large stepped pyramid
fronted and flanked by rows of carved columns representing warriors.
Today the columns are exposed, but when the city was inhabited these
columns supported an extensive roof system. The square structure at the
southern end of the Temple of Warriors complex is theorized to have been
used as a marketplace, although archaeologists today believe that its
purpose was more for ceremony than sales.
The Mexican government excavated a tunnel from the base of the north
staircase of the Temple of Kukulkan, up the earlier pyramid’s stairway
to a hidden temple, and opened it to tourists.
Over the past several years, INAH, which manages the site, has been
closing monuments to public access. While visitors can walk around them,
they can no longer climb them or go inside their chambers. The most
recent was here, which was closed after a San Diego, Calif., woman fell
to her death in 2006. Since we were there in 2004, we did go up and down
the pyramid. It is EXTREMELY steep. I can see how someone could fall to
their death!
View of the market from atop the Temple of Kukulkan 
The inside chamber at the top of the temple
View towards the Great Ball Court
There was a section with a rope where lots of people sat
and scooted down while holding onto the rope, but we also saw kids
running down the steps. Definitely not something to attempt in flip
flops!
Although Progresso isn't a very impressive port, being able to take this excursion to Chichen Itza was really neat!
