Chichen Itza, Ek Balam and Swimming in a Cenote

December 11, 2013

Today we went to two ruins, Chichen Itza and Ek Balam. We were picked up by Helaman from Helaman Tours at 6:50 am. We then drove north about 30 mins to pick up a family of 3 (The Anderson Family) at their hotel. They were from Cottonwood Heights, UT. They were there with their 8 year old daughter, Isabelle. We then we drove 2 ½ hours to Ek Balam.

Two days before we left I got the website for Helaman Tours. My visiting teacher had mentioned they used them before and it was awesome. So I sent an email asking to get a tour. We were able to get this one today. Helaman was amazing with all of his knowledge. He has been giving tours his whole life. He has 8 brothers and sisters. His parents joined the church after his 2 oldest siblings were born. After they joined the church his parents named all of the rest of their children after Book of Mormon prophets. Helaman, Alma, Mormon, Lehi, Ruth, Nephi and Lemuel. His brother and children help give tours during the busy season.

Ek Balam is a smaller ruin than Chichen Itza. It was not very busy, just a couple other tours going also. It was out in the middle of nowhere, all by itself. Helaman talked to us for about an hour in the van ride there about what we would be looking at. He had us read some scriptures out of the Bible and Book of Mormon to show us what he was talking about. This prepped us for what we would see at the ruins.

We talked about these ruins being 600 A.D. Prior to that, the ruins that were built during the times of the Nephites did not have carvings or idols. They were very plain. The reason they didn’t is because of this scripture: Exodus 20:25. It talks about how they shouldn’t build it of hewn stone. And also because they were commanded not to worship idols. We also talked about the meaning of Kukulkan, which means “Feathered Serpent.” “Feathered Serpent” represents the flying serpents which represents Jesus Christ. It means “good and protector”. Helaman told us about Chaac, the rain god. We would see both of these at the ruins. That is who they prayed to for rain at Chichen Itza. At Ek Balam they learned how to capture rain in large cisterns to collect and hold water for a period of time. In the rainy seasons the ground is very lush and green like we saw today. In the summer it is very dry and brown.

At both ruins they have an outer and inner wall, just like Solomon’s temple. The high priest and their families lived inside the wall at times of peace and the other people of the community lived outside of the wall. If it was a time of war they lived on the inside of the wall and used it as a fortress.

(David is next to the outer wall, inner wall behind him)

At Ek Balam they had an altar inside the gate where you walk up the ramp (no stairs so you don’t show your nakedness, Exodus 20:26). There were 2 bowls on either side of the altar where they washed their feet upon entering.

(The altar with the ramp, place to wash your feet and stairs on the side of the altar)

Each temple had an alter for sacrifice, a round circular pool foundation and 2 or 3 rooms, one of which could have been considered the holy of holies.

At Ek Balam when you come to the main temple there are 6 doors to the right of the stairs and 6 doors to the left, which could mean the twelve tribes of Israel. Walking up the stairs to the top is where you enter into the 2 rooms and go through the veil to the 3^rd room.

The Mayan people believed there were 3 degrees of glory. Faith being the lowest, then hope, then Charity being the highest degree. Helaman explained that this could be why Moroni says in the Book of Mormon that without charity you cannot enter into the highest degree of glory, the Celestial Kingdom.

There was a game that the Mayan people played. It looks like basketball, with 2 places of rock cut out on either side for a hoop. There was one winner. The winner played to sacrifice his life. Some archeologists believe that it was the loser that they sacrificed. Helaman believed it was the winner that they sacrificed, taking the best to represent Christ. They would cut off his head and take it to the top of the temple and give it for an offering. They found many skulls in the temples when they restored the ruins.

We stayed at Ek Balam for 1 ½ hours then we went to Chichen Itza 45 mins away. We stopped at a market for a snack of tamales wrapped in banana leaves and smoked pork on the way. It was amazing!

Chichen Itza was VERY touristy. I didn’t like that part of it! It was huge! So many ruins. It was amazing. The same symbolisms that were at Ek Balam were on these ruins too. We could not walk up the stairs here though.

Helaman showed us a beehive that was inside a tree. You could see the bees coming out. These bees looked like ants on your finger. Yes, you could touch them because they had NO STINGERS! I didn’t know there were any with out stingers! Wouldn’t these be a lot nicer to bring to America on the barges the Jaredites came on? I always wondered how they gathered up bees and honey comb without getting stung. Maybe they brought these bees over…These bees are only in India and the Yucatan.

We drove down the road a ways to a cenote. It is a sink hole with water at the bottom. This one was 150 feet deep! It was so fun to swim around in. We got there at a good time. There were a LOT of tour buses with groups of people (probably came from Chichen Itza too) going to swim in the cenote as we were leaving.