Team Equipt's "Central America Expedition"
- Thread starter benedmonson
- Start date
benedmonson
Disabled Adventurer
Team Equipt's "Expedition Mundo Maya"
After leaving Tulum we headed for the rock star famous ruins of "Chichen Itza!" These ruins have had superstars like Sir Elton John, Sarah Brightman and Luciano Pavarotti play live concerts with massive light shows at their base. These ruins are now officially labeled as the 7th Wonder of the World. Well that was enough for Team Equipt to get inspired and to make the drive as well as fight the massive crowds which can reach over 10,000 pressed khaki pant wearing tourist per day!!! Our plan was to camp in the parking lot or as close as possible so we can be first in to the ruins. We were not about to deal with the massive tourist influx that started about 10 a.m.
We were able to camp about a mile away in the parking lot of an old motel called the Piramid Inn in the town of Piste. It was not bad for 100 pesos per night per vehicle as it included a beautiful swimming pool and restrooms. It is here where we met Kyle who owns Pop Top Heaven in his sweet Westy Syncro. We had already got camp setup when he and his friend girl drove by looking for a place to camp. Kyle told me later that he always looks for overlanders when traveling down here. We had a great night and swapped beers, tequila and stories of great boon docking along the Yucatan.
Chichen Itza means "the mouth of the well" as they are situated on 2 cenotes. These ruins were at their height from about 600 A.D. to 1200 A.D. and are located in the Yucatan state of Mexico.
The main structure located right near the entrance. It was massive and totally blew us away, this was not our first mayan ruin and we were impressed!
There are over 1,000 stone pillars through out the site that once held up roofs for all of the event and market areas. They are everywhere you look.
A closer look at the pillars all with their own writings on them.
The ball court is the largest in the Mayan world. You could fit 25 of the smaller ball courts in this one, it is huge!
It is very well preserved and I'm thinking there was no dunking at Chichen Itza.
There are lots of serpent heads in these ruins and this particular one over looks the ball court.
LARGE!
The main pyramid again.
A little closer look.
There were more vendors than you could imagine, but this one had a great sense of humor!
They swore that this stuff wasn't made in China....
There were writings everywhere, these people had a lot of time on their hands.
More serpent heads...
There actually was a staircase up to the balcony that overlooked the ball court. This obviously was for royalty, you think???
After leaving Tulum we headed for the rock star famous ruins of "Chichen Itza!" These ruins have had superstars like Sir Elton John, Sarah Brightman and Luciano Pavarotti play live concerts with massive light shows at their base. These ruins are now officially labeled as the 7th Wonder of the World. Well that was enough for Team Equipt to get inspired and to make the drive as well as fight the massive crowds which can reach over 10,000 pressed khaki pant wearing tourist per day!!! Our plan was to camp in the parking lot or as close as possible so we can be first in to the ruins. We were not about to deal with the massive tourist influx that started about 10 a.m.
We were able to camp about a mile away in the parking lot of an old motel called the Piramid Inn in the town of Piste. It was not bad for 100 pesos per night per vehicle as it included a beautiful swimming pool and restrooms. It is here where we met Kyle who owns Pop Top Heaven in his sweet Westy Syncro. We had already got camp setup when he and his friend girl drove by looking for a place to camp. Kyle told me later that he always looks for overlanders when traveling down here. We had a great night and swapped beers, tequila and stories of great boon docking along the Yucatan.
Chichen Itza means "the mouth of the well" as they are situated on 2 cenotes. These ruins were at their height from about 600 A.D. to 1200 A.D. and are located in the Yucatan state of Mexico.
The main structure located right near the entrance. It was massive and totally blew us away, this was not our first mayan ruin and we were impressed!
There are over 1,000 stone pillars through out the site that once held up roofs for all of the event and market areas. They are everywhere you look.
A closer look at the pillars all with their own writings on them.
The ball court is the largest in the Mayan world. You could fit 25 of the smaller ball courts in this one, it is huge!
It is very well preserved and I'm thinking there was no dunking at Chichen Itza.
There are lots of serpent heads in these ruins and this particular one over looks the ball court.
LARGE!
The main pyramid again.
A little closer look.
There were more vendors than you could imagine, but this one had a great sense of humor!
They swore that this stuff wasn't made in China....
There were writings everywhere, these people had a lot of time on their hands.
More serpent heads...
There actually was a staircase up to the balcony that overlooked the ball court. This obviously was for royalty, you think???
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Chichen Itza means "the mouth of the well" as they are situated on 2 cenotes.
The main pyramid again.
Wow, 2 $100 bills are hidden under Chichen Itza? That's some good trivia! :sombrero:
Fantastic cloud capture!
Ray Hyland
Expedition Leader
The Bird in the two Pyramid shots was cool. Were you trying for that, or was it just serendipitous?
TemboTusk
Rendezvous Con
For us mere mortals, it was the 15th shot of that pyramid and the damn bird kept getting in the way; after that, I just gave up.
.
For Ben: he saw the bird lift off far in the distance and just knew instinctively it was heading for the top of the pyramid. He calmly adjusted his camera, turned the dial to manual, set the f-stop to 9, lowered the speed to catch a bit of motion in the wings and confidently clicked those two frames. Not only did he get the bird in mid flight as it landed on the pyramid, he waited for the jet airliner to pass behind the bird as not to mar his shot.
.
... but then again, he might have just gotten lucky!
benedmonson
Disabled Adventurer
Actually Jerry it was F8 and BTW I was standing on my killer Tembo Tusk Fridge Slide for just a little more added height!:sombrero::sombrero::sombrero:
Ray, damn bird wouldn't get out of my way so I decided to just make it part of the shot......:ylsmoke::ylsmoke::ylsmoke:
TemboTusk
Rendezvous Con
Ruined Adventures
Brenton Cooper
You guys must've had VIP passes at Cheeze n' Pizza to be able to park that close to El Castillo :coffeedrink:
mtntrekker
Observer
Ben,
Dee and I visited Chichen Itza when we were in Cancun over New Years. I can see why it is the 7th Wonder of the World. It is the most impressive place we have been except for the Grand Canyon. I would love to see all the Mayan ruins in Mexico, but that will a future trip. Your expedition has been impressive to say the least. Will want to hear about it at the Expo.
Dale & Dee
Dee and I visited Chichen Itza when we were in Cancun over New Years. I can see why it is the 7th Wonder of the World. It is the most impressive place we have been except for the Grand Canyon. I would love to see all the Mayan ruins in Mexico, but that will a future trip. Your expedition has been impressive to say the least. Will want to hear about it at the Expo.
Dale & Dee
benedmonson
Disabled Adventurer
Just stop by our Equipt booth at EXPO as you know I just love to talk!!!:sombrero::sombrero::sombrero:
benedmonson
Disabled Adventurer
Team Equipt's "Expedition Mundo Maya"
Oops, it looks like we missed our end date of Feb. 15th!:sombrero: So in the spirit of overland travel we are extending it to May 1st or so.........:ylsmoke:
Looks like once we make our way up to our buddies John & Julie's la casa near the beach in Sayulita we are going to attempt to learn spanish for 6 or so weeks!:costumed-smiley-007:costumed-smiley-007:costumed-smiley-007
Learning a second language has always been a dream.......
Oops, it looks like we missed our end date of Feb. 15th!:sombrero: So in the spirit of overland travel we are extending it to May 1st or so.........:ylsmoke:
Looks like once we make our way up to our buddies John & Julie's la casa near the beach in Sayulita we are going to attempt to learn spanish for 6 or so weeks!:costumed-smiley-007:costumed-smiley-007:costumed-smiley-007
Learning a second language has always been a dream.......
Last edited:
dughall
New member
The weird unexplained to us stone structures in the waters edge. Limestone I'm assuming and they are slippery like it. One of our team members took a complete face dive when stepping on one!
These structures are Giant Stromatolites (or microbialites) which I think are a special kind of bacteria/algae that produce - exactly - Limestone. Apparently they are a very special feature at Laguna Bacalar and considered to "represent the earliest life form discovered on Earth". Check out http://www.lagunabacalarinstitute.com for more info - very interesting!
Please keep up with your awesome thread and pictures - I love it!
Greetings from Austria, M
benedmonson
Disabled Adventurer
"LIKE" Equipt Expedition Outfitters on Facebook
Just a quick FYI, if you do use Facebook and haven't "Liked" us so far please consider doing so! We can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Equipt-Expedition-Outfitters/154237711256356?ref=tn_tnmn
Or search Equipt Expedition Outfitters
Thanks,
Team Equipt:sombrero:
Just a quick FYI, if you do use Facebook and haven't "Liked" us so far please consider doing so! We can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Equipt-Expedition-Outfitters/154237711256356?ref=tn_tnmn
Or search Equipt Expedition Outfitters
Thanks,
Team Equipt:sombrero: