Chichen Itza (an ancient Mayan city that was about 6 square miles at its peak). Visitors today only see about 5-10 percent of the original city. This city was inhabited about 600-1100 AD. When the europeans first arrived in the 1500's Chichen Itza was already deserted long ago. Unfortunately, the Spaniards took many of the blocks from the ruins and used them to build villages and churches. This made it very difficult to re-construct some of the ancient ruins.

The pyramid in this photo 'Kulkulkan', has an amazing characteristic. Every year on the equinox, the sun shines through the pyramid such that it casts a shadow of a snake with head that moves down the side of the pyramid and into the earth. This represents the snake god entering the earth and making it fertile on the equinox.

This is a picture of Gail standing next to another ruin in Chichen Itza. This ruin was called the temple of a thousand columns (or something like that). To the right were many columns that possibly supported a thatched roof. This area was probably an open air market in its day.