Is it... breathing?

March 13, 2019

The really big temple in at the back, to the right. So many stairs!

My husband and I want to go see some of the amazing Mayan temples/ruins we have heard so much about. Everyone talks about the famous Chichen Itza. Our good friend Laura LaBrie says that the Ek Balam site is also a must-see. She has been there recently.

So we went to Ek Balam first, and I would recommend it over Chichen Itza. It's quieter, not so busy, no crazy vendors everywhere we went, and best of all: in Ek Balam you can climb up the structures.
There are two cenote/sinkholes at Chichen Itza, however you can't swim in them. There is a very large one at Ek Balam where people go to swim.
The ancient-ness of it all really struck me as we walked up to the entrance through a second path, after paying for the tickets. Looking at that first building it really struck me. These people carved some civilization out of the jungle. Then the jungle reclaimed it all. There is a lot still hidden by a Nature that cares not for the aspirations of men and their concrete dreams.

Ek Balam started around 100 A.D. if you believe everything you read by the experts on the world wide web. On mayasites.com it says it's one of the largest structures ever excavated in the Yucatan.

First we climbed the smaller temple, gazing across the ball-playing field at the bigger temple.
We explored as we went. We walked around the big temple and there are multiple rooms along the front of the temple (we didn't really have access to the sides and back). Each room has it's own stone doorway, and isn't very big, and were not identical. We went inside most of them, now I wish we had detailed every one.
We were broiling hot, it was around 100 degrees that day. We went in another of the doorways and I had to rest my hands on my knees and take some deep breaths. Unlike the other rooms, there was a hole designed into the wall. Curious. It was pitch black in there, but my intrigue lit the way. Well that, and the flashlight app on my cell phone. Inside was a room only as wide as the opening in the wall, and not very long. It looks like someone at some point may have lit a fire in there. I could not fit through that opening, but the Mayan people who still live in this area are much smaller than me. Many are under 5 feet tall. I wish I was that small. See those stairs at the end of the little room? I would give anything to see where they go. But that's not even the interesting part.
See the first picture below? Does it, or does it not look like a mouth? I didn't realize this until after our trip and we looked at the picture we had taken. I think it looks like a mouth, but that may be because it appeared to be breathing. Seriously. No, it wasn't heat stroke yet. The thing is, as we were first investigating it my husband said: come and stand right here. The reason why he had me stand in front of the opening was because a cool breeze was coming out of it, and I really needed that. Then the breeze stopped. Then there was a breeze again. We noted that it came and went in a rhythmic pattern. It was delightful, because it was like air conditioning that came with a revolving fan. I said: doesn't it seem like this temple is breathing? It's the Black Jaguar temple, anything seems possible.
It was amazing. I have decided that just because there is probably some kind of scientific and structural/architectural explanation does not mean that there can't also be a mystical aspect to this phenomena.
This first picture shows what the rooms basically looked like. Not very wide, and longer than they are wide.

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This is what the inside looks like. Why would there be stairs to a mostly sealed off room? If there was a full doorway at some point, then why only seal up part of it and not all of it? I wish there was a breeze outside, but there wasn't. Even if there was, it wouldn't create an even cycle of air flow in the building, would it? Now I just really want to go back, well hydrated and ready to take a closer look at this. We probably will!

This is more of the entire site, it was amazing to behold. All the work it must have taken, everything done with great purpose and monumental effort. Not to mention incredible planning.

It must have been astoundingly impressive in it's time. I can only imagine from the fragments left standing today.

This area is called the ball-field. I want to learn more about what kind of game it was, even the guess of the experts must be quite interesting.

I can't get enough of the mystery and the history of Ek Balam.

Oh the ancient memories echoing noiselessly off of these specifically placed stones that created a place to live, or work, or play, and/or drive me loca with curiosity.