COBA WAS AWESOME

I know to lead the June 17 blog with a picture of McDonald's is a little odd and certainly out of the norm. However, we went there today. Collin savored every bite of his chicken nuggets. To the kids, this was the meal they had been waiting for for more than a week. After a long hot day of climbing pyramids and walking around the ruins of Coba even I have to admit - it hit the spot.

The other big happening today was the win for Mexico in the World Cup. To Sydney's dismay France lost to Mexico nil to 2. With each goal scored, you could hear erruptions of cheers from people congregated in small restaurants/bars/houses. People were honking their horns, shouting and screaming, hootin' and a hawlerin'. It was really fun to see these people get behind their team. It is the first time they have ever beaten France. I bet they were celebrating all night long on 5th Avenue.
This is the cutest, most adorable 7-year-old ever. She seems so happy. More on this later. Just remember the happiness on her face.
When you first walk in to Coba, you see this crumbling, pyramid structure. The main pyramid is a mile down the road.
They only let you walk up 15 feet of it.
Natalie and Collin looking around at all the stuff there is to see when you walk in the park.
Collin and Sydney climbing on ruins.
Natalie and the kids under the Mayan Arch. This is a cool arch that can be seen around many of the Maya ruin sites. It is amazing that even without a keystone which was used in European architecture, it has remained intact for hundreds and hundreds of years. In this case it is a tunnel that even supports the entire structure.

Jay is in the middle of the ball court. There are two courts located at Coba, both of them very small compared to ones at Uxmal and Chichen Itza.
This is another Mayan arch.
Natalie and the ball courts.
The ball courts are about 50 feet long and 30 feet across. The Mayans could only use there knees, elbows, and hips to put the rubber ball through the hoop. The losers were sacrificed to the gods.
Oh yes, the most adorable child. She is madder than a hornet at this stage of the walk. She went from "this is the best day ever" to rivaling Hurricane Andrew as nature's most destructive force - in about 10 minutes.

This is the view from the great COBA Pyramid. It looks a lot like a more famous structure we will see later in Uxmal with it's curved edges. It used to be considered the tallest in Mexico built much like the ruins in Tikal and other cities in Guatemala - very tall and narrow. However is now known to be 2nd tallest - still a towering presence of about 12 stories.

Collin and Jay climbed it first. Collin counted to tell us there are 111 steps. What a spectacular view from the top! Climbing up the pyramid was easy. Getting down the pyramid was the concern since it is steep and the steps are very uneven and slippery.

You can see for miles and the pictures don't do it justice.
Collin on top of the pyramid. There were too many people around to feel comfortable with having an 8 year on top of 150 foot structure. And the thought of getting down was certainly burdensome.
You can see the crumbling pyramidal structure from the entrance.
I bet the Maya certainly enjoyed the sunsets and sunrises from this vantage point.
This is a look down from the pyramid. Again, getting up the 111 step pyramid was easy, getting down a little more difficult.
Picture from the bottom of the pyramid. Yes, we used the rope.
Picture of the family at the base of the great pyramid.
These are stela. It is basically a book written on a stone tablet. They were very similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs.
This was an original score card or score board for the ball court said to have the date of 465 inscribed on it.
The kids at the ball court. You can see the ring in which the ball had to pass to score a point.