Source: WTL© photo.
Notes: According to the Chilam Balam, a sacred Maya book or codex, Chichén Itzá was discovered by the Itzá Mayas in 435-455 C.E., and the site was occupied by them from 495 to 692 C.E. Then it was abandoned. In 948 the Itzá people returned to Chichén Itzá and joined forces with Uxmal and Mayapán, but once again Chichén Itzá was abandoned in 1204. The Conquistador Francisco Montejo, who founded the Spanish colonial city of Mérida and capital of Yucatán, occupied the site of Chichén Itzá for a while in the sixteenth century. The Iztá migrated back to their place of origin in Petén Itzá, Guatemala, where they were finally conquered in 1697 by Spanish forces.
The Chilam Balam is a handwritten collection of Mayan oral and written texts that was assempled in the 17th and 18th-centuries. It is written in the Yucatecan Mayan language. It is attributed to a legendary Mayan priest called Chilam Balam (chilam = priest and balam = jaguar).
This pyramid is 60 meters square and 24 meters high . At the top is the sacred temple used for human sacrifices. In Spanish, this pyramid is called the castillo (castle).
We shall climb the steep steps to the top of this pyramid.