Cobá

Last Thursday we toured the Mayan city of Cobá. The ruins were amazing.

We got to see the courts where they used to play their ball game:





I thought this was really cool, because I remember learning about this game way back in middle school. They played with a big rubber ball, which they hit with various parts of their bodies and had to pass through the hoop. Rubber balls are really hard, so I imagine these athletes were pretty tough. In school we learned that different communities would use the game as a substitute for warfare to settle disagreements, and that the losers were sacrificed. But our tour guide last week said that perhaps the winners were sacrificed, since to be sacrificed was a great honor. So who knows.

What's pretty awesome about Cobá is that, unlike at Chichen Itza, tourists can still climb one of the pyramids. So we did :D Here's the view from the top:





There's a second pyramid visible in the above photos, but you might have to click on them and look at the larger versions to see it.





And the view from the bottom:





They told us it's the highest pyramid on the entire Yucatán Peninsula. I don't know if that's true or not, but it definitely is high, and very steep!

Here's a little more information about Cobá from the sign there: