Chichen Itza – a quick tour
I recently visited the Mayan complexes of Chichen Itza and Tulum, both located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. I took my video camera and had to pay a small fee to shoot video at Chichen Itza. At Tulum, I was not even allowed to bring the camera into the archeological park. Like many governments in this crazy world, the Mexican Govt. was trying to control information of a previous empire, and make money off of it. The economics of this policy I think are naive. Are people going to see my video, and say to themselves “Well, now that I’ve seen it, I guess I don’t need to visit” – I hope the Mexican Govt. would understand this to be a rhetorical question. In Chichen Itza, I was stopped during shooting because I also had a small tripod. Apparently you have to get another permit for a tripod because at that point it’s getting “commercial.”
Take a look at my quick tour of Chichen Itza and then go visit the place. Oh, and tell ‘em Doug sent you! Who knows, maybe they’ll let me shoot more of “their” amazing prehistory.