Took a cruise in March of this year and got to check off a bucket list item
Went on a short 4 night cruise this March from Tampa over to Progreso, Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula.
The entire point of the cruise was to take an excursion to see Chichen Itza. 2 hour bus ride there, 90 minute guided tour, 2 hour bus ride back to Progreso.
It was hot as hell (coming from someone who has lived in Tampa for almost a decade), but the experience was incredible. Our tour guide was a local who still spoke some of the Mayan language, which he said many in that area still use. The Yucatan in general is interesting just because I didn't realize how flat it was, with very little for shade. The trees are relatively small.
The main photo is of El Castillo, the Mayan pyramid. However, when we were walking around we saw the area in my second photo. The Warriors Temple, surrounded by columns. At the top of the Warriors Temple the guide told us that there was in fact a large stone table that was reserved for ritual human sacrifice.
He then made an off hand comment that most of the info they were able to learn from Chichen Itza was from excavation, because many of the Mayan texts did not survive as ages passed. The other issue was European conquest, in which many historical items were taken and brought back to Europe.
One of those items was specifically from Chichen Itza, a book of sorts, that dated back to the 11th century. One of the oldest of it's kind, believed to have been written around 1200-1250, and possibly a recreation of an older text at the time.
The book vanished from history for a while until it was rediscovered in 1739 in Germany, in the city of Dresden. And that is where it remains to this day.
I thought that connection was pretty cool. Sorry for the long winded post.