From the port in Progreso, Mexico, we’re taking a short flight into the Yucatan penninsula to visit the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza today. It’s going to be an eight-hour excursion – a lot of walking, a lot of flying. You’ve probably seen the site a thousand times through photographs or in produced video segments – but what about in person?

One of the most dramatically beautiful of the ancient Maya cities, Chichen Itza was discovered by Europeans in the mid-1800s, and much here remains a mystery. Experts have little information about who the Itzas might have been, and the reason they abandoned the city around 1224 is also unknown.

The sight of the immense El Castillo pyramid, rising imposingly yet gracefully from the surrounding plain, has been known to produce goose pimples on sight. The pyramid dominates the site both in size and in the symmetry of its perfect proportions. Open-jawed serpents adorn the corners of each of the pyramid’s four stairways, honoring the legendary priest-king Kukulcan (also known as Quetzalcoatl), an incarnation of the feathered serpent god.

On the Anexo del Templa de los Jaguares, just west of El Castillo, bas-relief carvings represent more important deities. On the bottom of the columns is the rain god Tlaloc. It’s no surprise that his tears represent rain – but why is the Toltec god Tlaloc honored here, instead of the Maya rain god, Charac?

At 490 feet, the juego de pelota is the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. Yet if you stand at one end of the playing field and whisper something to a friend at the other end, incredibly, you will be heard.

El Caracol is one of the few round bulidings built by the Maya, with a spiral staircase within. It’s clearly a celestial observatory.

The Groupo de las Monjas has some of the site’s most exquisite facades. A combination of Puuc and Chenes styles dominates here.

The Plaza de Mil Columnas, in typical Toltec-Maya style, once had a roof covering the parallel rows of round stone columns in a long arcade.

They honored a serpent god? Interesting. They built a celestial observatory? Fascinating. Now I wish I had brushed up on “ancient astronaut” lore before coming – if only to heighten my sense of wonder.