Slayville: Cancun Trip with Jen

"The 5 star Gran Caribe Real Resort & Spa – better than ever and stretching along a quarter mile of white sandy beach - is an awe-inspiring resort, where style and service come together in grand fashion. Situated in the heart of Cancun’s famed hotel zone, this Mediterranean-style resort provides a first class vacation experience, combining the renowned Mexican hospitality with Real Resorts unique brand of attentive service."

The city of Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula is home to the second oldest Cathedral in the New World, the Cathedral of San Ildefonso. Merida’s cathedral is built on top of the Mayan city of T’ho. Many of the stones used in the construction of the cathedral and other old structures in Merida were taken from the Mayan temples of this ancient city. Using the Maya as slaves, the Spanish forced them to destroy their own city and religious center to build a new one for their conquerors. Merida was established in 1542 and construction of the San Ildefonso Cathedral was started nineteen years later in 1561.

Kukulcán pyramid.
El Castillo's design is thought to relate to the Mayan calendar. Each of the four faces incorporates a broad, steep staircase consisting of 91 steps that ascends to the top platform. Counting the top platform as an additional step gives a total of 365 steps: 1step for each day of the year. The staircases rise at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizontal, while the average inclination of the stepped pyramid itself is 53.3 degrees. The faces of the individual steps are sloped at a greater angle, approximately 73 degrees.
The nine main platforms of the pyramid are thought to represent the 18 months of the haab, and the 52 panels represent the number of years it takes for a calendar round date to recur.