You've seen the Pyramid on countless tourism brochures, but what do you really know about the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá and it's magnificent pyramid? Did you know it's built over a cenote, a natural water-filled sinkhole? Have you heard the legend of the Toltec king from Central Mexico who might have conquered the city in 987?

To help explore the answers, Robert Bitto from the Mexico Unexplained podcast appears with his take on the mysteries of the pyramid. We also talk about the Spanish archbishop who first described the city after having burned nearly all Mayan writings and the wild rush that was 2012, the apocalypse that didn't quite come off.

Join us for some cochinita pibil as we talk about the Yucatán!

Sources:

Carlsen, William.  Jungle of Stone: the True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya

Fehrenbach, TR. Fire and Blood: a History of Mexico

Hecht, John. Lonely Planet: Cancún, Cozumel & the Yucatán

Landa, Diego de.  Yucatan Before and After the Conquest

Onstott, Jane. National Geographic Traveler: Mexico

Prado, Liza and Gary Chandler. Moon Handbook: Yucatán Peninsula

Schele, Linda. The Code of Kings: the Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs

Stephens, John L. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan

Weaver, Muriel Porter. The Aztec, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica

Webster, David L. The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Maya Collapse

Music by Los Tres Reyes, Los Montejo, Victor Manuel Aarón Sánchez, and Hidalgo Tzec Haas

Photograph by wikipedia user Cocojorgefalcon