First dayChichén Itzá TourChichén Itzá is located in the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala and extends into the Yucatan peninsula with the mysterious temples and pyramids of the Mayan people. The ancient city whose name means "at the mouth of the Itzáe Well", was, in its period of greatness (between 800 and 1200 AD), the center of political, religious and military power of the Yucatán, if not of all southeastern Mesoamerica. While Europe was still in the Middle Ages, the Mayan people had developed the only true writing system native to the Americas and were masters of mathematics. They invented the calendars we use today. Without metal tools or wheels, they were able to build cities in a vast jungle landscape with an astonishing degree of architectural perfection and variety. Their stone legacy, which has survived spectacularly in places such as Palenque, Tikal, Tulum, Chichén Itzá, Copan, and Uxmal, survives as do the seven million descendants of the classical Maya civilization. The Maya are probably the best known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rainforest and, where groundwater was scarce, building considerable underground tanks for rainwater storage. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and opened roads through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples. This city is divided into two main areas. Chichén Viejo (Old Chichén) and Chichén Nuevo (New Chichén). Chichén Viejo was founded around 400 AD by the Maya and ruled by priests. Here the architecture is characterized by numerous representations of the god Chaac, the Mayan god of rain. Chichén Nuevo began around 850 AD with the arrival of the Itzá from central Mexico. The city was rebuilt by the Itzá and is characterized by images of the god Kukulcán, the feathered serpent. Around 1150 AD a new wave of Itzá took control of the city and ruled for another 150 years until Chichén Itzá was finally conquered by the rival city of Mayapan. Chichén Itzá was suddenly abandoned around 1400 AD perhaps due to infighting or lack of food. There are many theories but no one knows for sure.