Mayan Pyramid

[cali]

http://static.flickr.com/33/99880004_6afca23e96_b.jpgTook this with my 20D.

[webejamn]

very nice, i like that there are only a couple of people in it,
and i like the tree as well...

[Duder]

nice shot. this is somewhere I want to visit someday.

[cali]

Thanks. I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

[sparker1]

Great composition, cali. I like the placement of the tree, and the sky is dynamite. is this at Tulum? I've been there, but never to Chichen Itza.

[rudgej]

It's a place that I would love to visit. In some ways, the people help as they give a sense of scale to the size of the thing. I presume from the barrier that you're not allowed to climb up it?

[Becca]

Beautiful shot! I would love to visit there someday. Like Stan, I've been to Tulum, but I've never been to Chichen Itza.

[adam*]

Nice shot, another place I'd love to go!

[webejamn]

i went to the ones out side of mexico city, there were 2 of them there, but thats the only ones i have seen

[Dimitri_V]

Superb , the colour needs a wee boost though.

[Balliolman]

Good shot though cropping away a lot of the sky would add to the impact ...

[cali]

Thanks guys. Sparker, it is in Chichen-Itza. The reason why you couldn't climb up was because some lady fell down the steps and died a few weeks prior to my visit. I shot it in paremeter 1 but from what I hear parameter 2 produces a more vivid and sharper picture. Is that true?

[BigBlueDodge]

I don't want to steal Cali's thunder, but that pyramid is alot steeper than you think. Although it doesn't look like it, it goes almost straight up. I went in 2004 and you could climb to the top of it. I took this picture looking down at the steps. As you can see, its a very steep drop.

Most people could climb up normally, however 75% of them couldn't get back down by walking. There was a rope that was hung from the top all the way to the bottom that people would use to hang on when going down. People would scoot on the rears, step by step until they got down. If you look at the first picture you can tell which people are going up and which are going down.

The second picture is my wife working her way down, stepy by step. I've got tons more pictures, but I'll refrain from posting them as I didn't start this thread.

[BIGTUFFGUY]

very nice shot(#1) i think a polarizer would be this shot killer, the colors look a little flat

[B.C.]

thats so funny that people have to slide down on their butts. what a fantastic piece of architecture. great shots to the both of you

[rudgej]

BigBlueDodge and cali,

Obviously on BibBlueDodge's photo, people were allowed up in 2004, but has this been banned since? Apart from the addition of barriers in cali's photo, I don't see the guide rope either.

[BigBlueDodge]

Rudgej, I don't know if they completely banned people from going up, but the reason you don't see the rope in Cali's picture is because that side of the pyramid was not completely restored (even when I was there), and they don't allow people to go up it. They only have 2 of the 4 sides currently restored, and the other 2 sides are off limits.

In a way I wish they would completely ban people from going up it. I was horrified when I got to the top, to see the blatant disrespect for a national treasure. People were smoking and using the pyramid to put their cigarettes out. Because there were no trash cans, people would just flick their cigarrette buts down the sides onto one of the terraces. Also, people would leave their water bottles & trash just laying around, some againg tossing it on the sides of pyramids.

Back when I went, that was the only object that you could climb on, as all the others were off limits.

[rudgej]

Thanks BBD. Unfortunately it is all too common a sight to see a thoughtless and inconsiderate moron doing these sort of things. The last time I was up in Glencoe, and well off the beaten track, I came across empty beer cans that had been dumped by someone evidently keen to appreciate the scenery, but stupid enough to dump their rubbish. :evil: