The mythical action drama and adventure of Apocalypto, starring Mel Gibson, just isn’t a film for sensitive, squeamish souls like me.  Based in the heart of the Mexican jungle, the highly acclaimed, often criticized movie concentrates on the gruesome realities of human sacrifice ancient Mayan-style, leaving precious little to the imagination. 

Much to Steve’s morbid delight, in ancient times Chichen Itza’s famous pyramids hosted some similarly gruesome human sacrifice rituals.  It’s here that a Harry Potter Quidditch-style of game was performed by the Mayans as part of their religious rites, proving that Harry Potter was by no means the first guy to play the game.  As no less than what can only be described as a human sacrifice theme park, Chichen Itza’s Ball Court was a stadium for ritual “games”. As was always the case at such events, you could safely assume someone was headed for sacrifice once it was all over. 

Like Quidditch, the game appears to have involved hitting a ball accurately through a rather too small stone hoop high up on a wall, using a “bat” apparently made of a human skull – so it’s clear that this exercise was far more than just a simple game of Quidditch, but more a matter of life or death Apocalypto-style!  Once the first “goal” was scored, the game was swiftly over and the winning team members, including their captain were duly sacrificed, naturally in the most barbaric of fashions. Why the winning team, you might protest?  It was considered to be their special privilege to share the “other world” with the gods, thus avoiding the 13 steps the Mayans believed you had to climb to get to Heaven. 

Just like Apocalypto, you can just picture the scene: amongst blood-curdling cries, the honoured victims were ripped apart and savagely decapitated, often by jaguars and eagles, and their blood was then ceremoniously smeared across the land to keep it fertile.  The site’s Temple of Skulls depicts this in fascinating, graphic detail on its stone carvings that remain well-preserved.   Chichen Itza’s El Cenote Sagrado (the Sacred Cenote) is also worth a morbid visit as it’s the actual location where maidens, children, warriors, and, of course, the ball winners were sacrificed to the gods.

Today however, Steve strongly recommends a stop at Chichen Itza and assures me it’s quite safe to visit all of its macabre sites.  This official great “Wonder of the World” is clearly a huge hit with thousands of blood-thirsty and Quidditch-loving tourists all looking for some thrilling Mayan memories to take back home with them.