Where Is Chichen Itza? [Paperback]

Discover more about the amazing Maya by visiting the city of Chichen Itza.

Although it's known more as an important tourist attraction today, the city of Chichen Itza was a powerful religious, political, scientific, and artistic center of the Maya people.

Readers will learn about how Chichen Itza began and what happened to cause the downfall of a great society. The book also provides details about the culture of the Maya of Chichen Itza and the stunning architecture they built like the El Castillo pyramid, the Temple of the Warriors, and the massive ball court that was used for games and rituals.Paula K. Manzanero is Editorial Director of Nonfiction at Penguin Workshop and a children's book author.Where Is Chichen Itza?
  
 
In 1839, two men—-Frederick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens—-were on their way to Central America. The US president was sending them there to seal a trade agreement. But the men were also adventurers. Between them, they had already explored Egypt, Greece, and the ancient site of Petra in Jordan. They decided that once their work for the US government was finished, they would look for “ruined cities, places, scenes, and monuments.”
 
Leaving from New York, they sailed to the Gulf of Honduras. From there, they traveled up the Rio Dulce (Sweet River) to Guatemala City. Then, from the heart of Guatemala, Catherwood and Stephens began to explore the jungles of Central America.
 
For more than a year, the two men traveled with mules and teams of local guides. They went south to Honduras and then back up through El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. They found ancient ruins, mysterious temples, and stone carvings.
 
In 1841, they made another trip to explore the northern part of the Yucatan Plãõ