Our trip to Mexico was a reward for the kids for finishing the Book of Mormon. We figured since we had read a record of Ancient Americans, we could go to some of the ruins left behind by such civilizations.
While we were in Mexico we visited the ruins at Chichen Itza. These date back to about 480 A.D. or just after the Book of Mormon finishes. The girls loved seeing all the buildings, the ball court, and the pillars everywhere. We decided against a guided tour here. We had one in Tulum and the girls hated it. They don't have the patience to stand and listen to what everything carved on the buildings means.
So instead I made up my own "interpretations" of the ruins. In one spot I suggested that perhaps it was the swimming pool. In another Sabrina was sure it was a house with 3 bedrooms. I have been to Chichen Itza twice before with guides so I know what many of the ruins are anyway. I was able to share what I knew in a kid friendly way.
We took the kids to the Cenote, or sink whole, where the Mayans threw their sacrificed people. There were over 70 skeletons pulled out of this water hole back in the 70s. They were mostly children and young men. As we taught the kids about all these gory customs, we related them to what we learned from reading the Book of Mormon last year.
The main moral of the trip was, if you are wicked like the people who lived there sacrificing people, you get destroyed. Then you no longer have cities thriving but ruins rotting. So if you are wicked you get "ruined."
