{"id":10905,"date":"2019-03-20T10:05:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T09:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/?p=10905"},"modified":"2023-03-30T14:29:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T12:29:41","slug":"coba-the-tallest-mayan-pyramid-you-can-climb-and-absurd-psychology-of-the-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/2019\/03\/20\/coba-the-tallest-mayan-pyramid-you-can-climb-and-absurd-psychology-of-the-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"Cob\u00e1 – the tallest Mayan pyramid you can climb and absurd psychology of the crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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After much thought I decided to divide the text about Mayan ruins in Mexico into two – Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1<\/strong> and Cob\u00e1<\/strong> , so that you would not get snowed under avalanche of these revelations. Besides, I noticed that both places provoked separate life & travel reflections, so both deserve a separate story.<\/p>

Pyramid in Cob\u00e1was the first one I\u2019ve seen during my tour around the Yucatan Peninsula<\/strong>. Coba ruins lie approx. 90 kilometers<\/strong> east from Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 and 40 kilometers<\/strong> east from Tulum. If you are really stubborn, you can join visiting Coba with touring the ruins in Tulum (done easily) or with Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 (but this would be much hastier).<\/p>

This place is definitely less popular than Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1<\/strong>, which I wrote you about in the previous post HERE<\/strong><\/span><\/a> (by the way, after Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1<\/strong> everything seems deserted) and this is definitely a huge advantage of this place.<\/p>

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Almost at the top of the world<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Cob\u00e1 was also built in pre-Columbian period. This city, which nowadays belongs to the State of Quintana Roo, covered 70 square kilometers<\/strong> and network of 45 roads<\/strong> (or hard pathways – Mayan sacbeob<\/em>)and in the period of its greatest splendor it was inhabited by 50 thousands of people.<\/p>

What is even more fascinating is the fact that this place is still poorly researched, known and therefore – very mysterious. It is estimated that in Cob\u00e1there are ca. 6.5k structures<\/strong> but only several dozen have been discovered. The rest is covered by a dense jungle, which protects the access to the Mayan legacy. Cob\u00e1 was one of the biggest metropolises of the Mayan world until its biggest rival – Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 – expanded its reign. First descriptions of the archeological excavation site were written by famous travelers: John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood. In 1881 Teobert Maler took the first known photography of Cob\u00e1.<\/p>

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Ixmoja Pyramid<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The name \u201cCob\u00e1\u201c is translated as \u201cwater with moss\u201d, \u201cwater moisture\u201d or \u201cwater stirred by the wind\u201d, because in the vicinity there are a few murky, muddy lakes. Other researchers of Mayan language suggest more translations, among which are, for instance, \u201cwater of the chachalacas\u201d and \u201ctooth of the corn leaf\u201d. So our present knowledge is based mostly on speculations.<\/p>

Climbing on all fours – it definitely did not look like this!<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>

The biggest pyramid in Cob\u00e1 is called Ixmoja and is a part of the Nohoch Mul group of buildings. It is definitely the main attraction of this place. The pyramid is 42 meters tall and is one of the tallest in Yucatan Peninsula. Its uniqueness is also in the fact that – contrary to most of the Mayan monuments – you can climb this one. But folks, attention! I\u2019ve read that 2019 is going to be the last year you could climb this pyramid<\/strong>, because of the growing numbers of tourists and the devastation that follows them.<\/p>

In order to get to the top you have to walk 120 steep, stone steps<\/strong>. There is no safety fence, apart from a thick rope you can grab, placed in the middle of the stairs.<\/p>

You can get here by walk, rent a bike or hire a riksha.<\/p>

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But let\u2019s talk a while about the climbing details. First what you can see after you reach the pyramid are people in odd poses, trying to go up and even worse looking tourists who are trying to go down.<\/p>

You look at them and think: what they are really doing? Regardless of age and fitness, most of them are going up and down on all fours, slide down on their butts or crawl like a commando in the battlefield.<\/p>

Then you think again: where am I? Would I be able to do it, if this is so hardcore? And did the Mayans also crawl up like this, looking so stupid?<\/p>

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With this whirl of thoughts in my head I approached the pyramid and jumping over people crawling under my feet I simply… walked. It took me 4 minutes and I reached the top. What the hell? Why won\u2019t these people do the same? But my deliberations were broken then by the view from the top.<\/p>

It is remarkable, you have to admit that. All around, in every direction there is a dense jungle, which looks from the top of the pyramid like a thick, green carpet. In the distance you can hear sounds of animals and birds. The additional awareness that somewhere there are more fragments of this mysterious town, hiding treasures and secrets not available to us, sends shivers down your spine…<\/p>

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Jungle looks like a green carpet<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Somewhere between the trees you can see the other structures<\/figcaption><\/figure>

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And then you get brutally slapped back to the reality, because next to you appear next tourists, who barely made it to the top. The magic is gone and you want to scram off as fast as you can.<\/p>

And now begins my favorite part and a fantastic example of crowd psychology<\/strong>\u00a0, so the field of social psychology, which researches functioning of individuals in huge crowds and the change of behavior amongst a large group of random people.<\/p>

Social proof<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>

The example from Cob\u00e1 is just perfect – the crowd is anonymous, there are no rules set, there\u2019s commotion and it creates the social proof\u00a0<\/strong>– the rule, according to which, a person, not knowing if a decision or view is right (what can be dependent on various factors), makes a decision or adopts views the same as the majority of the group. Long story short, we assume that a behavior is correct only when we see others, behaving like the majority.<\/p>

So I\u2019d bet that the substantial majority of the tourists climbing up and down in Cob\u00e1 did not suffer from appalling fear of heights (let\u2019s be serious, it\u2019s statistically impossible that 99% of the people there afraid of heights). Besides, I took a good look – a lot of people there were young, definitely not obese, looking quite fit. Moreover – no rain, so it was not slippery or dangerous, the steps were not polished smoothly like it sometimes happens to be in such places.<\/p>

To sum it up – it was not a hardcore place for courageous adventurers who climb mountains on the daily basis.<\/p>

But there must have been at least one person who, for any of the above-mentioned reasons, began crawling on all fours or sliding down on his or her butt. Someone saw that, did not think about it much and did the same, then another and another one, probably thinking that it should be done so, that it\u2019s easier (no, it isn\u2019t) or safer (again, it\u2019s isn\u2019t). And this is how the social proof made the Cob\u00e1 pyramid the pyramid of crawling people.<\/p>

The situation was quite absurd, because moving like a toddler not only makes it harder for others to come down but makes you control your moves worse (and most of the people there wore flip-flops) and it takes much longer. I, in disbelief (again), jumped over these people, walking upright on my feet, no problems at all. It took me 2 minutes to walk down.<\/p>

What moral can be drawn from this lesson? Sometimes it is worth to stop and think, if what people around us do is reasonable, is necessary and if they really know what is best for us.<\/p>

Huh, I wanted to write about Mayan pyramids and here I am lecturing you about social psychology ;)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

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Coba\u2019s La Iglesia Structure<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Cob\u00e1 \u2013 practical tips<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>

  • Opening hours and days: 7 days a week, 8 AM – 5 PM<\/li>
  • Suggested time of visit: morning or afternoon, to avoid largest crowds and scorching sun.<\/li>
  • Entrance fee: 70 pesos<\/strong><\/li>
  • USD 40\u201350 for a guide – I did not use this option but probably you can haggle<\/li>
  • There are three options to explore the city:<\/li>
  • on foot (but the distance between the monuments are quite big. If you only want to see the main pyramid you can take a walk, it\u2019s about 10 minutes away from the main entrance),<\/li>
  • by lending a bike for 25 pesos (you can do it right next to the entrance)<\/li>
  • by rickshaw with driver for 100 pesos (don\u2019t worry, the rickshaw drivers will find you faster than you would even think about it)<\/li>
  • Reaching Coba by car: ruins are situated around 44 kilometers (50 minutes) from Tulum and approx. 109 km (1.5 h) from Playa del Carmen.I definitely recommend you to rent a car on the biggest portal: RentalCars.com<\/strong><\/li>
  • Reaching Coba by coach: ADO Bus<\/strong> coaches run from Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.<\/li>
  • What I don\u2019t recommend is wearing flip-flops, then you would really have to crawl your way up the pyramid ;)<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    After much thought I decided to divide the text about Mayan ruins in Mexico into two – Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 and Cob\u00e1 , so that you would not get snowed under avalanche of these revelations. Besides, I n…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mexico","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10905"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37029,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10905\/revisions\/37029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10905"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelandkeepfit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}