The Temple of the Seven Dolls

Beth Tipton '08, Irene Palmer '09, Andy Rapone '09, Becky Lindhorst '09, Katie Webster '08 and Kate Smiley '09 were awake at 4 a.m. on Sept. 22 to see the equinox at the Mayan ruins of Dzibilchaltún, about a half hour from their host city of Mérida in Mexico. Only two days out of the year, on the equinoxes, the sun rises directly through the main door in The Temple of the Seven Dolls, and a single ray of light illuminates the entire causeway leading to the temple (about a mile). A Mayan king planned the location of the temple and most of the surrounding buildings around the equinoxes to prove to his people that he was a wise and powerful descendant of the gods.

Photo submitted by Kate Smiley '09