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Virtual tourists will be able to enjoy an array of interactive and life-likeattractions at the Chichen-Itza virtual site, where they can climb or fly over thegreat pyramid El Castillo, dive and search for hidden treasures in the sacred cenote(sink hole), and visit a (traditional Mayan home). The area will also include aMayan temazcal (sweat lodge), where the SL community will be able to enter and lieon a floating mat with visible steam and glowing lava rocks. The mystical experiencewill allow the participant to see visions of stars, butterflies and images from thepast.
In addition, an audio tour of the area with relevant historical information about Chichen-Itza will be made available with its very own transportation from the backof a Mayan butterfly. A gallery of images and a streaming video of the equinox willalso be on hand.
 We are proud to share with the world this Mexican landmark and heritage, saidFrancisco Lopez Mena, CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board.  We are very excited to bepromoting Chichen-Itza in this new medium, and encourage everyone to visit the siteand cast their vote for Chichen-Itza as a new seven wonder, he added.
Voting kiosks will be placed throughout the site and across the virtual world inhigh-traffic areas, where you will be transported automatically to the  new7wonders website to vote for Chichen-Itza, upon clicking. As a token of appreciation, theMexico Tourism Board will be giving voters beautiful Mayan inspired clothing andjewelry to wear in their SL travels.
To access the Chichen-Itza site, simply download the Second Life software and followthe instructions. Once the user has entered, they must type into the search engine Visit Mexico, where they will be automatically tele-transported to the new site.
Wonderful Chichen-Itza dazzles visitorsIt is for good reason that Chichen-Itza, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in1998, is included in the finalist list for the new Seven World Wonders. The sacredsite is considered to have been one of the greatest Mayan centers of the Yucatanpeninsula, and today is one of the largest and most impressive archaeological sitesin Mexico.
Today Chichen-Itza is the most visited archaeological site in the Yucatan Peninsula. Many tourists add a day trip to their vacation to travel to the site, locatedapproximately two hours away from Cancun and two and a half hours from Merida.
The siteÂ's main attractions include El Castillo, or the Pyramid of the Serpent GodKukulkan, a magnificent pyramid topped by a temple, to which thousands of peoplefrom all over the globe flock every spring and fall equinox to witness a shadowdepicting the god slither down it. Visitors can also explore the sacbes, whitelimestone pathways used by the ancient Mayans.
Its immense ruins are surrounded by lush green vegetation, underground rivers,natural wells and limestone that the Mayans used to construct their magnificentbuildings.
About Chichen-Itza, the World Wonder Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation is revising the original seven ancient wonders ofthe world, and MexicoÂ's Chichen-Itza in Yucatan State is one of 21 finalists tobecome a new Seven World Wonder. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998,Chichen-Itza is considered to have been one of the greatest Mayan centers of theYucatan peninsula, and today is one of the largest and most impressivearchaeological sites in Mexico. To vote for Chichen-Itza as one of the new SevenWorld Wonders, visit the  new7wonders website.
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Erick LasecaMexico Tourism Board312-228-0517 ext14erick.laseca@bm.com
