A friend from work, Charlie Moore, asked me if I would be interested in doing a kind of Mayan Ruin Tour in Mexico. I was ready to go. He looked up all the archeological information, bought books, and figured out where we should go within driving distance from Cancun, Mexico. I just followed along and took pictures. We flew to Cancun, and rented a tiny Geo Metro, which we drove all over the state of Yucatan and part of Quintana Roo. We didn't even bother checking out the coast of Cancun when we got there. We were on a mission...
Valladolid
Aug 29th. The town of of Valladolid is about 75 miles west of Cancun. The road is modern, but with many cyclists around so you have to be careful. Valladolid is a town with typical spanish colonial arquitecture, and a colorful plaza where locals sell their crafts. We met two little girls, Margarita and Maria, selling handkerchiefs. I convinced them to let me take their picture after promising to buy stuff from them in return. After that they hung around us in the hotel and started to tell us "bombas", which are jokes typical from the area. They are like dirty limmericks, and yes, the girls had some colorful bombas for us. They told us they learn both spanish and mayan at school, which surprised me.
The town has its own "cenote", an ground opening where underground water is exposed to the outside. These pools were used by the Mayas for water sources and religious ceremonies (sacrifices?).
Ek Balam
Just a few miles north of Valladolid, we made our first Mayan ruin stop: Ek Balam. We met Charles, an archeologist from Tulane University, and he showed us around for a bit. He pointed to a spiral building towards the entrance of the area and remarked that he didn't know how it turned out to be such a shape, since the structure he had originally found there just had had four corners. It was a little bit of insight to the way a multiple number of archeologist have to work with each other, not necessarily agreeing on what they have found.
Spanish Colonial Churches
Throughout our trip, we visited many local churches built by the spaniards during the colonization. Here are pictures of the churches at: Caolotmul, Tizimin, Uman, ???, and Yaxcaba.
Uxmal
Aug 30th. About 50 miles south of Merida, Uxmal is the second best known Mayan site in the region, after Chichen Itza. It was very clean and not too many people, in contrast to the sites near Cancun. We're in the middle of the jungle so it's very hot and humid. Wondering around, we came across a beehive and I got stung in my back. Oh well, Uxmal was beautiful and it was all worth it.
Kabah
This site is famous specially for the facade of Codzpop Palace, covered with larger than life masks with big protruding noses. This is the second site on the so called "Puuc Highway", which includes Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Labna, and a couple of other sites.
Sayil
This was our third stop for the day (Uxmal, Kabah, and Sayil) and we felt like we were getting a really good sampling of the different sites. In contrast with Uxmal, the buildings in Sayil were still covered with vegetation to the point where it was hard to see some of the buildings. We were getting a lot done this day!
Labna
Aug 31st. We sleept at the "Las Palmeras" motel in Oxkutzcab, which had hooks on the room walls to hang hammocks. We took off early and got to Labna at 7:30am. Labna has three main structures: an arch, a lookout, and a palace. The first two are picture perfect and very impressive.
LolTun Caves
These caves have paintings and offering pots inside. Ricardo, the guide, took us around and showed us everything. He banged on two hollow rock columns which supposedly make the sound after which the cave takes its name... "Loooolllll", "Tunnnnnn"... Maybe...
Tekax & Chacmultun
On the way to Chacmultun, we stopped by the Tekax cemetery and church, and snapped some pics.
The Chacmultun ruins are divided in two sections, one by the side of the road, and one up a hill after a strenuous walk through the jungle. The second part was cool, up on the hill, surrounded by trees. You can see each half of the site from the top of the other half.
Mayapan
We got to the Mayapan site early one morning, at 5:30am. We woke up the caretaker and he let us in. We were the only ones there and were able to walk around freely. Some of the relief carvings had been vandalized, where certain parts are cut off to be sold to private collectors.
Merida, Dzibilchaltun, Progreso
Sept 1st. Merida is a beautiful colonial city about 100 miles west of Cancun. We hung out around the plaza, then got lured into a hammock store by a guy following us around on the street. I guess we looked like tourists. Once in, the proceeded to demonstrate how their hammocks easily take five people on them. It wasn't confortable, but it was fun. They conviced me and I bought a hammock. I just planted some trees in my front yard, any year now I'll be ready for my hammock.
We drove north to Dzibilchaltun to look at the Mayan ruins, but we got rained on. The site wasn't as impressive as all the others we had seen, but they did have a big cenote.
Then we drove north all the way to the coast town of Progreso and had lunch there. It looked like a nice beach town, probably crowded on the weekends.
Chichen Itza
Sept 2nd. Now we're off to the most famous site in the area, and wouldn't you know it, I got very sick. I zombied my way around Chichen Itza, barely taking pictures. I think Charlie liked it. There were lots of people around, a little crowded. I knocked a few rocks down coming off one of the temples. No, I didn't destroy anything, but I almost went down face first.
Balankanche
Another system of caves where Mayans left artifacts is Balankanche. For whatever reason, a taxi driver ended up being our guide here, and he was in no shape to walk up and down stairs, which were plentiful in these caves. He was wheezing and coughing, just trying to get us through as soon as possible. The cave was very badly ventilated, and we felt like we were running out of air, so we didn't last long in there.
Coba & Tulum
Sept 4. On our way back to the coast, we stopped by Coba.
We then drove all the way back to the coast and visited Tulum. Tulum is very close to Cancun so it has lots of tourists. Some structures/ruins were roped off with yellow tape because the amount of visitors was a problem.
The End
Sept 5th. We got a room in Playa del Carmen and took a ferry to Cozumel. We snorkeled in Chankanaab (I snorkeled for 5 hours straight, my first time). I took a bunch of underwater pictures with a disposable camera, but I lost the camera. We then relaxed in Playa del Carmen, had a nice dinner, and went back home the next day.
Back home.