Xcambo

La cienega, or marshland, on the side of the road to Xcambo.


View of the Temple of the Cross, the ball court, chapel and guest booth.

Friday, December 5, 2008, Pablo and I felt like hiking around some ruins AND heading seaside for some fresh mariscos. Neither of us had been to Xcambo, and it is only 63 km. away. Although Tulum is said to be the only seaside Mayan ruin, Xcambo is only two kilometers from the Gulf Coast, and conveniently located for our half day excursion.

From Mérida we drove toward Progreso and followed the coast road east toward Telchac Puerto. After 20 kilometers, more or less, we saw the turnoff for Xcambo. The road is paved and in good condition. To our left were salt flats and on the right was marshland where bright pink flamingos, white storks, and gray herons were feeding in the reddened water. The ruin site was a pleasant surprise. There was a caretaker in a palapa monitoring the guest register, but there was no entrance fee.

Xcambo is a thought provoking site. The site was only excavated within the past ten years, and is still under reconstruction. The name Xcambo means either “Lugar de la donacella” (Place of virginity/maidenhood) or “Lugar de la luna menguante” (Place of the decreasing or ebbing moon). Its name has been spelled Xcambo and Xtambo. Spelling in Mayan is often inconsistent since it was a spoken language. Its writing was in hieroglyphics. Depending on who did the translating affected the final spelling of many of the places with Mayan names.

This was an important salt and saltfish trading post during Xcambo’s longest period of occupation, from 300 – 600 AD. It is thought 6,000 people lived in the surrounding areas. In 2001, 600 skeletal remains were found at the site. According to archeologists, the skeletons revealed a community relatively free of disease. Also found at Xcambo were several artifacts from Guatemala and Belize, leading experts to believe this was an important trading area.

There are two tall temples sitting at the north and south positions of the acropolis. The view of the shoreline from atop the pyramids is impressive. Along the pathways there are wells, or cenotes, and stones carved into basins. Of note were several circular patterns set in stone on the ground. Most interesting was the half Mayan, half Christian chapel. It was a simple palapa roof over thick blocks of stone. The altar brought pictures to my mind of sacrifices, but they well may be of the “Body of Christ” type rather than “body of enemy”. Most of the site was built of huge square boulders, but there were some eloquent smaller rocks also patterned in, including an inverted V-shaped doorway typically seen on the Ruta Puuc. Of the residential buildings that remained, we noticed the doorways were only a meter tall. We wondered if aluxes inhabited the area.

We sat on top of the tallest pyramid and enjoyed the panoramic view and fresh sea breeze as we listened to the palms and pandanus swaying in the otherwise unbroken silence of Mayan spirits.

Temple of the aluxes? See the little door in the middle?

One of several dry cenotes.

The inverted V archway behind the chapel.

The chapel.

The Virgin of Guadalupe honored at the altar.

The chapel catches your eye as you enter the site.

Small temple next to Temple of the Cross.

Center circle is a cenote full of water. Carved basins hold water in the surrounding rocks.

Lots of these scattered around.

Circular bases also common.

The area was clean and manicured.

Yaxuná

Mayan woman carries tortillas on her head as she walks past the old church in the Pueblo of Yaxuná.

Yaxuná (Yah-shoo-nah') in Mayan means "The turquoise colored house". The ruins are located twenty kilometers south of Chichén Itzá, Estado de Yucatán. Archeologists have discovered PreClassic era temples from 400 BC underneath the pyramids. The nomadic Mayans who again inhabited the site hundreds of years later built around and on top of the original temples. In the past twenty-five years there has been a lot of exploration of the site. It was found to be an important agricultural site and still is surrounded by corn fields and other crops.


The sacbe here, or raised causeway, is the longest known Mayan road in existence. It extends 100 kilometers leading directly to Coba. Yaxuná's temples were some of the highest and grandest pyramids of their day, built of monolithic stones. There is proof that this was a major area of inhabitation in PreClassic days.

This is probably a PreClassic piece, as the carvings are difficult to decipher.

Several temples had walls of carved stones on the bottom, and the rows of columns on top. My best reference states these are consistent with the Puuc style, similar to Labna, Sayil, Edzná,Uxmal, etc. Most archeologists think these structures were built from 400-650 AD, but this is an unknown that is currently being researched. There are some gray areas in the history of the Maya, and different influences, or styles, have been noted of people from as far away as Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, as well as outside the Yucatán, México. I am reading a book about the excavations at Yaxuná but it doesn´t have any photos so I am not sure what is what. It's fun to try to imagine what these places looked like twenty-five hundred years ago or a thousand years ago, but sometimes it is just overwhelming. This is one of the things I like most about visiting all the sites, the chance to sit and try to imagine life in the past.

When we climbed the first pyramid, which you can see is not completely excavated or maintained, we saw a snake slither by. This made us hesitant to stray too far from the beaten path. Had we gone into the brush a little farther we would have found some of the many excavations of recent years. But after crossing the line at Palenque, we decided we were not showing enough respect to the Mayan gods and have altered our ruin exploration behavior.

Many of the heirogyphs have the symbol of the cross, which signifies north, south, east and west to the Maya. This symbol is often seen at the older sites.

This is probably another temple. The area around Yaxuná is flat, so any protrusions like are sites awaiting excavation. The history that is buried in places like this will supply archeologists new and useful information in the near future. Much interest has been sparked in Mayan ruins since they named Chichén Itzá one of the Modern 7 Wonders of the World. According to the Diario del Yucatán newspaper, there are plans to continue work on this site and others that are situated around the area (like Ek Balam, where excavations were begun but not completed).

Some of the early monolithic stones used to construct the early temples.

The ball court at Yaxuná.

One of the tallest pyramids from the PreClassic period in evidence in the Yucatán today.

Rounded Caracol shape building similar to the Chichén Itzá style.

Altar? Sundial?

Mayapan

We were two of four total visitors to Mayapan one Sunday in June. There was a stillness about the place, and not just because of the lack of wind or stifling heat of summer. Nor was it the absence of huge tour buses and incessantly chattering tourists. It is a place I found peace of mind. I would like to spend more days sitting atop the highest pyramid and writing, while Pablo plays his tambor or sketches the surroundings.

Twelve thousand people are believed to have been living in Mayapán during its flourishing period in the 11th and 12th centuries. There were some 3600 buildings and 20 cenotes at the core of the center surrounded by 8 kms. of rock walls. It has not gone through major restoration, thus some visitors to this site do not see it as impressive, according to guide books I have read. What seemed so interesting to me were the thought provoking, unique rock shapes on the ground, the small wells, and the numerous cenotes.

According to Mayan lore, Mayapán was founded by the man-god Quetzalcoatl (Kukulkán in Maya) in 1007 AD. It was one of the three most important ceremonial and trade centers in the Yucatan during its time. For two and a half centuries it was the capital of a Mayan confederacy of city states with Uxmal and Chichén Itzá. In the 1200's the rulers of Mayapan conquered Chichén and Uxmal and held its leaders captive. A successful revolt of the captive rulers brought down Mayapán and it was all but abandoned in the mid-1400's.

The style of architecture here is very much like that of Chichén, although there are obvious Toltec and Puuc influences. The core of the site is smaller, and perhaps that is why for the first time I could almost envision the daily life of the original inhabitants. Although the grounds left you with the feeling that a lot of warring went on there, beyond that was the presence of all the people who lived there.

One of the advantages in visiting sites like Mayapán is that you can still climb all the pyramids and really explore the site in depth. So many of the heavily visited locations have created security restrictions. The government gets very protective when they are actively finding treasures buried inside the hidden tombs.

This apparent space ship landing lies at the bottom of one of the tallest temples on the site. Seriously, there is a well in the middle and I have to wonder what purpose the surrounding buildings served.This is a glimpse of El Castillo (the tall pyramid on the right) and El Caracol (the round building in the back on the left). This is a smaller version of the sight at Chichén Itzá. The buildings are almost the same.

The painted murals were impressive. These colors have held up for over a thousand years. These are the predominant colors found at most ruins where color murals are found, as the Mayans were traders and shared knowledge, obviously including dyes that were permanent and good for painting stories on the walls.

The ball court is hidden behind the cenote. The trees you see are growing out of the center of the cenote.

"Late post classic Maya society has been characterized as efficient and mercantile. The shift in focus away from elaborate architecture reflects an important reorientation in political and economic organization. Social energies were invested into economic production and exchange, and market systems encouraged participation from all members of society in economic affairs, providing them with the opportunity to profit from the fruits of their labor. This open economic system rewarded entrepreneurs, and decreased social distances between elites and commoners, allowing more people to enjoy an affluent lifestyle. The less elaborate public and residential architecture is viewed, not as a "devolution" of former Classic practices, but a reflection of new social norms and economic priorities..." -MAYA DIVINE KINGS OF THE RAIN FOREST, p.346

Palenque

Palenque. Not a lesser known ruin. In fact, it is one of México's most dynamic Mayan ruin sites. Located in the foothills of the Southern Sierra Norte de Chiapas mountains, Palenque contains hundreds of ruined buildings spread over 15 sq. km. As in other ruin sites, temples were built over ancient temples and discoveries are being made as archaelogists continue to dig. Palenque flourished from 630 AD to 740 AD. That is when Pakal and later his son Kan Baláam II had many of the temples seen today constructed. The more I learn about the Mayan history, it seems that all of these sites find evidence of human habitation as far back as 3000 bc.

The Temple of the Inscriptions was constructed by the Ruler Pakal. (Actually he began its construction for his tomb and his son had the temple completed once Pakal's remains were safely protected inside.) His tomb was discovered deep inside the temple in the 1950's. Back in the 80's we climbed the pyramid and then walked down a steep set of interior stairs to the tomb where we saw artifacts and the carved stone sarcophagus lid was in place. These items have since been removed to museums. Visitors are no longer allowed to climb this pyramid and they closed the interior due to excessive human humidity which negatively affected the preserved state of the findings.

The current viewing of Pakal's empty tomb through a new opening at the base of the Temple of Inscriptions.


The shadow of the snake god Kukulcan climbs up the great temple at sunrise on the day of the winter solstice, December 22, 2007.

The Palacio is comprised of four main buildings and courtyards.

Stelae found on site.

Inside the Palacio are underground walkways and arches.

Inside one of the courtyards in the Palacio.

Love these windows.

Below are more shots of the Palacio. The cross you can see signifies north, east, south and west to the Mayans.

The Northern group.

Current dig in the Acropolis Sur.

Looking up at the ball court.

I like this shot. I imagine that could be my room.

The largest temple in the Group of the Crosses.

God in stone.

Magic photo..temple in the group of the crosses.

As you can see by the excessive photo display, Palenque is one of my absolute favorite places. The first time I visited the ruins I slept in the hotel across the road from the park entrance. Now it is a museum and gift shop and parking lot. When I first heard the monkeys I was scared witless, I really thought there were lions and tigers and bears running around outside my room.

The road to the ruins from the village of Palenque is lined with places to stay. There are eco-hotels, cabañas, camping, upscale hotels; the gamut. You can find some nightlife there, mostly drummers and fire dancers. It is a very laid back area. It is a magical place. It is one place I like to visit as often as possible.