11-16-08 Tekax

Tekax, just below Oxkutcab is a very nice town. I took the day to relax, and there was a bullfight in town!

Tekax is the type of town where people sit on the corner backwards in their chairs.

The town center has some great geometric trees.

Bullfighting ring!

A great view from the church.

This bullfight totally was not as good as the last one. First, the ring was huge, the matadors could just hang out and chat when they wanted. Second, the bulls were so well trained they actually tried to get back into their trailers when the cowboys came out!

The snack food at the fights was not so good. Mostly corn type snacks and french fries with slices of hot dogs.

Sweet paint job!

11-15-08 Bus

I decided to see the ruins in southern Quintana Roo in the next leg of my trip, so a bus ride was needed to get back north. I got a ride to Xuphil to catch a bus to Chetumal. Got to Xuphil before 8am. The next bus was not until 11am, but did not actually arrive until 2pm. In Chetumal I transferred to Tekax, arriving about 10pm.

11-14-08 The Ruins of Nadzcaan

Nadzcaan is a huge ruin, one of the largest, but it has been studied very little, but will prove to be very important once research has been started. Only three plazas are cleared, but these
represent only a small fraction of the monumental architecture at the site. Major constructions likely started in the Late Preclassic, and continued though to the late or terminal Classic. Like many ruins in the area it was discovered by looters who removed any carvings they could find.

Nadzcaan is located off the highway up into the hills on a dirt road. I built my bike to take this ride, and it did put my bike to the test. The road had not been traveled in more than a year and there were many downed trees I had to get around, but a great ride.

This is a bridge that must be crossed to reach the ruins.

An early structure with lots of stella. The round stones in front are alters. Stellas are frequently set with alters, a tradition going back to at least 600BC.

An Early Classic temple.

A giant Late Preclassic or Early Classic temple. Not the largest at the site, but the largest I could get to. This is just the bottom of on corner.

A Late Classic structure with a mix of Peten and Rio Bec styles.

Have to love this tetris style stonework. Hard to imagine why somebody would have done such a fine job, but wasted so much time fitting every last stone. I am constantly struck by the Classic Maya spent so much energy on things that appear to have no practical value. Unlike me, THEY certainly knew what they were doing.

Distance rode: 34km

Total: 1683km

11-13-08 Ruins of Calakmul

Calakmul is the largest Classic period city. It reached its height in the Middle Classic (550-700) , a time when it built so many palaces. Calakmul was also a very important Preclassic center. Raised roads connected Calakmul with the giant Preclassic cities in northern Guatemala. The two massive pyramids in Calakmuls main plaza also date to this period.

The ride there approached epic, and put me over 1000 miles!

Calakmul is in the center of a biosphere and there are no hotels anywhere nearby. The campground is the closest place to stay, and that is 55km up the hilly road. Riding both ways and spending the whole day at the very large ruins was very exhausting. The road was very nice though. Many animals including many boars.

Structure 2 is one of the very largest constructions ever made by the Maya. The bulk of it dates to the Late Preclassic.

The base of structure 2.

The base of the main temple atop structure 2. A small section of the horizon is visible.

The base of structure 1, the second super tall pyramid. Calakmul is a modern name which in Maya means 'Two Hills'.

The interior of the Early Classic structure 3. The walls are built of huge well worked blocks, so well built even the wood is still in place after 1500 years.

Calakmul carved more stella than any other site, to date some 120 have been documented. The limestone in the region is very porous , which means it weathers very easily when exposed to the elements. This destroyed most carving, but some did survive. For the most part these preserved stella look like the one above. Its face is smooth because looters used a chainsaw to remove the carved surface.

A few still have glyphs on the sides.

Much work is going on here. Both research and a clear effort to make it an important tourist stop like Tikal.

Distance rode: 105km of hills

Total: 1649km

11-12-08 The Ruins of Manos Rojas and Balamku

I rode the highway west stopping along the way at a roadsite ruin Manos Rojas. There are a few structures here, all badly ruined, but I just stepped off the highway and walked about 50 feet to a single Rio Bec style structure. Only a few incomplete masks left, but from the fallen stones, this building must have been very ornate with a monstermask doorway.

The best remaining mask, one of a stack of masks very much like ones seen far to the north at the Chenes site Xichmook.

This stone was most likey a huge nose the was over the central doorway which proabably had a monstermouth doorway.

The next stop was the ruins of Balamku. Balamku is a Peten style site with Rio Bec style appearing only at the very end. It seemed to me there was much Rio Bec influence in the early buildings, but rescent work has classified this as a Peten site because the ceramic material is consistent with Peten style sites, not with Rio Bec sites. Balamku is a moderate sized site, with three groups of monumental structures, two which are open to the public.

A Late Preclassic-Early Classic temple. In this structure was found the earliest monstermouth doorway, a hallmark of the Rio Bec-Chenes style. This building however is consitered pure Peten style. The remains of the mostermouth doorway are either rebuiried or gone.

The temple at the summit. Unlike Rio Bec architecture because of the rough, nearly unworked stones used and the simple design, no fancy moldings. This structure is well preserved because it was buired by a later construction, much of the later pyrimid is still in place as can be seen at the right. The cut though the center, as I understand is not because the structure collapsed, but becuase looters cut though it.

The inside of the temple showing the crude masory typical of early Peten structures, and very much unlike Rio Bec stuctures.

This is an increadible palace unlike others I have seen. The masonry is in the classic Rio Bec style, but the right and left wings of the palace are done in two different styles. One side is typical Rio Bec (with the false door and curved platform on the right), but the left side is plain, with a Puuc like molding on the platform (but the Puuc almost always used plain platforms with no moldings).

The Rio Bec wing of the palace with a the remains of a 'twin tower' style temple.

The famous frieze uncovered by looters and was found before it was removed. It is hard to believe, but a freize like this turned up in New York City on the black market. It originated from a ruin about 50km south of Xuphil. Looters were able to remove it, pack it and get it all the way to New York. A researcher was approach in an atempt to find a buy and an he turned them in. The freeze is now in the Mexico City museum. This is the upper part of the building, and a door can be seen below.

The masks uncovered at Ek Balam look very much like this, and is probably a good representation of Rio Bec style masks, however this example is probably from the late Early Classic, before the Rio Bec style was formalized. While the masks look mostly red, there is much fine details of paint still visable.

This type of imagry appeared on ceramics around 550AD.

The campsite, I rented the tent.

Distance rode: 73km

Total: 1544km

11-11-08 A Day Off

A mild cold I got was turning worse and I was exhusted when I woke up. I was planning to ride to the west to see some big ruins. It was going to be camping for a few days with a lot of hard rides, and Pablo was getting on my nerves so I decided to take the day off. I told Pablo that I would meet him at the campground tommorow. After an hour I looked out the window and Pablo was just sitting there. I asked him if he was going to make his bus, he said he was not. I told him I needed the day off and he needed to go or get another place. He asked me if I ment I needed a day AND a night off? I was very much not in a good mood. I rode to town to eat a bunch of food, got a bunch of beer, which I started drinking on the ride home and slept most the afternoon.

My shirt after the three day hike to La Muenca. Pretty grey. I had to take my cloths to town to have them professionally washed.

Rode:20km
Total: 1471km

11-10-08 Trying to Get to the Rio Bec Ruins Again

Tried to get the Rio Bec ruins again. What a waste of time, there were no guides around this time. I tried again to find some of the ruins just outside of the small town near the Rio Bec ruins agian with no luck, but the walk though the forest was very nice. These ruins are going to have to wait for next time.

Rode:74km
Total: 1451km

11-09-08 Return from La Muneca

I needed to see a tiny bit more of the ruins, so I took about 20 min to visit the tallest ruin at the site. A large section of masonry has been uncovered by a fallen tree (the roots of the tree removed a lot of soil exposing architecture). The blocks were about 2' wide by 1' tall, and were between 3-5' deep into the structure. Very much unlike any other wall I have seen, and I think very early.

A large section of exposed wall, probably this section was once covered with a large mask made from stucco.

One of the larger looting tunnels. Very few details in these holes, only a few early floors could be seen in a few of the tunnels.

Not the largest, but a typical wall stone.

The walk home was exhusting and my head hurt from dehyration. The trail was open from yesterday, so the distance that took a full day we were able to do in about 4 hours. Our guide was an ace with his gun, and shot a few turkeys on the way home stuffing them into his backpack. He cleaned on bird when we took a break at our first camp, the coles were still buring from 2 nights ago and we relite the fire to keep the bugs away. After cleaning the turkey, he cleaned his knife and hands with a lime he brought. About 10km from his house his wife met us with horses to carry our bags and some increadible chilli rellenos. When we got back we had some eggs, beans and turkey before heading back to Zoh Laguna. I must have picked more then two dozen ticks off me.

11-08-08 The Ruins of La Muneca

If the trail was clear we could make it to the ruins by 10:30, and be home today. The first 3km or so was pretty good, but then what was until now 'a trail' was just forest, and we had to cut our way though, very time consuming. After an an hour or so, our guide climbed a tree to try and locate ourselves and the ruins.

The forest is full of this. It looks like melting snow in the spring, but it is melting limestone. I kept thinking how terrable it would be to fall onto it. While not super sharp, it was a lot like rusty metal and would cut you open very bad. Many stones from the ruins look like this. One of the reasons the ruins of this area are so poorly known, is because of the stone. Unlike in other regions, the stone here melts far more quickly with water and rain, so both buildings and carvings decay very quickly. Stellas, the large carved stones with writing are abundent here. At Calakmul they have found more then 120, more than any other site, but nearly all the texts have melted off.

Can you see the snake here? It is coiled and ready to jump. I have no idea how I saw it, I swear it was a 6th sense. Had I not seen it I would probably have to have been carried back some 15+km and have been very sick for weeks.

The same snake after a few wacks with a stick.

Our guide in a tree. Had to see him and he is only about half way up. I have never seen anyone climb a tree so well, and an adult at that!

In the end 10:30 passed and we did not get to the ruins until about 5pm, nearly dark. Our guide in the end climbed 6 trees, and was cutting though the forest the whole time. He is definatally the strongest person I have ever known, although by the end of the day he looked about 5 years older.

We were nearly out of water, and we had to leave first think in the morning. So after all the work, we would only be able to see a few buildings. Sucks, but the buildings were increadible, and very much worth the effort. The masonry is very much unlike other masonry in the area, it is huge, and only similar to Late Preclassic masorny from northern Guatamala.

The building with the true arch. Classic period buildings have walls made from concrete and rubble, faced with blocks. One of the few known Late Preclassic buildings dated to around 50BC has walls without concrete fill, and is make from very large slabs like this building here. The exeptional quality of construction is almost certainly why it is still standing. Above the walls of the room (that are well lit) is the true arch roof now collapsed. Above the arch is anothern wall that looks like the wall of the room, the remains of a roof comb. An execptional building, and unlike any other building in the Maya world.

Looking out from the massive trench/tunnel under the buliding with the true arch.

The view from the second tallest temple at the site. This temple is very tall, but the whole site is built on a very tall hill surounded by flat plains. When cleared of forest, these ruins will be very impressive.

We set up camp at the ruins and made a fire. It gets dark here before 6, and the sun does not rise until 6. With no lights, it is a long night to sleep.

11-07-08 To La Muneca

We took a cab south and headed headed out into the forest on foot. Much of the road was muddy, but we avoided by taking a complex maze of paths though the forest. The road had not been used in three years. It was originally made for logging. It is now part of the Calakmul Bioresearve, so logging is no longer permitted. It was last used for a puma and jaguar study. This study ended when an exceptionally large puma ran up a tree to avoid the researcher. Trying to escape it jumped trees and fell. They were able to tranquize it, but it never woke up. They got sued and the project was shut down. There was a puma on the road ahead of us, but I did not see it. The tracks were everywhere you looked, and the cats must have been huge. People have been known to be attacked by the cats here.

We had to carry all of our food, camping gear and water, which was very heavy. We were able to drop water along they way for our trip back though which slowly made our load lighter.

We set up camp and made a fire. The fire was to scare away cats, but was also a very effective insect repellent. Our guide still slept next to his gun.

Puma prints were everywhere, and very big too.

This was over 10km into the forest, hard to imagin how it got here.

Camp on the old logging road.

11-06-08 More Becan

Becan was so increadible I wanted to go back for a few more photos and to make drawings of some of the newly uncovered complexes.

A large middle classic Rio Bec building. The pyrimid base has a network of halls and rooms with ceilings some 25ft tall. There is a small enterance in the rear, but it had been blocked off with stones so people like me will not go in.

Proabably the earliest uncovered monstermouth door at Becan. While most have carved stone covered with stucco for fine detail, this one was done entirly with stucco, only stone pegs remain on the wall to hold the stucco in place.

This room recently collapsed. when encased in earth, structures stay well preserved, once uncovered again, they begin to fall apart.

Rode: 36km
Trip Total: 1377km