I had a preminition that this would be a big day. Getting off to and early start i passed a secion of road that cut though an ancient road leaving Coba.
While this may not look intersting to most, the green lump in the foreground is a cut though the anceint road leaving Coba.
Some of the road was incredible, with much shade and cool forest breeze smelling like the inside of a green house.
So many churches along the way, almost most are colonial, but some, such as this one in a very small community without water or electricty have new churches.
Ended up taking the wrong way riding to the end of the road and had to turn around. I was looking for a group of ruins near the road but it was unmarked. Many milpa workers who really only spoke Maya knew about it, but i could not find it because it was not maked. After going back and forth a bunch a kid road by who showed around the ruins called Ikil. Ikil is actually a site that is connected to Coba by an ancient road. It is totally untouched and we had to hack our way though with a machette.
A standing vault at Ixil. The door is mostly closed with the collapse of the upper elements of thes structure and natural accumulation of dirt from decaying plants. The modern Maya crawl in to pray today. Alberto here carries a rifle like most the Maya who work out in the feilds. The rifle is not for hunting but for defence. Jaguars have reclamed the habitat. Jaguars are very shy, and the chances of seeing one, far less getting attacked by one are like getting struck by lighting. Besides, it did not look like the gun would have even worked, parts of it were falling off as we walked though the ruins. The ruins and the lake (pond) next to them are supposed to open next year to tourists.
The batterys in my GPS unit suck an it keeps turning off, so Ive mostly been just following signs and asking around where Im going. This time I got a little burned and ended up riding 105km before I got to Tihosuco, but there was much to see along the road.
The church at Tepich, a bit of a run down town. The large platform is a modified Maya platform. Like most colonial churches, the spanish made the Maya destroy thier buildings and build churches from the rubble. In many cases the sheer size of the temples and platforms made this impossible, such as here. Later in my trip i will see some far more dramatic examples of this.
Some of the road kill was quite large, like this. But i have seen opposums, armidillos, parrots, foxes and much more both dead and alive while riding.
Tihosuco does not have a hotel, but i was able to get a room to sling my hammock in. I went to a mass at the church, very increadble because it is like a typical cathedrial, but when you turn around it is open air. Maya families are very large. this one was screaming until they went to bed, at that time the father blasted the TV until he went to sleep (NOT turning the TV off). So a really bad nights sleep. The oldest son was home from the weekend from psycology school in Cancuun. He speeks little spanish, and the school he goes to is taught in Maya. At this point many areas have very few spanish speekers. Like me they only know a few works. Maya is a very plesent language to listen to.
The church at Tihosuco, also on a huge platform is partially destroyed. Masses are still carried out.
The carvings are both very midevil and Maya in influence. It is increadible this are just sitting around in some small town.
My room. During the evening rainstorm the roof poored full of leaks.Distence road:105km
Trip Total: 395km
1 comment:
yay for more updates! that road looks really cool.
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