11-30-08 In Xuphil and the Rio Bec Region

Got to Xuphil at 3 in the morning. It gets cold here at night. Xuphil is a truckstop town, very much not an attractive place at all, but there are TONS of ruins here.

The hotel(?) we got is cheep which is good, and bike tourists dont need much in terms of comfort, but the walls are made of cardboard, painted pink. Smells like a gas station bathroom too, but all other hotels are more than twice as much. Had to share a bed with Pablo, boo.

The room with pink cardboard walls. I stayed here for about a week. When I left I counted 32 flee bites, just the ones I could see.

There are some nice ruins in town, the ruins of Xuphil. This is my first ruin of the Rio Bec region. The Rio Bec style is very much like the Chenes style. There are some small differences, but many people think they really are the same region with northern and southern influences. I am inclined to agree. One of the most significant differences to me is the in the stonework, I am focusing on the stonework so this may be bias. The Xuphil ruins are small but very nice. Since the materials with me have been published, many new features and buildings have been unearthed. Nothing too remakable though.

The main structure at Xuphil. This is a `twin tower`complex typical of the Rio Bec region, but this example has a third tower in the rear center.

The center tower is best preserved. Most twin tower complexs have false temples, like this. This temple is supposed to look like other temples, but it is minature, and solid. Whil hard to see, this has the typical mostster mouth doorway with stacks of masks on the corner.

Rio Bec and Chenes styles are unique for the decoration that occurs on the walls. Almost always on each side of a door, and in sets of three. These masks are Xuphil are of a unique style.

Rio Bec structures are known for their thrones, many with decorated legs like this. This pattern is thought to represent a cave opening, or a crack in the earths surface.

In the afternoon we rode down the road to the ruins of Chicanna. A bigger ruin with many increadable buildings. Very intersting were a number of buildings of a very early style. The Rio Bec style appears ´suddenly´about 600AD. It has been suggested that the Rio Bec people were migrated to this area and brought their style. I am not sure this is true. There are no other areas with the Rio Bec style. The chenes buildings seem to be somewhat later, and the ruins at Chicanna suggest that these were a transistion from the Peten style that was dominate in the early classic, to the Rio Bec style in the late classic. I must see some other late classic buildings in the Peten style (like at Calakmul which i will visit soon). Interstingly west of here at Balamku (which i will also see). They have uncovered an early type of monstermouth doorway, dated to the late early classic, so the earliest example. Very intresting is the ceramics at this site mark it of the Peten culture, not of the Rio Bec culture, suggesting that Rio Bec was in fact a divergent culture of Peten.

Structure 2, dated to about 700-800AD if I remember correctly.

Writing preserved under the eve of structure 2. It is remarkable this has remained exposed for over 1000 years consitering it is an organic paint. This is the only example of writing like this on the outside of a building, and it is hard to imagine what other things that will proabably never be known about these structures.

This is structure 2 again, there is a lot of decoation done with stucco and painted many colors.
Structure 20 at Chicanna, two sweet storys of monster doorways!

The second story of structure 20 showing the side of the temple. A terminal classic structure, one of the latest structure built in the region, sometime around 800AD or later.

One of the early stuctures at Chicanna. These were built before 600AD, and probably date to about 500-600AD. They use large roughly shaped blocks and have trapazoid shaped doors.

I got some flack for the ´Mexicans hate black people' comment. Of course this is a general statement, and i did not expect anybody to read it as every single mexican person hates black people. I maintain however more people have volenteered their negative attitude towards black people to me than i have ever experienced before. From my perspective I entirely see at least the Yucatan has having broadly negative attitiudes towards people of african decent, and i cannot see any justifcation or modivation for this. Maybe that is just my experience. I still think wa it is strange and i do think that add on the truck was racist and would not fly in the US. Also since i have written this more people have said racist things.


Distance rode: 22k
Total: 1094km