Big Bike Trip!

11-17-08 Ruins of Chacmultun

2009-05-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Chacmultun is just a few hours by bike from Tekax. I got a flat from a thorn on the way, the second of only two flats on the entire trip (the other was from my last ride to Nadzcaan).

I was not originally planning on going to this site, but it was so close and I was not able to find much information about this site, other than it has Classic Puuc buildings, and at least at one time has a painted mural in one or more rooms. I was hoping it may have some interesting, like early buildings or any sign if influence from the nearby Chenes Region.

After the ruins I rode on to Oxkutzcab to meet back up with Manuel.

I home now, so I uploaded a lot of photos showning some of the details that I look for, and make many of these buildings unique.

A Classic Puuc building.

The site is among milpas, and you have to pass though feilds to get to some groups like this one.

A carving of a monkeys head. The Maya typically built their stone roofs with wooden beams for additional support, most of these have rottened away. This is funny because this tree is growing from a beam socket. It looks like the wooden beam has come to life.

Tunnels.

This is detail unque to the Puuc region and only remains in a few buildings. It is a hanger built into the ceiling of a number of rooms here, but it is also carved to look like a human foot.

Chacmultun is very unusual in that it has many loop holes on both the outside and inside of the building. The most typical type was to make a hole in a stone placed in the wall and plaster around it to make a nice loop. The end of the room shown above has at least three visable (the pairs of black dots).

The single cubby high on the end of this room is very atypical and the few other exaples are scattered over the lowlands.

Here is an seam were an addition was built.

Part of an interior ceiling built in an Early Classic style. The presevation is so good its hard to believe its very old.

This is the bottom of a door. The drilled dents in the side of the doorway are called rod sockets. These are highly common in palace type buildings throughout the lowlands.

A super rare loop. This one of only 3 examples of loops I saw.

New Blogposts Comming!

2009-05-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

second leg of big bike trip ...

2009-01-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

we arrived in belize city, put our bikes together at the airport, and rode straight to the pier to get a boat to the island of caye caulker where we spent 3 days.

unfortunately for us we arrived during a cold front so it rained every day. still a relief from nyc.

don't worry, the weather was a good excuse to enjoy cheap rum in the room's tip cup. also, phil has been eating cookies dipped in peanut butter at every meal.

we caught this amazing movie called slither ... highly recommended.

we did our/my first real ride to san ignacio which will be our jump off point for day trips to a bunch of ruins (phil will cover obvs). the first 50 miles were fun- nice weather, flat roads, pretty good pace. we stopped and had lunch in belmopan and were feeling great about having only 22 miles to go. of course as soon as we started off again it started raining and for the last 2 hours of the ride it was either drizzling heavily or pouring. and it got hilly. and i realized i hadn't bonded with my bike enough before i left so was not happy with the gears.

it was well worth it though. san ignacio is great, we found a cheap place with a hot shower(!), and my bike works now.

belize: the land of the one buck burrito and empanada breakfast...

11-16-08 Tekax

2008-12-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T14:14:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

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

11-05-08 The Ruins North of Xuphil

2008-11-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

We moved rooms from Xuphil to a small town Zoh Laguna, once a logging town. A bit too late. I found that the cardboard room in Xuphil was not only home to bats, moths, and misquitos, but also a healty flee population. Taking a shower in our new place I counted 32 flee bites, and I´m sure there were more.

The area to the north of Xuphil, and below Dzibalchen is for the most part archeologically unknown. There is no doubt that there are many ruins, but the area is so large with so few inhabitents it is hard to know what may be there. This area is between the Rio Bec and the Chenes regions, two closely related cultures, so the area is almost certainly just like the north and south. There are at least 3 large ruins about 35km north of Xuphil, but I have not heard about anybody going there, but since there was a small faming community close to these ruins I wanted to ask around.

The road north of Xuphil

Knowbody knew about any ruins to the west of the town, the ones we were looking for. We were directed to an older man who had some large mound type ruins on his farmland and decided to go. He had hurt his toe. It was bandaged the then end of it was black, so we had to wait for his son to get back from school. After waiting an hour I decided we should just ride around for a bit. Riding north with a GPS we found a road that seemed to lead toward the ruins we were looking for. Down the path there was a turnoff just where the ruins should be, but a huge tree had been intentionally bulldozed blocking the path. For the most part you can step over trees, but not this one.

We went back to town and rode to the ruins. They were quite large, and I have never heard any mention of these before. No standing walls or buildings, but many stones that left no doubt there was late classic structures here. Fronting one of the two large pyrimids was the remains of a few stella and a most unusual stone that was unique but clearly related to ruins to the north. This ruin had another unusual feature that ruins in this area have, rounded, illregular plazas. The Maya nearly always built square, or otherwise geometric plazas, but here there are large curved and U shaped structures, very much like Roman ampithertres. We asked our guide about the ruins to the north and west of town again. He did not know, but we started talking about the road we went down, and said that indeed there the ruins there were big. The road had been intentionally blocked because too much hunting and logging had been happening, and that now there were was no way to go there. The property to the west was owned by a person out of state, and his family were the cartakers, and there was no way we could go. There are at least two significant ruins on this property. Shoot!

An unusual stella, plain but with a boarder like one seen in doorways of southern Puuc ruins.

A capitol which would have topped a doorway pier.

Distance rode:60km

Trip Total: 1341km

11-04-08 The Ruins of Becan

2008-11-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

Watching the election results online. Torture...not waiting for the votes though, the same song has been on repeate for an hour. What is not torture is Obama is cleaning up. Today I saw the ruins of Becan. Becan is traditionally the main city of the Rio Bec region. Famous for a its dry defensive moat, the most formitable defence system in the Maya world. There has been a good amount of research pubished on this site. The first people here arrived in the middle preclassic, about 600BC. Evidence suggests they were farmers who moved up from the south. During the late preclassic, epecially after 150AD large constructions, plazas and the defence system was built. A number of constructions that have been uncovered are typical late preclassic in style, however the early classic had a strong continuity in style. Furthermore, monumental constructuions are believed to have started about 150AD, with the begining of the early classic starting 250AD, but I suspect these were built before 350AD. These constructures have large round corners. Round corners are a trait of Rio Bec style, but here they are very much like late preclassic structures at Yaxha in Guatamala and Lamanai in Belize, but also early classic structures to the northeast at Coba and Yookop. The largest pyrimid at Becan has three small temples at its summit, an almost identical configuration is found at Lamanai. Little is known about the following early classic period. At the time that the liturature I have was published, it was suspected early classic constructions could be numerous, but none had been found. Much work as been done since then, and while I cannot be certain when much of these newly uncovered structures date, but they are nearly identical is style to structures at Uaxactun in Guatamala dating to the early classic (450AD). add link.These Peten style rooms were later buried in 'apron molding' (as mentioned in my Edzna post, a typical late preclassic and early classic style). So these rooms are beyond a resonalbe doubt early classic. It is very much interesting that these high rooms, with walls the slowly curve to a narrow flat roof are diagnositc of classic Rio Bec architecture. So Becan seems to be activly building in the early classic with classic Peten style. The shift to classic Rio Bec style is dated to around 600AD. So what was the shift like from the Peten style to Rio Bec style. As i have said some think the Rio Bec style was so new that it must have come from an outside culture. The early building seen at Chicanna, thought to be early classic are numerous at Becan. What is so interesting is they already have the fine masonry typeical of the Rio Bec style, but facades are much more like Peten buildings. Very much unlike buildings to the north. I am convince these are the link between the Peten style and the Rio Bec style. Based on the more pure Peten buildings here, these tranistional buildings must date to about 500-600AD. So interesting, this will be my first ruin I will have to go back for a second day. Tommorow I am going to the next town north, Zoh Laguna where I hope to see some ruins that are more Chenes in style. Not sure if I will have luck.

An Early Classic passage under a plaza above. This style of vault has been called 'coke bottle', and was believed to be the oldest vault form when seen at Uaxactun. Older vaults have been found that look different.

A finished vault in the same style that was uncovered under a Middle Classic construction.

The back of this Middle Classic Rio Bec structure has been removed to show earlier Peten style architecture and an early palace (with the doorways visable).

These tiny brinklike blocks are nearly perfect. Why such effort that went into making these small blocks is unclear, epecially since they were covered over in plaster.

The front face of an early temple at the summit of the tallest pyrimid at Becan. most of this temple has collapsed off the steep edge of the pyrimid. This configuation is nearly identical to an Late Preclassic one in Belize from about 150AD.

Distance rode:18km

11-03-08 To the South!

2008-11-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

We took the bus south to a small town of Ley de Formento. The hills are big down there and covered with thick forest. The most beutiful place i have been in mexico. Hard to compare it to the States, but it is up there with the most beutiful places I have ever been.

I got some contacts for guides. Of course the best ruins were on muddy roads. We could take a few days to walk or go by horse (still at least 2 days). I dont ride horses and they say it is a 20min drive in April. One of these ruins is supposed to actually be haunted. The proof for this is cited as they are the only ruins in the area that are not looted, but this is not exactly true. They say the ruins were in fact looted, but after a day of digging, they would return only to find that the holes dug the day before had dissapeared. Also, people who live near the ruins have heard their voices screamed from within the forest. Is it true, I´m inclinded to believe it. Looters here are profesionals, and such vaulable items just left out in the open is hard to believe. Anyways, I´ll get to go in April if all goes well.

A second ruin is close to town. The owner of the land was acting hesitant about taking us. He took to a small shack where a few monuments from the site were stored. They did not seem like too much, but one of them lists 13 Maya cities from the Late Classic. The most any other single monument lists is 4, so the importance of this is consiterable.

The relation the Maya cities had with one another is debated frequently. This stone shows that the Maya were well aware of the prestige of cities from a wide area.

I found out about this ruin from a researcher who over the last 5-10 years reported about 60 new sites here in southern Campeche, many of them being major ruins. He specifically told the land owner not to take anyone there for fear they may be looters, a real consern. I had emailed this researcher and he kindly gave me contacts. It is important tourist begin to see these ruins, so people can make money from them other than looting. I had my email with me, and he finally said we could go. It was a great ride in the back of a pickup. The ruins were entierly overgrown except for a looters trench. The hole was huge.

Sooo nice here!

No archtectureal features could be seen, but there there were many worked stones, and a small section of a wall.

11-02-08 Mexican Day of the Dead

2008-11-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

We where planning on taking a Combi (a private van that is run like a bus) to the far southern town where there are many large ruins that have just been reported in the past few years. We decided that tommorow, Monday would be better in case potential guides were taking the day with their familys.

Back to the Rio Bec ruins. Of course there are ruins everwhere here so the second route went past more ruins. We road though the small town of 20 of November. The road was much better, but we got a late start and I decided it was best to turn back because we did not want to be out in the forest at dark. Pablo fell and we had to walk back to town. Rio Bec seems impossible to get to! We go some people to help us fix Pablos bike. They said since it was sunday they had a free ATV and could take us to the ruins in 20 min. Seemed good, we had to listen to a drunk man ramble for about half an hour while we waited. Of course i could not understand him other than he kept saying the ruins were very plesant. He also kept trying to communicate with hand jestures that made no sence. Pablo would not listen to his ramblings at all. Of couse we did not make it. We were told the roads were bad and to come back next week.

These beatles are huge. It seems people kind of keep them around almost as pets. They are so slow moving, but can fly too. These are called 'lobsters' here.

On the way back we looked for some other ruins near by. Did not find them, but the walk though the forest was great. Pablo is thinking he and it bike are not cut out for bike touring. I must say I spend a great deal of time planning my bike, which has been great.

Distance Rode:30km
Trip Total: 1263km

11-01-08 La Munica Guide Search

2008-11-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

La Munica is a small Peten style ruin first reported in the 40s. It was never visited again until a few years ago. There are a few reasons why I wanted to go there. First, it is one of only a handfull of sites with standing Peten architecture in southern Mexico. Second, one of the structures has very large stones, an other unusual feature that indicate it may be very old, possibly one of the very oldest standing buildings (in the sence of rooms, not pyrimids). Last, and most intersting it has a true arch, as used by the romans. Get a text book and they will tell you the Maya never developed the true arch, and for it to appear on such an early building is against logic. The possible earliness of this building is supported by a second true arch found in the center of the largest pyrimid at Calakmul. This structure has been dated to 400BC. The building at La Munica could not possibly be this old, but it supports early builders used true arches.

I got a contact from the guy who relocated the ruin. The ruin a few years ago was an hour drive and an 3.5 hour walk by trail. The road is mud, and the trail is gone, but he was still willing to take us. It will be 3-4 days though the forest, and we leave friday. I cannot wait. Very few people have ever been there, and it seems very interesting to me.

It´s jalipenio season, and this truck brimming with them is just one of the dozens I saw (and I spend very little time next to the road).

Distance Rode: 86km
Trip Total: 1233km

10-31-08 Halloween and Some Haunted Ruins

2008-11-03T18:08:00.001-08:00

Pablo and I started out for the Ruins of Rio Bec. The Rio Bec style is named after these ruins. These are ruinS because it is not a single site, but over 70 small clusters located over a good sized area. These ruins are infamous for the their difficulty to reach. Not only does the area flood frequently, but the thick vegitation has made it nearly impossible to relocate some of these groups after they have been found (before GPS).

Typically you need a 4w high clearance vechicle to reach the ruins, but this is expenisve and I like to ride the dirt roads on my bike. The ruins are out in the forest though a maze of dirt roads. I got some directions out of an old book and was willing to give it a try. The road was rough. Much of it was exposed bedrock which was wet and covered in a mossy slime rendering it very slippery. I actually fell, and the bedrock is very hard. This was all well and good, but then we hit the mud. My wheels locked up because the mud caked everywhere. Walking was hard too. We decided the bikes where useless and went on by foot. The mud was so thick and sticky we could hardly walk. The road kind river too when it rained. We quickly came upon a new substance that i believe was quicksand. It was only about 8 inches deep, but you sank right into it. Harder to walk though than 3 feet of snow. I had to Pull Pablo out of only about a foot of it. If it was much deeper it would be a nightmare. We had to turn back, I had to carry my bike, the wheels just did not turn. When I took the time to clean off the mud, it was about 20 feet before the wheels locked up again. That was that. I knew there was a second way to get there. If fact after talking with people knowbody had known about this route.

Mud sooo sticky!

This was just sludge, and it is hard to see, but the bottom was at least 4´deep. I cannot imagine a car passing though this.

We where close to more ruins of course since there are ruins everywhere here. Hormiguero just down the road was reported to be haunted by disembodied voices, but have no idea if there is any truth. I heard nothing. Structure 2 is the best preserved monstermouth doorway in the Rio Bec Region, really something to see.

Structure 2, a twin tower with a monster mouth doorway built on a grand scale. I look like I am 3´tall here.

A well preserved mask panel on the wall.

Sealed rooms inside one of the towers that have been opened by looters. Pablo is in one of the openings.
A second twin tower with a monstermouth doorway. The mask panel has been uncovered by looters. Their is a tunnel looking for more chamber inside one of the towers.

Pablos wheel was falling apart like i have never seen. He was lucky to make it home. He got it rebuit in town with ultra heavy spokes.

Distance Rode: 53km
Total: 1147km

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

2008-11-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

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

10-29-08 A day in Campeche

2008-10-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

Lost a day somewhere, have to go back. I may have taken two days off in Campeche. Today I got provisions because tonight I am taking an overnight bus to Xuphil (say it like eshupeel), the center of the Rio Bec region. When to a few of the Maya muesums in town. One musesum is a 'architectural' muesum which is baically all the cool parts of buildings ripped out and put in a room. Kind of dissapointed because all of these things are so much more impressive in their original setting. True, some of these come from small sites can would most likly be looted, but still dissapointing to go to a ruin and see the best parts gone.

Was tempted to go to a far northern example Chenes site earlier. Poorly known but for some unusual masks. Good thing I skipped, the masks are now here.

An incredable jade funaral mask from Calakmul.

A great example of polychrome ceramics. This is from a tomb at Calakmul or looted from a nearby ruin. So much of these musesums are recovered objects that have been looted.

The museums are housed in the old walls of the city. These forts were actually build to keep pirates out.

The modern architecture here makes you appreciate conservatism. This looks almost like a Frank Gehry, i think that is a compliment.

Hard to imagine this square UFO shaped buildng got built outside of epcot center. Behind the planters is the stairway, just like a 50's hollywood UFO.

Not all the questionable architecture is modern. This church is a great example of form follows function. Insead of the old fasion steeple, this one has a light house. Maybe they got extra money for it?

I think this snack roughly translates in english to 'blacky' with a little african kid eating it. This would not fly in the US, but most mexicans hate black people for some reason. I asked why Mexicans hate black people even though they are not in Mexico, I was told once in a while they pickup cubans fleeing in the Yuctan. Hardly felt like saying Cubans really aren't black.

Going by bus to Xuphil with my new riding partener tonight. Will be deep in the forest tommorow morning!

10-27-08 The Ruins of Edzna

2008-10-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

Took the first bus out of town. These ruins really blew my mind. A lot has been written about these ruins, but a lot of important work has been done here in the past few year. The architecture is supposed to be 'unique' with a mix of influences. I really am not sure who first said this. The architecture spans nearly 2000 years, so there is a LOT of different styles to see. The earliest styles are Late Preclassic. There are very few late preclassic examples in the Yucatan, so this was great. Just uncovered are two new stucco masks. They are amost entirely smashed, but there are still a few parts left still with paint. The late preclassic style is strongly southern, with 'apron moldings' (see photo below) and super interesting was a type of unusual molding from south western Campeche, known as the Candelaria region. I have not studied this region, but it is clear now it is likley very important to the development of the northern architecture and possibly masonry.

Most architecture seems to be early classic. The style and masonry of this is very much like the late preclassic. I will not talk too much about it, but it is different from any other early classic masonry I have seen. The most remarkable thing about it is a preferance for the builders to stack the stones on end, so they are used as much like tiles as possible. Once on the wall as a tile, they also liked to make the longest side vertial. This is entirely unlike any other early masonry I have seen, but it is essentially the style prefected in the late classic Puuc style, which is though to have originated in the north. I have not been to the north of the Puuc region yet, but I think this is clearly the start. I wont get into it any further, but what I saw was not what I expected, but makes a lot of sense.

The late classic is mostly Chenes style which should be expected, but I'm suprised Edzna has not been called a Chenes site, or within the Chenes region. I am not studing the post classic period (900-1500), but there was also an example recently uncovered of a 'pure florecent' style building. 'Pure florecent' is also called toltec-puuc style and is basically only found at Chitzen Itza, so to see this example so far away is very interesting.

The main acropolis at Edzna. A massive platform with many pyrimids and palaces.

The famous five story palace. The plack said this type of structure was very rare. It fact in the late classic, preclassic and early classic temples were covered in rooms. In fact I would say pyrimid temples without rooms built on the lower terraces are rare. Some people! The roof comb on top is great, just like examples in the Puuc region.

The early classic stairway at the base is covered with hyroglyphs, and they look just like the loose hyroglyphic stones at Yookop.

Recently uncovered on one side of the palace is this late preclassic mask. This is part of the decorative frame still with paint. Very rare!

The side of the five story palace. the curved terraces are a style known from the Candelaria region, and I think from late preclassic architecture at Becan in the Rio Bec region. This suggests architectural influences came from the north as early as the late preclassic and probably before.

The back of the top temple. The walls below with a 'drip edge' are apron molding, typical of the late preclassic and early classic. Southern citys continued with this style into the late classic.

This polychomed stucco was just haniging out. They should really be more careful.

One of several early classic succo masks. This is in great shape, but not much paint left.

The site is huge, so much more I could say and so many more intersting buildings. A buddy from the hostel also showed up at the ruins. He liked the idea of biking so he bought a bike this afternoon and now I have a riding partener. I better get him into good shape quickly!

10-26-08 Hopelchen to Campeche

2008-10-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Getting sick of the middle of know where. I was going to avoid the citys, but I needed to relax someplace with things to do, people to talk to. My next ruins too were at Edzna, about 55-60km from Hopelchen. They are closer to Campeche and there is a bus service from Campeche, so that sealed the deal, and I road. I thought Campeche was about 60km away, but out on the road it turned out to be a solid ride at 85km. In great shape, so not a big deal. The weather has been very nice, around 75F, and the road was mostly very flat. Brook 1000km too!

I have been to Campeche before, so knew what to expect. Nice, but not the greatest city. Ended up staying in a hostal. Was OK. Dont sleep as well, but I can cook food here (pasta by the pound) and it is right in the town square.

The view from the hostal. It is Sunday and there are bands playing. Most are great, but one was a karioki thing with this guy in leather pants.

Not a great person for this, but this guy was sweet, and he blew my mind. A miget on a minature dirt bike with training wheels.

This night club in an empty parking lot was sponsered by diet coke. Keeping it real I think, this was all cloth. The sign just says 'Dance Club'.

Distance Rode:85km
Trip Total:1072km

10-25-08 The Ruins of Dzibilnocac and Hochob

2008-10-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

These ruins were south of Hopelchen. I was originally going to ride to the southern town here,
Dzibalchen (pronounced sibalchen) but I have been kind of getting sick of just hanging out in the middle of know where, and had enough unwanted attention. I new this was a town that never had any tourists. The total ride would be about 160km, so I packed my bike at took a bus to Dzibalchen. First bus ride, got sick on all the hills and not planning on getting into the habit. Rode a nice flat 20km to Dzibilnocac (see-bill-no-cock). The town is a bit depressing, and I had to ask about 5 people to find the ruins on the edge of town. Dzibilnocac is a large and important ruin that has building starting at least by the late preclassic (400BC), but only a single cleared building is open to the public. I had a lot of riding and was nonplused by the locals so that was going to be all I saw.

The only cleared stucture. A long building with three temples on top.

The southern temple is very well preserved. It has one real doorway and 3 fake doorways with a monster mask facade on each face.

Still looking good!

A great suprise. The base of the center temple has been cleard revealing the lower jaws of what must be another buiried monster mask facade. These curled teeth are just the front platform (see photos of Ek Balam or Hochob below). The actual mask is likly buried and possibly in a very good state of preservation. If this is the case, than this structure probably looked just like structure 2 at Hochob (see below), was changed to look like twin tower complex (see Hormiguero in the next few days) and finaly changed into the triple tower complex seen today.

Next stop was the small, but well preserved ruins of Hochob, with its famous structure 2. This site is a small courtyard with three buildings still standing. Two monstermouth buildings and a twin tower complex. Not too much to see, but a nice place. Unfortuantly just about all my photos turned out overexposed. Not the worst, all my masonry photos turned out just fine.

Structure 2.
Over exposed, but the building is in great condition, really one of the best examples of monstermouth doorways until the one at Ek Balam was uncovered.

Structure 1 is also a monstermouth structure that would have looked very much like structure 2, but it is in radically worse condition, not sure why. The masonry is very similar and is thought to have been built more or less at the same time.
A tower of the twin tower complex. I will get into the twin towers very soon, they are most common in the Rio Bec region where I am heading soon.

The ride back was long and hilly...very exhusting, in the end I road about 115km, longest ride yet, but I only had a day bag.

Distance rode:115km
Trip total:987km

10-24-08 The ruins of Xtampak

2008-10-27T14:39:00.001-07:00

Xtampak is the largest Chenes ruin, and it seems has almost half of all standing examples of Chenes buildings. It is a long 40km out of town, constant hills though on a white road. White roads are roads made of crushed limestone. When they are new, they can be as good as asphalt, but when they get old they can be deeply rutted, and worse for bikes are the constant loose rocks that make your bike bounce around. The ride was hot and long, one of the more difficult, but for the people back home, this ride put me over the 500 mile mark.

The morings are just full of mist.

Happy to see the caretaker has this sweet bike. He claimed the stearing wheel helped him navigate the rough road. Maybe so.

The ruins are well studied, but recently there as been a large crew working to clear and uncover many new structures which were very intersting. Many new architectural elements otherwise unknown have come to light, most importantly two new unique masks, a new monstermouth doorway, and a 'twin tower' complex otherwise a Rio Bec style.

Recently the most intersting structure, the three story palace was tunneled into and a substructure was found in a Puuc like style. The implicatons for this are very interesting because it has believed by many researchers that the Puuc style came from the south, and that Chenes was a intermediary style. New digs in the Chenes region in the Puuc region have basically dissmissed this idea as overly simplified.

The palace has decorative stairways, almost totally vertaical.

Classic Chenes style structures.
Chenes style masks, very much like those seen at Xkichmook.

One of the many building being cleared.

Hard to see, but this is part of a maze of stones that have been removed from the structures. This path noodles though the forest with the stones sorted by type.

This is the stairway of the largest pyrimid at the site. It is made of huge roughly worked blocks, associated with an astonomical complex.

The serpant palace, one of the several monster-mouth doorways here. Too bad all the stucco has melted here.

On the back of the 'serpent palace' this remarkable sculputure has been uncovered. It is entirly unique. The mask appears to be a jaguar, but the body is more like a milliped. Each stairway riser has small hook like legs, giving it an appearance of a very much like a chinese new years dragon. It is decending down the staircase, which can only be compared to the the post classic Castello at Chitzin Itza, though to be a style originating in central mexico.

A new monstermouth doorway, also enirely unique. This structure, like Kabah appears to be an arch structure, which must have been very large. The monster mask appears on both sides of this structure.

Some plazas are still full of stones.

Distance rode: 80km
Trip total: 872km

10-23-08 Santa Elana to Hopelchen and the Ruins of Tahcok

2008-10-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

I road about 70km to Hopelchen. Fewer and fewer towns and constant hills. Chenes is the Maya word for a well. Nearly every town ends with chen, as the places where people live is based on where the wells are. The wells today still supply the towns with water. The Chenes regions is also a distinct archetectual region, largly a mix of Puuc (to the north) and Rio Bec (to the south). It is unclear who the Chenes people where in relation to the Puuc and Rio Bec people, some think they were Rio Bec people, but with current research it is simply unclear.

The church at Bolenchen (I will have to post a some pictures later of Hopelchen). Many ruins around here too, but they are mostly Puuc.

I went out to a ruin on the edge of town, Tahcok. Honestly i was a bit disapointed, but it was easy to get to and the care taker was great, so I ended up hanging out with him for a while talking about ruins and eating oranges which grow everywhere there.

The main, and only uncovered structure. All that I could see was Puuc architecture, with Chenes style wall and vault masonry.

This was actually pretty intersting. 99% of vaults come have a flat top where a vault stone is layed flat across the sloping walls. This vault comes to a point. I think there is one of these at Uxmal, but otherwise i think these are the only two examples.

Distance traveled: 70km
Trip total: 792km

10-22-08 Oxkutzcab to Santa Elana and the Ruins of Kabah and Sayil

2008-10-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

A good day to take off. Manuels step daughter was in a bad scooter accident, everyone involved was drunk. She had to be moved to the hopital in Media due to interal bleeding. My next stop was Hopelchen, the biggest town in the Chenes region, and the only town with a hotel. The ride was about 100km with constant hills, so I road about 20km to Santa Elena via Ticul to break the trip up.

A church on the way to Ticul.

The church in Ticul. Ticul seems very nice, I think I will spend a night here on my way back north.

This is my second time in Santa Elena, and I took the rest of the day to see the famous Puuc Ruins at Kabah and Sayil. Both very nice ruins, but not of particular interest to me because the architecture and masonry is well documented. Nevertheless they are great ruins to see and more structures have been uncovered since my last visit.

The famous Codez Poop. I think poop here means mat.. Hundreds of identical masks. Mass production before Henry Ford.

Fun to see. To get into the doorways you step on the noses.

Once inside, there is a second mask that acts as a step to the rear chambers.
Was suprised to see this very ruined structure. The blocks here are very similar to the early classic masonry I have been seeing, and very much unlike the typical Puuc masonry used in terraces. Kabah is carefully layed out, and like Yaxhom (the Puuc site with an early masonry wall), Kabah also has an astronomical complex. In the future sites is will see, all with astronomical complexes have early masonry as should be expected (because all current evidence suggests the Maya stopped building astronomical complexes by the late classic).

The largest known vault. This arch is the formal entrance to the city where a road from the city Uxmal to the north ends in Kabah. Arches can be found at many Puuc sites.

A hyroglyphic doorjamb at Sayil. Very rare because this type of sculptures are habitually removed both by looters and archeologists. Very nice to see in place.

The building to see at Sayil. I think this is the largest single palace the Maya ever built. Off the top of my head I think it has 92 rooms, built in many stages over about 200-300 years.

Distance road: 60km
Trip total: 722km

10-21-08 A day off

2008-10-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Staying for free here, so why not relax for a day. Manuel did not get any sleep last night, his cousin was biking and got hit by a drunk who ran the stop sign. No broken bones, but internal bleeding. They are still filling out paperwork before moving to Medida. Manuel is getting into the charcol biz here and i saw his first load.

Charcoal being made.

So im still in Oxkutzcab, but i have not posted much about it. It is the largest argriculture market in the Yucatan, and is known for the large amount of citrus, far more valuable than corn and squash, so it is very prosperous. The money that come in from the states is consiterable here too. It seems like everone has worked in the states here.

The church.

The Market. Manuel sets his cart up here. He makes great food, and Cali style burritos which are great, but he also cooks chinese food which i though was very strange, but knowbody else makes it.

My favorate breakfast. A thick fried tortilla, chicken, eggs and a black sauce called relleno negro sauce. It is a sauce made from chillis burned black, very good. You can see the bottom of the standard orange soda in the upper right hand corner.

Tommorow is a very long ride to Hopelchen in northern Campeche. It will be a few days before I post again. The next stop is the ruins of Santa Rosa, the largest Chenes site where work is going on now and they just uncovered a very interesting structure encased by a large palace.

10-20-08 Around the Puuc Ruins

2008-10-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Many ruins are in peoples back yards in Cooperativa. I was specifially interested in these ruins because I read a report that had small note that two or three ruins in the valley here had 'megalighic' walls. Such masonry is very much unlike the typical Puuc style that dominates the area and would date to an earlier epoch. I very much wanted to know if these stones were like the megalithic architecture dating to the preclassic in the south (northern guatamala, and a single site know in southern campeche and southern quinata roo), or if they were like the similar, but different megalithic architecture seen in the north, such as the structure at Ek Balam.

One group was in the back yard of Manuels ex-wifes mother. In there back yard were many Puuc stones reused.

A lintel used as a bench (lintels are large stones used to span a doorway).

A wall that uses capstones. In the Maya vault (corbeled vault) the roof slopes inward. Just before the two sides meet, a flat stone is layed across to compete the roof.

A decorated eve (medial cornice) on the lower story of the palace.

Further back was the remains of a two story palace. A huge building, but in a very bad state of preservation. Many rooms can still be seen though. This group was connected to another group by a precolumbian road. We followed the road until we hit a fence that opened into a feild with a bee keeper and turned back. While I saw many very large stones, I needed to see a wall with these 'megalithic' stones in place to be sure they were the stones I was looking for. So we went down the road to the largest group in the valley at Yaxhom. These ruins are in a very bad state, proabably because they are particularly old. The plan of the city is typical of southern ruins, with an astronomical complex known as an 'E-Group'. These complexes, as currently known are date from the middle preclassic to the begining of the early classic (800BC-350AD). So this ruin was probably build by people from the south and were not Puuc people. We did find the ruin, and the very small wall that is still standing. To my surprise it was not what i would call megalithic at all. It was very much like the masorny from Yookop and around. Very large blocks. Very little to see, but worth the effort for me.

The 'megalithic' wall at Yaxhom.

Next was taking the road south to see some more out of the way Puuc ruins in the area around Xul. I like going off road in the jeep, so i had Manuel take the dirt road south form the ruins at Labna. This road passes though a few large sites, but I was looking to see Kuic, a ruin with many unusual archtectural elements.

In the middle of the forest we passed this old hacienda.

To our suprise we came upon some very fancy houses with solar panels. It was some kind of eco retreat. Very weird in the middle of the forest here. Apparently they kind of bought a bunch of land, including the ruins. Trying, i supose to keep the local people out.

Fancy forest retreat.

I know very little about the ruins at Kuic, but there is work going on now. A very nice place to visit.

Kuic is know for its unique carved doorway columns. I believe these are not seen anywhere else.

A building using these carved columns.

Nice.

An stairway being slowly cleared, only half is exposed.

An early vaulted structure that uses slabs for the roof. This is not a Puuc building.

This building is truly massive. It looks like other buildings but is scaled up to giant proportions. I understand this structure is about to collapse.

A huge Puuc palace. this goes on for twice as far as you can see and there is a collapsed upper story.

Rainclouds were moving in so we had to hit the road, were taking the easy way back, a paved road to Xul. But.....

The paved road is right there! Too bad for the locked gates! What luck, white people closing the road in the middle no place. Who is even comming here? We had some serious talk about cutting the chain. Good thing we did not, we saw the caretaker in town the next day, so weird.

The caretaker assumed me must have a key, why else would be be here. He said we will have to go back the way we came, or try a second road to Cooperativa, but he did not know what it was like and did not want to recommend it. The road the way we came was long and rough, so we tried the new road.

Good god. This is not just the forest, it is the road too. We drove for about half hour until it truly became a forest. Not only the worst 'road' i have ever been on, but Manuel too. What luck. More talk about busting the lock, but Manuel desided to take the road back to Labna.

On the way back we got stuck in the mud. Manuels wife and I pushed it out, she was behind the rear wheel and got totally drenched in the thick slimy mud, i just got sprayed. Manuel was going to sell the truck, but after today he is convinced it is worth haveing. In fack, he could not sell it for $1500 in San Fran, but can get over $2500 for it here.

A great truck!

10-19-08 Malaria, Dimonbacks, Bullfights and the Ruins at Tabasqueno

2008-10-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up to help Manuel with cutting grass for his cattle. He cuts grass next to the dump on the edge of town.

The dump. Tons of dogs and vultures live here.

This is a hand made machette used for cutting grass. Machettes come in different sizes of the classic shape, but also a rainbow of other designs. This type is pretty typical and is good for light brush and grass.

Two days ago I was speeking with a guy in town, and I asked him how bad the snakes are, and what snakes to watch out for. He said Dimondbacks were the worst, not fatal though if you get a shot. He said they are grey, about 2 feet long and have a diamond pattern on thier back. While cutting grass Manuel came acrossed a snake and asked me if i thought he should kill it. He had not seen this type before, but it fit the exact description of a diamond back, and it was my opinion that is should be killed since we were working in the area.

A dead diamodback.

Next we set out for more ruins. We went over to northern Campeche to the Bolochen district. There is only one big ruin in the area that i will visit soon, but we were looking for some of the many small ruins around the countryside. Asking around, many people were aware of the ruins, but that all the roads you have to take were in terrable shape because of the flooded roads. Unlike southern Yucatan, where we were yesterday, Campeche is dryer, and the increased rains have made their crops grow very well. It seems thier soil drains better too, because there was no standing water. In the end, we only made it to one ruin, a well marked one open for tourist, El Tabasqueno. To bad, but worse I fear the forest roads further south will be a big problem for me, and i may not get to see many of the ruins I am hoping to see.

El Tabasqueno is a small ruin, notible for a single standing building with a monstermask facade, other than Ek Balam, this is one of the best preserved. The style is Chenes (Chenes is a spanish word for wells, wells are the only way to get water in this region), but like Xkichmook, the masonry is almost totally Puuc in style.

The facade of the main temple at Tabasqueno. The temple at the palace at Xkichmook almost certainly once looked like this, but is now totally collapsed.

Stacks of masks on the corner of the temple like at Xkichmook.

Red and blue paint still can bee seen on the wall. This is a soffet in one of the rooms where a blue strip of paint can be seen.

Last night Manuel asked me if I remembered the large misquittos at the ruins yesterday, and i had. I had never seen them like this before and they neither had Manuel. They were at least twice as big as a typical misquitto. He tolded me a Maya field worker who was showing us some of the ruins said they were the type that make you sick. I said how sick, he said very sick. I asked if you ever get better, he said no, a lot of times you die. So when i got back to town, and after a bit of a difficult covnversation, i picked up some anti-maleria meds and started taking them, because the south were I'm headed will be much worse.

In the night we went out to Yucatan bullfight. The bullfights come in three types. First, the typical type where they kill the bull. They do this first so they can sell the meat. We missed this and showed up for the second time. The bull gets released in the ring and runs around for a bit, then a whole bunch of horses enter the ring and the bull trys to hit them. Apparently the horses can be killed this way, but nothing like that happen. The third type is more with the matadors putting on a show, then the first cowboy to lasso the bull gets a prize. Lots of fun. The most remarkable thing are the stands that get built. All wood for the forest, tied together with reeds, looks like they must have been building them like this for 1000's of years. It was very dark, so the pictures are not the best but here are a few:

A view from the stands.

The matadors and bull.

A view of the stands.

10-18-08 The ruins of Xkichmook and Ichpich

2008-10-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

I met a friend here Manuel. He worked for 15 years in San Fran working his way up to being a head chef. Last year he moved back and makes chinese food by the produce market where I met him. He is my age and it's great to have a friend here who I both totally Meixcan (Mayan) and American. He has a second house where I am now staying, and of course he cooks great food. The best part though is he has family to the south (the Chenes region) and has a jeep, so today we hit the road looking for ruins off the path. In the end we did not find any ruins i did not know about, but both of these ruins were off unmarked dirt roads.....though winding cornfeilds.....then though rough uncut roads. Never could find these without help.

Driving south the roads became hilly and the forest became thick and wet. The corn feilds have gotten so much rain the corn is not growing. One man we spoke to has planted three times this year and still nothing will grow, a very bad situation for them. Even Manuel has not been selling much food because the market is so bad from the weather here.

Many people here speek English and want to talk with me for practice. They all learn English in the states from working without papers. While this is common knowlage at home, there is so much i don't know, and what I read in the papers about illegal workers seems bizzare while talking here. Most people come in a boat. Boats come from all over, not just from Mexico. Not only is building a wall between Mexico and the States a joke, but there is already a wall, the 'new wall' is just making the old wall taller. One man told me citizens were shooting at his boat when it was pulling into harbor. Once in Amereria, and this is true for just about all illegal workers, you have a labor boss who tells you where to work and where you live. Living is typically in a large warehouse with 60 or more other workers, but some people like Miguel who was very successful had his own place. While these conditions are very hard, every single person I talk to about this used their money to start their own buisiness. Many are in their early 20s, married and have a nice life now. Sounds like the American dream. If the politicians wanted to reduce illegal workers they really could just go after the labor bosses, not building a wall. The thought that getting rid of cheep labor will help America and the economy is not clear to me.

Thought the feilds to Xkichmook. Still a lot of rain.

The corner of a temple with stacked masks on the palace.

While the architecture at Xichmook is Chenes, the masonry is Puuc. Many Chenes structures, especially in the northern Chenes regione are have Puuc masonry. The mask on the palace above is similar to Puuc, but far more fluid, and does not use mass produced elements.

Another mask. Many masks do not have lower jaws. It is not clear is the scrolls falling from the jawless mouth are blood or vegitation. In most imagry it probably intentionally vague.

Another of the many structures here. Masks are both above the doorways and on the walls. Masks on the walls are not found in Puuc buildings and are distictive of both Chenes and Rio Bec (most people agree Chenes and Rio Bec are one style, with northern and southern spheres). For example the building at Xkichmook are built with Puuc masonry style, something that does not happen in the Rio Bec region.

A wall mask from the structure above.

Ichpich is small, and is really a Puuc site, but it is further south than Xkichmook. If my Maya is correct, Ichpich means 'medium sized place,' not to interesting. The relation between Puuc and Chenes is not entierly clear. It is generally accepted Chenes is earlier than Puuc but overlapping. Not that more research has been done, it is clear that both started much earlier that before believed (about 500AD). Why people living next to each other, buildng the same way would build in different styles in not clear though.

Structure 1 at Ichpich. Basically Puuc, but the pegs in the upper area would have held stucco sculptures since melted. These pegs are Chenes, not Puuc (early Puuc building did have pegs like this, see my posting about the early pyrimid building at Labna).

Chenes builders liked to paint the very tops of their rooms. This is the corner of an eve of the structure where there is a painting of a person sitting indian style. I have never seen or hear about anything like this.

The Chenes region is very dry (in the summer). They would hollow out small rooms in the bedrock to store water and food. The rooms would neck down to a small opening at the top, and a lid would close them. This giant hole, 10-15ft around opened into a giant cavity. This was almost certanly natural, but the Maya modified it so it was perfically smooth and round.

Back in the jeep tommorow to checkout some of the smaller Chenes ruins in northern Campeche. I a few days I will move to northern Campeche to see some of the large Chenes sites. Archeologies are now working there and have just made some important architectural findings!

10-17-08 Ruta Puuc, and the Ruins of Labna and Xlapak

2008-10-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Puuc ruins are well studied, and I do not plan to spend too much time here. Nevertheless, the studies of Puuc architecture are classics, and it is the only area of the Maya that has received thurough studies. Studying these texts at the ruins has been very There are so many Puuc ruins it is hard to imagine. In the Yucatan, most building still standing are Puuc, and most of these are probably in about a 15mile radius, so there is a lot to see. They are very easy to get to, and are very beutiful. I road out past the Lotun caves which I hope to see later. And past the community of Yaxhom, where there is a very large ruin someplace in the orchards, I hope to see these too, but I wanted to see the ruins of Labna. Labna is a Puuc site known for its beutiful decorations, and this site is maintained more like a park. It even has a peacock.

The palace is the main attraction, a large two story structure.

Mosaic masks, masks made of many carved stone elements are a hallmark of the Puuc style. The masks at Labna are somewhat more fluid and complex than most Puuc sites, likley and influnce from the south. Labna is on the southern side of the Puuc area.

This is the same mask as above showing some detail in the carved blocks. These masks would have been covered in a thin layer of plaster with additional fine detail.

These designs, also typical are believed to be an abstract geometric mask. Two eyes, a 'V' nose and a door for a mouth.

So much nature too!

This looks like a small temple on top of a pyrimid, but the door is only one of three that once existed, the rest of the structure has collapsed. The waffle-like wall on top is called a roof comb. Roof combs are typical on Maya structures, but almost always are the first to collapse first. In the late 19th century, this building was still completly standing. the roof comb still had stucco sculpture on it depicting a Maya ball game. On the lower left a buiried structure has become unearthed. While all othere structure here (in my photos) are Classic Puuc, 750-950AD), this and a number of others here are Early Puuc 650-750AD.

This is an arch thought to be the formal enterance to the city.

Notice the decorative huts above both doorways. You can see the remains of a roof comb on this structure too.

Fancy!

Xlapak is a small site just down the road from Labna with just one complete structure that is very well preserved.

The main structure. A wasp tried to sting me here too, but my hair was too big. I just am not going into any rooms with wasps anymore.

The stacks of masks are very impressive.

The back side of the building here is actually from an earlier constuction phase.

Reconstruction work is going on here. Unlike other regions, the Puuc mass produced these decorative elements. You can just dig them up and put them back together. These have been pulled from the rubble and sorted.

Miles road: 60km

Trip Total: 662km

10-16-08 Peto to Oxkutzcab

2008-10-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

I made a new friend in Peto. Fransico owns the internet cafe i was using. He is learning English, and was interested in speaking with me for practice. In the end we stayed up late watching a conspericy movie about 9-11 banking. Got me thinking with the 'bailout' where did all the money go, and where will all the new money go? I guess just to the banks so they can do more business, right? Also the news suggested that bankers just woke up one morning and all the bank was empty, they just did not see it comming. Man, they were in the business of money and in the end they had no idea how it worked........that is true, right? And so we have to give them more money? We were drinking beer with lime juice and habenero peppers, very good. Fransico and his family were going to Media, the largest city in the Yucatan for businiess, so I hitched a ride to the exit for Oxkutzacab and rode from there, only about 25km.

I had some food and different fresh citrus drinks while we waited for Fransicos wife to get off work. We hand 'american' style food. It was very good, but I did not tell them american food never is cooked with habenero peppers.

This picture is dark, but it is Fransisco in his fathers kitchen. You can see the increadable garden in the back.

This ruin was the side of the road into town. You cannot see it in this picture, but it was ripped open and a very unusual oval shaped building was inside.

The plan was to leave at 12-1pm for Medida. I think we were on the road between 3-4. Everying is much slower here. Made it into town as the sun was setting. Stayed at Las Palmeras.

Distance rode: 25km

Trip Total: 605km

4-15-08 The Mystery Ruins

2008-10-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

A quick note: the computers are very slow and I'm very busy. I have not had a time to spell check or proof most of these postings, so I'm just getting as much stuff down as possible.

Got a feaver last night and slept in. Slept in, but felt well so i decided to ride out to the ruins, at 40km each way it was the biggest day trip yet and did prove to be exhusting.

I will not give the name of these ruins or there exact location. There is a fear of looting, and indeed this this site is at risk, and fresh holes suggest it is in fact being looted now. I dont know who looters are. I know in some cases it is local people. A single dish or bowl from the ruins is basically equivelient to a lifetime of work, so the risk is justified. I hear Ameriacans and Europians also travel here to pick sites to have looted. Not to sure about this, but makes sense because the trafficing of these goods, big buisiness, must be carfully planned, likly more so than trafficing drugs. A few years ago an entire stucco facade from a building near the Guatamala boarder arrived in New York City, at least 30x12ft if not much bigger. While trying to sell it, an acidemic contacted the athorities and it is now on display in Mexico city. I will be passing next to, but not through the village where came from. A researcher while asking about ruins in the area was baically tolded that there are nice people in the town, but that there were no ruins and if he did not move on he would regret it ( i think they flashed guns). He did move on, but knowing that of course there were ruins. Not to worry. I have names of guides who will take me to sites i want to see in the area. I have no need to meddle with such things as getting threatened.

These ruins have been known about for some time now, but recent reports state that they were just discovered, its strange, because actually new ruins never actually make it into the papers, not sure why. Lately Ive read a few reports on 'new ruins' and they all, including this one were originally published over 20 years ago. Anyway these ruins are very intersting because they seem to have at least early and late classic construction. The late classic construction is of the Rio Bec-Chenes style (like most the structures at Ek Balam, especially the mostermask building. I have seen a single photo from this site showing a Chenes-Rio Bec structure with much sculpture unlike any other structure I have seen. Like Ek Balam, it was far from the traditional geographic areas typcially associated with these styles. I was most interested to examine the masonry and get some more photos, as this was clearly an important structure.

A small amount of work has been done at the site. 20 stellas (carved stone monuments), 10 of which are carved have been found, some used in the stair case suggesting that the site was attacked and a new dynasty wanted to erase anyh marks of the old linages. Typically the stellas are smashed an buried in the rubble fill of a pyrimid, but to use them as steps is a great idea, and unique to my knowlage. The recent work also found ceramics from Edzna, a huge site to the west that i will visit, and from northern Guatamala, so it is though that this site was really in the thick of things.

The masonry is facinating, and somewhat different from Ek Balam. I really cannot draw any conclusions until I have visited the ruins of the Chenes and Rio Bec regions. It is certain that the masonry is similar to some, but not all of the buildings of this style.

The site is indeed large, and the recent work has cleared nearly all the brush out, so walking around and taking pictures was very easy. There are many platforms and many pyrimids. Platforms and pyrimids are not typical of the Chenes-Rio Bec style. All of these sites that have these features are known to have preclassic and early classic architecture (400BC-250AD), so almost certainly this site too has early structures buried, and it would be very interesting to know what that is.

This is the only photo i have ever seen of the ruins, the back of the main structure. The upper facade has increadible sworling designs in a deep relief. Very very nice.

A standing section from the front facade at an angle showing the depth of the design. Upper facades like this are generally rare. The construction of this is exceptional in its quality. In every case of standing upper facades, the design is boardered top and bottom by a protruding boarder (called a cornice). The cornice protected the design from rain on top, and the wall below. Notice here how there is no such thing. The wall below is flush with the design above in between the sworels making a very dramatic effect.

Although fallen, the upper facade was almost certainly boarder at the corners with masks with protruding noses typical of the Puuc style and can been seen at Chitzen Itza. This is one such nose I found in the tumble on the side of the pyrimid. I have never seen on like this, and appears by style to be very early. while the noses of later structures turned up (like seen in the photo here), this nose based on the carving would have turned down, also a feature of early such masks.

Up at the top the building has seen no attempt to preserve the standing masonry. At any site that has had nearly any work, new morter is added to prevend water from further eating out the ancient morter. While this is clearly a good idea, it obscures the stonework. Not here. The stones are just sitting there in origianal form. The way the stones were stacked, the shape of the stones, and the stones inside the walls are clearly visable. Most the sites I will see have have to compare my photos with early photos to see things I may have missed or that are not obvious. While trying to get to get a better view of the masonry on the back of the structure (a narrow 12" walk way between the rear wall and the drop down the side of the pyrimid) I came acrossed a big nest of black hornets and was rapidly swarmed. Not sure how many stings i got, but they sure hurt for a long time, and i'm very glad i'm not allergic to them.

Another very intersting standing structure here, also of the Chenes-Rio Bec style. While mostly collapsed this building has a door that passes up to the roof of the building.

I have never seen anything like this. It is a niche on the side of one of the many large platforms, probably a second exists and they flank a staircase (both Ek Balam and Coba and many others have rooms on each side of the staircases of their large pyrimids). This is probably a miniature based on that style.

Tommorow I head northwest to towards the Puuc region, which I many or many not see a few sites, and then south to the Chenes region.

Distant traveled: 80km

Trip Total:577km

10-14-08 Saban to Peto and the Ruins of Ichmul and Calomul

2008-10-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

The frequent heavy rain was bothering me because i am heading south, where the rains increases in intesity and the roads turn to a slick, if not deep mud (i will be really getting off the beaten path in the south). The path i choose called for me to pass for about 10km across a very bumpy dirt road (the one i took to the ruins). Because my ride was going to be long tomorrow, and i would leave before light, this presented a problem. It was recommended i pass west to the fedral highway and head south. Looking at new ways on the map i realized i was very close to more (very interesting) ruins and the gears turned. My basic plan was to do a big loop, but if i did a figure 8 intead could see some of the ruins i had planned for later in the trip, a good idea because these ruins are known for their situation in a very dry area of the Yucatan. This allows me to enter the south later when there will be somewhat less rain, and possibly i will be able to speak at least a bit more of spanish, which to date has not been going very well.

My new plan is to head north a bit to the town of Ichmul, a town with a number of churches and a large, but totally decimated group of early classic period (250-550AD) structures. Next i will head west to the nice small city of Peto. A bummer was the 30km road from Ichmul to Peto was entirely ripped up and under construction. Widing the road not only ment some very rough stretches, but also not a single second of shade.

A church at Sacalaca (yes, this is pronounce saka-laka)

A second, ruined church at Sacalaca. Many churches have no roofs. The church as Saban did not have a roof and is still active, and the church, as you remeber, at Tihosuco has a good chunk of it missing.

Hope you like churches, giving you the run down. They really are nice. This one was after Sacalaca, forgot the name of the town but it was weird and started with an X, not on any maps i have. This was at the end of the road.......

......this is after the end of the road. Does not look too bad, but the water was a foot deep in some areas with no shoulder so i had to ride though it. My feet were well under water and so were the bottom of my bags (both my feet and the bags are waterproof thank god). This last dirt road brough me to Ichmul. The reason it is not paved is because Im crossing from the Quintana Roo to the Yucatan state and this is not a controlled boarder. All paved crossing have guards who sometimes stop you , but normally just hang out and look for anything out of the ordinary.

One of the churches at Ichmul, the a second is on the left. These churches are on a very large Maya platform, so big infact that when they recently dug into it it was so deep they ran out of time before they could hit the bottom. What they did find were many many skelitons from the precolumbian period. It is not clear why the Maya choose to bury people in this plaza, but sacrifice is not likely.

The entrance to a bell tower. It is hard to see the writing here, but it is so midevil, it is like a eurpean castle.

Like Yookop, the ruins at Ichmul have a substantial early classic occupation (250-550AD). It is hard to draw much masonry information from here, but some blocks at the ruined chuch looked very much like those used at Yookop that are presumed to be early classic. These to sites are likley very similar, both are very close to each other, and both have an a radial road network leaving the city. The roads at Ichmul date to the termial classic. The roads at Coba and Yookop probably also date to this period. The single standing vault at Ichuml, which did not see, but have seen photos of, is like like vault still standing to the west which date to about 550-650AD. It is therefore likely that this vault to dates to this period, a period where the standing vaults a Coba are very different. The meaning of this is not clear, but suggestive that there is a cultural gap, and possibly two different Maya groups as building technologies have traditionally been associated with different ethnic or culture groups. Not sure about that though.

The Maya ruins at Ichmul. Not much to see, but in the center of the block behind the 2 churches and a covenent, there is a large mass of ruins. These ruins are totally decimated by the spanish and there is very little to see. There is one standing passage, but I had a big ride ahead, and it was not worth walking though peoples back yards or knocking on doors.

A good sized, if not part of a much larger sized group of ruins by the road at Catomul. No cut blocks seen in the tumble. Stones can basically be devided into finished blocks that would be on the outside of a structure, or just cobbles and boulders on the inside of a structure. The cut stones tend to be a diagnostic feature of different styles. This is what i look for at the ruins. These stones still in place on a structure or wall of a pyrimid is what i want. It is clear how these stones are being used, and also may give indications of how many different types of stones get used (the amount of specialization). No cut stones here....but wait! In the tiny town next to the ruin all the walls surrounding the roads have periodic stones nearly identical to those seen at Yookop and in the church at Ichmul, they almost certainly come from the tumble of these structures (called stone looting or mining, pretty typical, Ive read report where people have shown up at ruins just as back hoes and dump trucks were arriving to just scoop up the ruins for new roads). Calomul, just based on the modern village walls in most likley an early classic ruin.

A church along the way, the signs of the town were removed for construction work.

At Peto I am positioning myself close to a very 'mysterious' and 'recently discovered' ruin who's location is 'a secret'. The quotes mean none of this is actually true, but nevertheless it is an incredible, but very obscure ruin that i have never seen on a map. I has been in the news a bit latley, but the location has been kept a secret because it is suseptible to looting, a very real problem. For that reason i will not really talk to much about its location, or why i know exactally where it is.

Peto is a large and vibrant town, looking forward to spending a few days here.

The church at Peto.

Lunch: Tacos, crushed habenero hot sauces (pure habeneros, so even if you like hot food like me it still makes your hairs stand on end) and an orange crush. Mexicans seems almost obsessed with sodas, and I'm happy to not drink water all the time.

Distance rode: 60km

Trip Distance: 497km

10-13-08: The ruins of Yookop

2008-10-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Had a great breakfast and road thought the milpa feilds and forest to the ruins of Yookop. The first stop was known as the Caste war fortifications. For thoughs who dont know (and it is not common knowlage) the Maya fearsly resisted the Spanish. They were, and presumably still are, very formative in battle and very intellegent in their tactics. In the center of the Yucatan there were no minerals to mine, so there was little interst in it for the Spanish, but the Spanish still made a half ass effort to round up the Maya and Christenize them. Maya repeatadly escaped for the woods and repeatedly attacked the spanish. The fortifications here consisted of a well, 5 subterranian ovens and a subterranian room all surrounded by a dry moat. The ovens, room and moat were then all covered with roofs, flush with the ground and covered with dirt and vegitation so it would be invisable to the spanish. If the spanish approached, they would fall into the moat, and probably meet an unfortunate fate.

My dad asked a good question regarding the police in these small towns. There are a lot of police in these towns, and everywhere. The police are from out of town and do not speek Maya. The local people watch the police drive around, but they only watch them, no hellos. Very little crime, most are drinking and domestic abuse related (which is realated to the drinking).

An oven from the caste war fortifications.

the subterrian room. My guide here was so excited to show me around and have his picture taken.

An increadible aspect of Yookop is it has signs of continous habitation from at least 250AD (probably the first settlers were there by 60-400AD) all the way up to the present. Like Ixil, the ruins are totally untouched, and a machette was nessesary to get around the ruins. Not a great deal is kown about the ruins but it is interesting that Yookop stylistically has elements of both Coba and Ek Balam and is very usful in understanding how all three site relate to each other. Like Coba, Yookop also has a number of ancient roads that radidate out from the center (although not to the extent that Coba does, and it should be noted that Ek Balam also has a network of radiant roads, but for less effort was put into them than Yookop of Coba where road building boarded on obession). Most of the ruins probably date to 400-800AD, with a strong contiuation of construction possibly from 800-1400AD. The efforts made in this latter period are realativly rare.

The walk up a the tallest pyrimid, really cannot get any scale in these photos. Very tall and very steep. The summit becomes truly vertical.

To get the to summit (were it becomes vertical) of the tallest pyrimid you have to jump down into a hole in the roof of a chamber and walk up a post classic hall with a staircase, very cool.

From the top of the tallest pyrimid, nothing like Coba, but still very dramatic.

An opening that leads down into the pyrimid. This type of structure is believed to be associated with the rights of kingship.

Looking up one of these passages, you can see the stairs still exposed.

An increadable carved stone just hanging out, probably once part of a staircase, a favorate place for the Maya to add decoration. A number of these stones have been found and some are still at the site. One has the name of a powerful ruller from Calakmul, the very largest classic period Maya site (sorry, the largest Maya site is not Tikal, but Tikal and the dynasty of Calakmul were bitter enemys). Calakmul is close to the Guamala boarder and i will be there soon. It is belived Calakmul may have been so powerful that it actually rulled over sites this far north, and certainly influenced sites, if not rulled them even further south than Tikal.

An increadable stella. Stellas are carved freestanding stones very much like a gravestones. This one is on its side, and you can see the feet of the left and the complex element on top is part of a cerimonal bar frequently depicted with Maya kings, the top of the stone, shoulders and head are missing.
My guides in front of a post classic temple.

At first i though these things were dead leaves becasuse they were far to big to be spiders, but they are totally gross spiders. notice the legs are folded and still are not in the photograph. Way bigger than a hand, i think if the legs were spread they would be about 8 inches. Oh yeah, there were tons of these things in the room i slept in, but they all seemed to be dead.

Distance rode: 12km

Total distance: 437km

10-12-08: Tihosucco to Saban, rained out.

2008-10-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

Got up and rode to Saban though Max Hoey, possibly the most run down town Ive passed though, to see the ruins of Yookop. Had an increadible breakfast of fried tortilla, pork, onions and a red chilli sauce. Something was flavored with something like cinimon, it was unreal. I asked about a guide for the ruins and soon there was about 5 guys slowly starting to assemble. The ruins are about 6km south of the hamlet along a rought dirt road. Very soon it started to rain very hard and for most of the day. I was able to sleep in the town hall in my hammock. Very nice people. I dont think they ever get any tourists...ever. They seemed delighted i showed intersted in Saban and the ruins. I spent most the day trying my best to talk to them, they were very interested to have a forgeiner to talk to...or try to talk to. Got to bed early, was exhusted from the last night.

The church at Max Hoey.

The church at Saban.

A detail of the facade.

The community center (my room for 2 nights).

Distance traveled: 30km

Trip Total: 425km

10-11-08 Coba to Tihosuco and the Euro Centurion

2008-10-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

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

10-10-08 My Birthday and the Ruins of Coba

2008-10-14T15:45:00.001-07:00

Today is my birthday (29), so i though i should go to some ruins. To avoid the scalding heat i left Valladolide before 5am, hours before sunrise, making it to the ruins before they open again. Just before getting there there was a nice rainbow. Coba is very close to to Tulum, so it is a tourist trap second only to Chitzin Itza, so getting there early is a good idea, but still there are a ton of guides who can be a bit in your face. Ive visited Coba before, like Ek Balom, so this was not the most intersting visit. Work has continued at Ek Balam, so there are new things to see, but Coba is the same.

The ruins of Coba are situated around a number of lakes, some of which are believed to be artificial, created when the Maya exctrated huge amounts of lime stone for their construction projects.

A bit about the ruins:

Coba is probably the largest ruin in Quintana Roo. It has the tallest pyrimid this far north (42m), but the most remarkable thing about the ruins is a network of raised roads that radiate out from the center of the site. The longest goes halfway across the Yucatan. Truly remarkable consitering the Maya had no wheels and these roads were for walking only.

Most of the architecture is from the middle and late classic period (550-800AD). The architecture and masonry are really quite unlike Ek Balam which exposed architecture mostly dates to a later period. Nevertheless, Coba is believed to to have closer links to the south than to the north or west.
You can ride bikes on the ancient roads at the ruins. They let me take mine in, but tryed to get me to pay$3 to go any distence into the ruins. Of course i would not on princable, plus the furthest group is only a 15min walk and there is increadable nature everywere so what is the rush?

Along an ancient road.

On of the few standing vaults you can go into. There are actually a few, a good amount. Most are in the largest cluster of ruins that are not only off limits, but because of the dense vegitation you cannot even see them. Bummer because i would have loved to walk though that area.

The tallest temple at Coba. You can walk up this (if you dont mind out of shape tourist complainin about the heat).

The view from the top is almost unbelievable.

Its hard to see the scale of this, but this butterfly is bigger than most birds at home.

I drank 2 beers for my birthday and it was too much, it is very hard to stay hydrated here. I had some of the best Maya style BBQ chicken. The was an increadably hard afternoon shower, a weather pattern that will become eveident as i continue south.

The beers were made better by this: one of the young waiters tossing a chunk of meat on a rope to a large aligator. The tourists love them, so the locals have basically tamed them by attracting them with food. this one would not take the food though, but was still hanging out.

The carnival was in town with nice but bizzare airbrushing.

Salty snack food is important on the road and these are the best. Salty limed peanuts.

Lime makes everything better. i try to only get lime flavored junk food.

My room.

I know Im on vacation when this is the lighting design....so simple an minimal. Truly form follows funtion. This is for you David and Yeni!

Distence rode: 65km

Total for trip:290km

10-09-08 A day off

2008-10-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

Taking a day to rest and eat some food before departing into far more rural areas. The chickens are so loud i still woke before dawn, not a bad habit. Had a great breakfest. Got a feash orange juice and coffee. Coffee con leche here was served as hot milk with instant coffee you add. Eggs are served with a lime, avacado and habenero hot sauce! they must have known i was comming.

Tommorow is my birthday. I will spend the morning riding to the ruins of Coba, and spend a few hours in the afternoon seeing the large spralling site.

10-08-08 The Ruins of Ek´Balam

2008-10-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

To beat the heat, i rode before the sunrise and arrived before the guards.

Finially made it to some ruins. I visited Ek´balam on my last trip. Although far from the largest ruin in the Yucatan, it really is on of the most interesting. I will only write some of my thoughts, but i have many more.

The styles are very unusual. There are a number of architectural styles visable, and likly more still hidden. Most people will not be interested in this, but after reading my posts in the future, you can come back to this post with a better understanding of the different styles present here.

The earliest is what is called the Ízamal´style (named for a ruin i will visit later). This style is not well understood, but consists of very large blocks up to 1 meter in length. It is dated to the early classic (250-600ad), but is closly realated to masonry found around the Mexican-Guatamalan boarder in structures dated to the late preclassic (400bc-250ad). This masonry is limited to only structure 7, but i saw a second block in the tumble of structure 3 and suspect more of this style buiried beneath other structures.

The next style many date to 550-600ad. It uses roughly worked stones and large, deeply set vault stones found only in the southernmost structure. I am unaware of other structures in the Yucatan built in this style.

The bulk of the constructions visable today date to the terminal classic period, in this case between 750-850AD. Recent work on structure 1, the acropolis uncovered unprecedentied amounts of preserved stucco sculpture and hyroglyphic writing. The style of these constructions is the well known Chenes-Rio Bec style. Strangly, these constructions are otherwise known with few exeptions only to Campeche. Evedence that the Maya had far reaching political networks.

There is also Puuc style masonry, and some architecture is influence by the Puuc.

the acropolis. A thatched roof protects the stucco from water which naturally melts the lime stucco.

A view of the compexity of the stucco. this doorway forms a huge monstermouth. I will see more examples of this type of structure, but this is almost perfectly preserved. No other examples in this state remains (unless buiried and still to be found). While very busy, most details are variations of monsters and vegitation. This structure was built sometime afer 750ad as a ´white house´by the founder of the Ek´balam dynasty. Although Ek´balam existed before 750, this probably represents a new style of constructions after a forgein ruler from the south concered Ek´Balam. The nature of takeover is unclear, but these rulers were part of a larger political network and the ruler who build this structure, although ruler of Ek´balam, was still a subordinate of a more powerful site. Upon death, this ruler was entombed in the structure and the structure was carefully buiried thus preserving it.

Another section.

Many fragments of these slighly smaller than life size sculptures have been found in the Chenes and Rio Bec regions, but a number exist whole here. The detail and preservation is almost unbelievable. The effort put into burying this structure is testiment to it´s importance.

Off a side trail found a patch of ground bottles. these will probably last longer than the ruins.

The small lump on the horizon is Coba, the next ruin i will visit. You can almost feal the steamy heat.

Distance traveled-60km

Total distance for the trip-225km

Dash for Cash-To Valladolide

2008-10-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

I did not get pesos at the airport, not sure why. No ATMs or banks. I have to take a detour and go to Valladolide, not a big deal as it is my favorite city in the Yucatan (modern city). the sides of the roads are full of increadible animals, mostly snakes and butterflys, too many to stop and photograph. More importanly too hot to stop and photograph. Had my first road kill, and i had to stop and take a shot.

This millipede i killed was almost the size of a hotdog. Sorry!

I got a room with Antonio Negro Agular, a very old mexican who used to play baseball in the states. I stayed with him last time i was here, and he has become very old since then. I took the afternoon to see some of the sites again and finally eat some food. Mole chiken!

Templo de San Bernardino, a covenet build from a Maya temple dismantled by the spanish.

Cenotes are very important to the Yucatan Maya (because the Yucatan is all limestone, water sinks below the surface creating vast underwater rivers and caves, among the largest in the world. Cenotes are created when the roof of the cave falls in). At San Bernardino, the spanish build this enclosure for a cenote on the site, probably much of this structure below the floor is prehispanic.

Valladolide is a very active city, but there are still many abandon homes. This one is just pouring over with plants.

This is me eating a ¿taco?

Maya temples AND bikes! I totally came to the right place.

This guy has no idea what electronica is! I´ll have to show him how to build synths next time around.

10-06-08 Pukes up from Mexico

2008-10-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Have to thank everyone, especially Alison for the best going away party! It actually made me a bit hung over, but i rode 86.5km after getting off the plane. That is especially good consitering I toppled over into a ditch at 15km and sparted puking. Also i started puking after 60km drawing some attention from a few kids who were not interested in me before i was puking. I finished the day off with a final puke while looking for a place to stay a neuevo x´can. Too exhusted to eat, the heat is extreme!

My bike at the end of the first day.

My pants at the end of the first day.

Nuevo X´can

Distance rode-86.5km
lat-long-
N20deg52´
W87deg36´

The Map

2008-10-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I leave for my big bike trip. Above it my tentative route for the first three months. After flying to Cancun I will head inland to the ruin of Coba. Next i will continue south to see many under studied ruins in southern Quintana Roo continuing on towards the Guatamala boarder.

My bike, build up from my fathers old road frame.

A painting by my sister based on a ceramic vessel recovered from Becan.