Calakmul is situated south from here driving to Hopelchen then onto Xpuhil, about 3 hours drive.The road is not that great in places with lots of holes(baches). But my V W beetle did a great job !
I knew it was a long way and I am not used to driving such distances anymore, so by the time I arrived in Xpuhil I was ready for a rest.
I have someone I know that has a hotel with cabanas so I headed to her place another 8 kil .
I didnt give them notice as this is the slow season and thought that it would be O K just to arrive… and it was. Then I crashed for a couple of hours reading and just coming down from the hectic life in my hotel.
Many of my guests make the trip down after leaving here heading back towards the coast and they were always asking how is Calakmul. I was also intrigued to see this place too and felt it was time to investigate so then I could verify the worthiness of this trip.
I stayed three nights and could have stayed more as there are so many ruins to see in this area.I just found that the driving distances were very long and a little tiring.
The first day I took off to see Kohunlich were they had the pyramid of the Masks. Kohunlich is located east of Xpuhil close to Chetumal with driving time around one and half hours.
The site differred much from the photos that Joyce Kelly took for her book An Archaelological guide to Mexico,s Yucatan Peninsula some years ago.
I entered this very pristine site with well manicured lawns and started my wonderings.Its still possible to climb on and in through these ruins and as I was the only person there no one bothered me! In fact they were too busy cutting the lawn!
The setting is really lovely though being in the tropical jungle a little different than the jungle at Uxmal.
I headed over to were the pyrimid of Masks are located.To think that after all these masks have preserved so well! They were quite incredible to view.Climbing up the steps of the pyrimid it was just amazing to see the masks on either side . In total there must have been 6 with slightly different faces of Maya gods.
I spent some time on the steps just sitting and pondering on the extensive buildings and art.Trees with their own art growing out from the roots or the brances intrigues just as much.
The Masks
- very well trimmed tree
I left around midafternoon hoping to see Becan before returning to the hotel but I was too tired so I thought that I could drop in to see the ruins of Xpuhil which I will write about in my next post.
