Archaeology

After two full days of just hanging out in the Jungle at El Panchán, I finally made it to the ancient ruins of Palenque this morning. Tara, Dan, Alan, and myself hopped on a colectivo (shared taxi / minibus) after breakfast (which we had at Don Muchos, of course), and gave ourselves a nice little tour of what I suspect is Mexico's best and most magnificent archaeological site.

Steve, Kyden and I went and saw the ruins near Tulum beach this morning. It was great weather on the beach; but unfortunately, we got there too late to beat the crowds (about 10am). The ruins are very nice, but they're not quite on the same scale as most of the others. The best thing about them is the gorgeous cliff-beach-and-sea backdrop that enfolds them. Back in the day, this really must have been prime Maya real estate.

A group of us from Valladolid got to Chichén Itzá at about 9:30am; and it was lucky we got there early, because 2 hours later, the entry queue was over 30 metres long. Chichén Itzá is the least amazing of the ruins I've seen so far in Mexico. The ruins themselves are impressive as usual, but the place is completely overrun by tourists.

For us 5 Uxmal road trippers, the Uxmal ruins themselves were definitely the highlight of the day. Uxmal is probably one of the least visited of Mexico's must-see ruins, and yet (I think) it's also the best. The light-jungle surroundings, the serene environment, and the very impressive pyramids and temples, all combine to make Uxmal a great Maya site to visit.

A live video showing Kanako's daring jump across gaping holes in the ruins of Mayapán, near Mérida.

At 8am this morning, 5 backpackers piled into a Mexian rental car, and took off on a day-long road trip to the Maya ruins of Uxmal. We covered a big route through the area south of Mérida, and then we visited Acanceh, Mayapán, Mama, Labná, Kabah, and Santa Elena, as well as Uxmal itself.

Booked myself in for a full-day tour of Teotihuacan today. The tour included an early start of 9am, from the hostel's front door (which I was late for); a tour of Tlatelolco, the ruins of ancient Tenochtitlan, inside Mexico City; a trip to the Lady of Guadaloupe, the largest church (and a collection of several churches) in Latin America; and a trip to the archaeological site of ancient and majestic Teotihuacan itself.