After more than two weeks of non-stop exploring we decide to spend our final day in Campeche at nearby Playa Bonita, swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and watching pelicans dive bomb into the sea in search of fish. An early morning run along the Malecón before heading to the beach, and a dinner that evening at the lovely al fresco restaurant Laz y Luna on the main pedestrian avenue, have completed our Campecheno experience, one that has exceeded our expectations for a town we knew only a little about in advance.
So, newly chilled and relaxed, we’re up bright and early on Wednesday morning to meet Enrique once more and head to the dramatic splendour of the once great Mayan city of Uxmal. Rediscovered by archaeologists in the 19th Century it was Frans Blom, whose work so impressed us in San Cristóbal, who started excavations there in 1929 and realised what an important site it was in the Mayan world.
The two hour drive travels along a super fast highway at first with a bio-reserve of mangrove trees on our left and, soon after we cross the state border into Yucatán, we turn off onto narrower roads and continue through miles of jungle on either side to reach Uxmal.
The site boasts an impressive visitor centre and once through the ticket entrance we are greeted by an enormous pyramid called the House of the Magician, sometimes known as the Pyramid of the Soothsayer, or as Enrique prefers, the Temple of the Wizard. He regales us with a tale of how a dwarf challenged the king for supremacy of the city and completed three magical challenges, including building the entire pyramid overnight, and so won the throne. Enrique reassures us that this didn’t actually happen and it’s only a legend, just in case we were wondering.
The enormous site was first settled around 500BC but it reached its economic and political peak between 600 and 1000AD, when up to 25,000 people lived there. However it was suddenly and mysteriously abandoned. The repeated representations of the rain god Chac, or sky serpent, with his elongated nose protruding from cornices and on facades of intricate, geometric mosaics, perhaps illustrates why. Water sources were scarce in the region, and so an elaborate system of cisterns (called “chultunes”) for rain water storage was created for drinking water and irrigation, and theories suggest a severe and prolonged drought forced the Maya to move away from the incredible city they had created.
We move on to the area named the Quadrangle of the Nuns by a bishop who thought the space looked like ecclesiastical quarters, but was in fact a giant astronomical clock to precisely record celestial time and accurately predict when to plant corn and other foodstuffs in an advanced understanding of crop rotation that kept the soil fertile and could feed the population. The name Uxmal means “thrice built”, which for years confused archaeologists as they found evidence of five periods of building. But modern research suggests it actually refers to the fact that using the mathematics of the quadrangle, the Mayans could achieve three harvests a year, so it is more likely “the place that yields three times”.
The area around Uxmal was also known as Khaak-naal which translates as “land of fire”, which again confused archaeologists until they came to understand that the Maya would light controlled fires to clear areas of rainforest to regenerate growth and the soil in line with their agricultural rotations.
Enrique describes in huge detail how the various buildings, openings, ornate designs and viewing points in the quadrangle track the movements of celestial bodies and how this vast horological monument records periods of annual time through the movements of the sun and the moon, as well as the 8 year and 52 year cycles of Venus and various constellations. The buildings are aligned with both the four cardinal points and equinoxes and solstices, tracking sunset and sunrise along the horizon.
This entire space was not a temple or palace as original explorers thought but a place of science and art, used to instruct the Mayan elite in astronomy and to help the King in his duty of providing care for the community by telling his people where and when seasonal, and therefore, meteorological conditions would dictate agricultural practices. The four sides of the quadrangle are intricately decorated with representations of gods, fertility, warriors, rulers and even priests sporting penis scarification.
After Enrique’s masterclass in Uxmal’s architecture, we pass the Temple of the Macaws, which sits on top of a huge pyramid standing 80 metres tall called The Great Temple, the House of the Turtles, the Governor’s Palace and the Ball Court along with the sacred double-headed jaguar statue believed to represent the solar movements of the northern hemisphere. There are iguanas wandering through the site and Enrique also points out one of the agave plants and informs us that it is the henequen plant, also known as sisal, he had told us about which made Yucatán vastly wealthy due to its use by the maritime industry to create ropes.
This great wealth led to vast henequen plantations, or haciendas, controlled by European settlers and exploiting indigenous workers, but outside the entrance to Uxmal is a hacienda that was built in 1673 by Don Lorenzo de Evia, who had been gifted the land by the Spanish crown for an altogether different purpose; to raise cattle, and one hundred years later became a sugar plantation.
As we leave the site to visit the hacienda we see of group of good-looking Mexican ‘lads’ in baseball caps, designer t-shirts and shades all posing together for a group photo in front of the House of the Magician. They look like a gang of football fans on a stag weekend, good-natured but loud and full of themselves. Enrique tells us the term that many people use for them is “whitezicans”, essentially rich Mexicans trying to be Americans.
It’s far more chilled over at the hacienda which is no longer producing sugar but has become an eco-park and houses the Choco-story Museum, which showcases the history of chocolate in Mexico. We wander through tranquil tropical forest trails and through wooden huts with cocoa exhibits, alongside enclosures for both spider monkeys and jaguars who have been rescued from abusive situations where they have been kept as exotic pets and are unable to now survive in the wild.
The highlight is being treated to a Maya chocolate ceremony in a clearing in the jungle, when a shaman invites us to witness the ritual by blowing into a conch shell, and other villagers join him to invoke prayers, play the drums and emulate the sounds of crickets, frogs, wind and rain. The effect is somewhat spoilt a short while later when we see one of the villagers, having removed his white robe and dressed in sweatpants, having a chat on his mobile phone.
Enrique drives us on to the grand and beautiful city of Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatán, and drops us at the corner of the pretty Parque Hidalgo, where Hotel Caribe, our lodging for the next three nights is located. It’s evening by the time we’ve once again unpacked, and Coman makes use of the traveller’s washing line we’ve packed at the bottom of a rucksack by hand washing our underwear and stringing it festively across the small bathroom like the Christmas decorations that are still up in the hotel.
We go for a quick stroll in nearby Plaza Principal, the main square, and are wowed by our first impressions; Mérida seems vibrant and exciting, but with a calm and welcoming energy. It’s also extremely warm and humid with a distinctly tropical feel so rather than explore tonight, we just go for dinner at a gorgeous restaurant across the road from our hotel called Le Makech, which sits incongruously above a Burger King.
It’s very pretty and has a good vegan menu, alongside some excellent cocktails. We’re seated on a balcony with a perfect spot for people-watching on the street below and can already tell we’re going to love this city. It’s elegant, friendly, hot and exciting!
