Blogs from Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico, North America
March 14th 2012
On Sunday, Steph and I went to Uxmal (pronounced Ush-mal). The bus we caught there waa air conditioned and lovely. It took around an hour. When we reached the entrance , there was a museum complex, a few small hotels and a Hacienda restaurant. It was 2pm whe we arrived. Steph had already eaten the lunch she had prepared on the coach but I was starving. We ordered drinks in the Hacienda and whilst Steph was trying out the CLEAN toilets with LOCKS (a novelty for these parts), the manager came over and asked me about our visit. I was polite and told him that we were staying in Merida and visiting the ruins just for the day. I found out about buses back and the entry fee. The Hacienda was beautiful and all the staff ... read more
August 18th 2011
Now this is somethin’ We embark on Ruta Puuc, heading eastish out of Tikul along two-lane highways. It’s not hard to navigate around this area if what you’re seeking is along a highway. There just aren’t that many roads. Plus there’s a surplus of signs reminding drivers not to speed or litter and of course, the lineup of upcoming towns. I’m driving this time and I quickly relax into it, realizing driving in the Yucatan is no biggie. I resolve though that I won’t tell my parents we rented a car until after it’s been returned. Puuc means “hills” and this region is where the term “hills” came to represent the style of architecture of the ruins we’re going to see (and have had a flavor of at Chichen). We come to our first hill and ... read more
June 12th 2011
There is always at least one experience on any trip where you think why did I make that decision. Unfortunately Ticul was one of them. My decision to try something different and visit the small town of Ticul was not the best holiday choice. Trip advisor is not always your friend and the Posada el jardin with it's beautiful looking pool on the internet was no paradise and once we got over the fact that there would be no swimming in the slimey pool we headed to the local supermarket and drank our cold beers beside it instead while listening to the pack of dogs next door fight over the bitch on heat. So peaceful - not. But we did laugh and we walked around the local plaza in the cool of the evening, had a ... read more
Pyramiden der Mayas - Palenque und Uxmal
Published: February 18th 2011North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Uxmal
February 14th 2011
Zurück zu den Mayas um 700 n. Chr. – Palenque Die Tempelanlagen von Palenque stammen aus der klassischen Periode von ca. 300 – 900 n. Chr. Der Höhepunkt war in der Spätklassik um das 7. Jahrhundert n. Chr. Besonderer Reiz von Palenque sind die Tempel, die sich direkt an den Urwald anschmiegen. Alle wichtigen Bauwerke waren in ihrer Blütezeit mit Stuckreliefs reichhaltig verziert und die Mauern waren zinnoberrot angestrichen. Typisch waren die gitterartigen Dachkämme, die die Tempel noch höher erscheinen ließen. Wieso baut man so steile Treppenstufen?, fragt man sich. Vielleicht, damit es die hohen Priester schwer hatten, die geweihten Hallen zu betreten. Die Bauwerke hatten weltliche (Wohnstätten) wie auch religiöse Funktion (Götterkult, Inthronisation) zugleich. Zuerst kamen wir zum Totenkopf Tempel (Templo de la Calavera). Den Stuckschädel (s. Foto) konnte man noch g... read more
February 9th 2011
Saturday (We have been out of e-mail contact til today...so I will be adding blogs from earlier) We woke up to a cool, grey morning in Merida. After packing and breakfast, we walked a block to the rental car lot and loaded up our blue Nissan Sentra for the trip down the Puuc road to Santa Elena, a town of 4000. The drive was about 90 minutes and took us over the rolling hills into the Puuc region. We passed small farms and a few villages. This a Mayan area, and many people are more fluent in Mayan than Spanish. There are many ruins here, the most famous of which is Uxmal. We will visit there on Monday. Our hotel, the Flycatcher, is owned and run by a Mexican/American couple. They were very interesting to talk ... read more
You can't get there from here...
Published: February 9th 2011North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Uxmal
February 9th 2011
Monday We had only planned a visit to Uxmal today, but ended up doing much more, mostly by choice. We got to Uxmal before the crowds (which really weren’t that big) and toured this magnificent site for few hours. We left around noon and decided we had time and energy to visit the Loltun cave further south of Santa Elena. Since we were passing the ruins at Kahbah, we decided to stop there en route. Kahbah is small, but has really beautiful details and a striking arch. ( I’ll add more info with the photos). The cave was amazing in its size…we only could visit a small part of it. It holds signs of human habitation since prehistory (9000 BC). Our guide had played in the cave as a child, before the State took it over. ... read more
May 25th 2010
Tuesday 25.5.2010 day 223 Uxmal Today we did a trip to Uxmal (the thrice built city). On the way we saw plantations of Henequen (sisal) and we stopped at what was left of the largest Hacienda’s in Mexico it was owned by the Spanish and they tried to grow crops there but the land was not fertile. It was abandoned when the Spanish left Mexico. Then we went to Uxmal is a mesmerizing collection of Jungle-clad ruins that represent the high point of Mayan architecture. The city is older than Chichen Itza We saw the Government Palace, Magician’s pyramid, the grand Nuns quadrangle and the turtle house. We had an English guide that showed us around and although we could not climb the Magician’s pyramid as it is now closed we could climb that nearby that ... read more
April 8th 2010
Our final site on the Ruta Puuc was Uxmal, which many people say has the most detailed carvings of all the Mayan ruins in Mexico. The site is thought to have been founded in 500 AD with most of the visible structures being built between 700 and 1100 AD. This site is one of the reasons we wanted to visit Mexico after we read about it in a National Geographic Magazine! We arrived with only an hour and a half till closing and due to the size of the site, we hired a guide to ensure we saw the most important structures and also gained a bit of knowledge in the process. The guide cut us a deal for a shortened tour but we still managed to see the key buildings and were shown details that ... read more
March 30th 2010
We took a tour to see Uxmal and Kabah today. After the hassles of getting to Chichen Itza I was quite relieved to be on a guided tour for the day, especially since it would take us to Kabah as well which we couldn't have managed in one day on the buses. I was pleasantly surprised when we were picked up by car, and again when we stopped to pick up the rest of the group which actually proved to be only one person. Being in a group of three with a private bilingual guide and an air conditioned car was certainly a good way to start a day of sightseeing. It improved as I tried to practise my Spanish with the Mexican woman, Aurea, and found she works at the university in Moreila, very close ... read more
