MEXICO – YUCATAN 1/3 – Sea, ruins and cenotes

by | 26 Apr 2017 | Mexico, On the Panamerican road | 0 comments

Date de dernière mise à jour : le 30 July 2018

Campeche

We leave the jungles of Calakmul for Campeche. We just make a stop and discover a city full of colours: blue sea, blue sky and plenty of colours in the city center. We walk a few hours in the center and go back on the road to Uxmal.

Uxmal

We can sleep on the parking lot of the ruins, the chance to be the first on site the day after.

The site, which name is pronounced “Uchmal”, is one of our favorite in Mexico.

It is maya site from the classic period, and its name probably means “built 3 times”. Indeed, as other ruins we visited, there are different phases in the creation of such cities: construction over old buildings was the easiest way to modernize the city. The architecture is specific to this area and we admire the wall typical of Puuc style: simple bases and detailed friezes.

We also see a lot of snake sculptures, representing Chaac god, the god of rain. In this region, where water is so rare, we can understand that the most venerated god is the god of rain.

In the ruins there are not so many tourists and we meet the actual and only inhabitants: dozens of iguanas: in the sun, on the walls, on the ground ; they seem to have found happiness here! They just leave the trees for birds!

On our side, the sun is very strong and we start doing dumb things… time to look for shadow!

And we finaly leave Uxmal. Time to find some refreshment. Good idea in Yucatán Peninsula as it is the perfect place for Cenotes.

Cenotes

Cenotes are natural holes in the rock where the water accumulates. Sometimes they are closed and sometimes the roof has disapeard and let the sun enter into the water and creates great colours. There are hundred of such cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula. Mayas built some of their cities around these cenotes in order to have water and ceremonial places. Some bones have been found in different cenotes…

For us, it was just the perfect places to jump in! (a bit difficult to take pictures with our cameras, so we take our first generation movie camera with us… and the quality is also “first generation”! Maybe one day we will invest in a GoPro?)

 

 

After different cenotes, we go back on the road. Next goal: finding the pink flamingos!

 

 

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