travel – Page 4 – Meandering Marbles

Ancient Mayan City

Despite being one of the largest and most powerful Mayan city states, Calakmul has never gotten the same attention as Chichen Itza to the north and Tikal to the south. It does have UNESCO World Heritage status, but I’d never even heard about it until I started looking through my guidebook. Right now, the public transportation options are limited and there aren’t many group tours, so it’s challenging to get to. I chose to rent a car in Bacalar and drive many hours on pothole-filled roads. However, everything is changing: the Tren Maya is currently being built (all the heavy trucks contribute to the pothole problem) and will probably be done in the next year. This area will soon be inundated with tourists. The tiny 20-car parking lot is being expanded; the roads are being widened and repaired. Tourism and its impact on the area is about to explode.

Because I knew almost nothing about Mayan history and culture, I hired a guide for this tour and we met at 4:30 in the morning so that we could arrive in the park right when it opened. There were only a couple other people wandering around at that time and it is truly surreal to try and imagine the hustle and bustle of a once-thriving capital city when almost no one is around. The view from the top of the king’s pyramid (Structure II) is incredible: a clear view of miles and miles of trees. But 1500 years ago, there would have been settlements and roads in every direction. Even though the large structures of Calakmul have been excavated, the foundations of the old city remain buried beneath the trees.

from the top of Structure II, the home of the former kings of Calakmul and one of the tallest Mayan pyramids

The king’s palace actually has two levels and it is impossible to see the place where I’m sitting from the ground. The king’s quarters on top would’ve been relatively hidden from the common folks down below. He also would’ve had an elongated head because all of the elite Mayans had their heads tightly bound as children. Everyone in the elite class actually looked completely different from the rest of the people. Mayans also engaged in face scarification and wore a lot of heavy jewelry, especially in their ears.

view of the king’s palace from the bottom, a close up of one of the stelas that depicts a ruler standing on top of a slave who is kneeling

Stelae were often constructed to commemorate people and events. Many of the stelae at Calakmul are in bad shape. There are a few different ways to write in Mayan language: one way uses pictures to depict a specific meaning, another uses pictures to match the syllables of the word, and a third combines both of these together. Despite the complexities, experts can generally decipher most Mayan script today.

top part of stela showing the ruler standing above the slave, view of 5 stelae from the top of Structure I (pyramid that was probably used as a temple)

The pictures below show another large pyramid (Structure VI) where astronomical sightings were made. This building and others were built so that the sun would line up in specific places on the solstices and on the equinox. Some of the engravings on the sides of the stelae are still very clear even after all this time. Although the front and back of these stelae were removed by looters, the sides discuss the people involved as well as the dates of events.

view from bottom of the pyramid, view from top of the other two large pyramids, engravings on side of a stela

So far, at least four tombs have been found inside the king’s pyramid and even more tombs were found in other structures. Even houses of common folk have skeletons buried inside of them. The bodies of the elite class were buried with elaborate outfits and offerings to the gods.

Many graves not only have masks made of jade, but also necklaces, ear plugs, and other fancy adornments. There is no jade in Mexico, so all of this jade was most likely imported from what is now Guatemala, which shows the extent of trade in the region. All of these jade funerary masks below were found in Calakmul, but were removed and put into museums in the city of Campeche. (Side note: this is actually one of the reasons it took me so long to write about this, because I had to go to Campeche to see these masks.) The mask in the top right is the most elaborate and probably belonged to Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ, the ruler of the Mayan snake kingdom starting around 650 CE.

top row (l to r): mask of Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ, jade mask & ear plugs with cinnabar used on the mouth, another intricate mask depicting a few different animals
bottom row (l to r): a mask representing Yuknoom Ch’een II (the father of Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼahkʼ), another jade mask & ear plugs, jade mask probably for a priest with a second set of eyes representing his supernatural vision and the red lines on his cheek showing ritual scars

Calakmul Biosphere Reserve

After our tour of the ancient city, my guide took me on a short walk through the nearby protected natural area. Even wearing insect repellant, a swarm of mosquitos kept threatening to attack my face. There’s so much to see in the rainforest, but my guide started by showing me the chewing gum (chicle) tree. By cutting diagonal lines in the trunk, they were able to get the natural resin to flow and that was harvested and exported to make chewing gum. I also was introduced to the Mayan breadnut (ramón) tree which is used to make bread or a type of porridge. We came across a swamp and I could see a crocodile hanging out on a log. Perhaps the most exciting thing I saw was on our slow drive (avoiding potholes) back to the entrance, when a tayra crossed the road. I didn’t get a photo of it (but Wikipedia has some) and my guide said it was only the third time he’d ever seen one. Folks here call them the viejo de monte (old man of the mountain) because of their white heads.

top (l to r): chicle tree with scars, natural chewing gum, Maya breadfruit tree starting to grow from seed
bottom (l to r): papaya tree, Central American Gulf Coast toad, termite nest with holes most likely made by parrots that are living inside of it

Playa del Carmen

Playa, as it is affectionately called locally, is a strange little oceanside town. It’s got an entire avenue (Quinta Avenida) dedicated to hawking souvenirs, tours, tequila, and sunscreen. “Mexican Disney” is how I described it to a friend. I get the appeal. There are nice beaches, lots of fresh and tasty food, and an entire English-speaking industry devoted to serving tourist needs. I understand why expats and digital nomads would decide to settle there. However, as an independent traveler type who is more excited about sea life than wave life and is looking for a bit more authenticity, I can’t really recommend the city.

Beach 72 in Playa Del Carmen, famous Portal Maya sculpture, and a liter of passion fruit (maracuya) juice

Tulum

Word on the street is that Tulum was a lovely little town about 10-20 years ago and now has turned into the tourist destination du jour. I didn’t even go to the beach part of the town, but I did make it the Mayan ruins that gave the city its name. Probably called Zama (meaning sunrise/dawn) by the original builders, during the colonial era it got the name Tulum (meaning wall). As the city of Chitzen Itza declined in importance, Tulum came to prominence. The city has incredibly thick walls (16-26 ft deep) that surround three sides of the city and the last side faces the ocean. Tulum was well-protected because it most likely functioned as the port city for Coba with large ocean-going canoes making regular visits. Flint, ceramics, gold, salt, textiles, jade and obsidian were most likely being imported, while feathers and copper were being exported. Obsidian came from central Mexico, jade from Guatemala, copper from Honduras, and cacao beans from the Tabasco. There is also evidence of the city’s worship of the Descending God (or Diving God), seen in the photo of the temple below. This god is always pictured head-down, feet-up and may be the same as Ah Muzen Cab, the Mayan god of bees and honey.

top row (l to r): Black spiny-tailed iguana, House of Chultun, Temple of the Wind
bottom row (l to r): Temple of the Descending God, Temple of Frescoes (close up of corner carving), Dancing Platform

The entire Yucatan peninsula is dotted with cenotes, natural holes made from limestone collapsing. Cenote Yaxmulito was the first one I got to swim in, and I had it all to myself for the first 15 minutes I was there. This one was almost entirely enclosed with just a few holes allowing a bit of light in. I have to say, it is utterly surreal to swim amongst stalagmites in the dark.

Views of Cenote Yaxmulito

On the day I arrived at my hostel, there were large banners celebrating the anniversary of a local musical school. I didn’t think much about it, but that evening, there was a lovely neighborhood gathering to watch not only young performers, but also a few professionals do their thing. It’s such a gift to just wander into local events and meld into a crowd. Other kids came around and handed out streamers for us to wave in support. I took a video because the music is a bit different than I expected to hear.

Bacalar

The Laguna de Bacalar is one of only a few places in the world where stromatolites are still being formed. Stromatolites are natural structures built over time by cyanobacteria and are some of the oldest fossils we have. When I was biking across New York last fall, the fossil stromatolite I took home from the Herkimer mine was probably about 900 million years old. Of course, I got in a kayak and paddled myself around until I found some. Mostly, I just came to hang out and swim in this incredibly peaceful freshwater lake. It’s quite a ways off the beaten path, but was a nice layover en route to my next destination.

living stromatolites, view from the hotel, fossil stromatolite from Herkimer, New York

More photos of delicious food I’m eating:

mangos with chamoy, delicious vegetarian sopes across the street from the Tulum ruins, agua de piña y chaya (pineapple and chaya, which is also known as tree spinach)