Visiting Uxmal: Pillars of Skimmed Stone

“There is nothing more magical than visiting a wonder of the world and finding out there aren’t any people or tourists in shouting distance.” – Old Sean

Merida Life

True to my original intent, I have become a very dedicated homebody.  It’s not too difficult.  My current residence is roomy, includes a pool and a kitchen stocked of frozen food for swift, questionably-tasty meals. 

The majority of my time, of course, is spent studying.  I’m enrolled in an online university currently grinding my head against a sandpaper wall taking and passing classes as fast as humanly possible. 

Since my courses are competency based, it was relatively easy to fly through three classes in a couple of week, successfully earning credits in record time.  However, my next lesson was well outside any previous work experience, and the entire exam consisted of buzzword salads. I flagged. 

Nearly four days later, I managed to eek out a bit of success, and in celebration, I joined a pair of my housemates as they planned a trip to Uxmal.

An Overview of Uxmal

Uxmal, a large series of ruins to the south of Merida (about an hour away) has been high on my list of local places to visit.  So when a break and opportunity presented itself, I hopped into a rental car and let an Irish guy shuttle me southward. 

Now, since this was a bit impromptu, there were some hiccups involved.  For example, I didn’t bring sufficient cash and Uxmal doesn’t accept cards.  Entry is around 400 pesos, so one of my companions covered for me. 

Furthermore, I didn’t do much research prior to this jaunt, so getting information came much later, once I got home and sat in front of Google with wide, castaway eyes. 

Uxmal is one of the major, extremely well-preserved Maya temples of Yucatan.  While not as famous as the immense Chichen Itza, Uxmal has several enormous advantages going for it. 

Firstly, it’s lack of popularity makes it a much more sublime viewing experience, with people rarely crossing paths.  Furthermore, there are no scalpers or hawkers cluttering a person in, desperately attempting to get tourists to buy their painfully unneeded wares.  And next, the temple grounds are largely quiet, devoid of hyper-vigilant security, allowing tourists to move at their own pace. 

Finally, the ruins and temples are beautiful.

Visiting Uxmal

The main pyramid of Uxmal towers grandly over the entrance area, a proud grey stone megalith that blocks out an incoming sun.  The steps rising to the altar at the top are steep, making the whole thing seem solid and improbable at once.  All around, dense jungle with sweeps of vines and a thrum of insects make themselves known.

Walking around the base of Uxmal results in other, compelling sights.  Scattered across the back of the main pyramid, ruins flatten themselves close to the ground, with ancient walls retaining their millennia-long shape, saving uniquely pointed arches across the ground.  Unrelenting grass spores from cracks in the stone, vibrantly trying to live and tear down the ancient structures, now exposed to the elements.

However, the most amusing thing across the grounds are the lizards.  Thick, skittish beasts, each longer than my arm, these all-terrain reptiles bask in open defiance of visitors, only to skitter away on closer inspection.  They tackle trees, scale stone walls, slink through tall grasses, duck into holes or dart overland with an audible sand-sounding shift of scales.  They are utterly delightful.

We continued to explore the ruins, finding numerous aspects of the Maya culture that were on display.  A throne in an empty plaza, complete with indefinably imagery carved on it’s spine.  A series of stone curves, the jaws of jaguars branching free from blocky stone structures to snap at the sky for a thousand years. 

Cloisters with recently unburied ruins complete with the chittering of tiny bats, glaring down at us trespassers reproachfully.  The ruins of an ancient plaza, stained with the sweat of long-departed Maya people who used to play Pok-ta-pok with a sideways stone hoop. 

Mayan Designs

The buildings and structures were also powerfully impressive.  Like many Mayan creations, the things that originally appeared to be powerful stone temples and structures on top of hills were actually buildings constructed on enormous, mind-bogglingly wide stone platforms.  Virtually all Mayan pyramids are just the capstone of extremely ambitious earth-moving designs. 

It was here we spotted Cuadrangulo de las Monjas, a beautiful plaza with kempt grass and tiny alcoves scattered about.  It was here Grupo El Palomar stood, the odd, stunning overlook stood with pale rocks tumbling off its façade. 

And besides that stood Templo Sur, a painfully steep stone structure with images of a holy macaw etched into it’s sides.  Moments later, we struggled along the edges of the Palacio del Gobernador, which was rendered nearly invisible in a fit of clouds breaking and blinding sunlight bearing down on small, artful structures such as the Jaguar Throne, a two headed stone pedestal said to operate as a weighty royal seal.  Below this high rise stood another smattering of accommodations, all blissfully shrouded by dense trees. 

This was the full “tourist loop” but we weren’t done yet. The Irish man accompanying me told me in frank tones that we had barely scratched the surface of Uxmal.  There were other, odder structures off the beaten trail, which he had been told about by a taxi driver.  There were skulls carved in the woods, if we were willing to hunt. 

So, instead of exiting at the end of our tour, we made another left turn and began our journey anew.

Off the Trail’s Edge

Much of Uxmal is portioned off in yellow tape, but we were fortunate to find an extremely odd, nearly overgrown trail delving into the jungle.  This trail took us past wild flowers, deep underground wells with no safety rails, painfully effective grass burrs which dominated our legs and arching tunnels of trees.  Finally, we found a few otherwise obscure sites. 

Grupo El Cementerio is a large, plazalike cemetery nearly completely dominated by plant life.  But true to form, the low structures are etched with iconic skulls, their stone eyes watching our shins unblinkingly.  Even further in the woods exists an unremarkably bramble hiding a small mound, with a cave in it’s face.  This cave is secretly an ancient structure, protected by lines of earth encasing it. 

Overall, Uxmal is a grand place to visit.

The Choco-Story

By now, we were ready to head home for some desperately needed showers and some dinner.  But across the street, as we exited, another unique site caught our eyes. 

Choco-Story Ecoparque Museo del Chocolate is a wonderful, tasteful, educational and visually appealing museum.  The blue, well-painted building-front hides numerous aspects of Maya culture, most notably their contributions to making hot chocolate a premium drink of the colonial and modern age.

Entering this structure immediately sends visitors out back and into another jungle, this one following a well-maintained trail.  A Maya stone slab overseas a small pond where thin grey fish gape at tourists, expecting handouts. 

Choco-Story has a lot of very unique features.  Built in a shady loop, this trail leads into numerous traditional huts, each with educational content in both English and Spanish.  The first few depict ancient gods in all of their stony, stylized glory.  Later huts grow more interactive and interesting.  There is a hut dedicated towards making the original cacao drink developed by ancient Americans.  It’s a bitter, chalky beverage (though visitors can add sugar, spices and cinnamon if they’d like to alter it.)  However, the drink itself isn’t bad, simply something I probably wouldn’t order on my own initiative. 

Features of the Culture Loop

Other huts describe animals, harvesting methods, ways to collect the beans and how they’re treated, as well as the Spaniard’s contributions to making the American beverage a sugary, delightful monstrosity. 

There are other very interesting features that have little to do with chocolate.  There are examples of early bee hives, sideways logs beneath thatched roofs.  Thick, guiding plants line the trail to keep people focused.  The wooden guardrail is given tiny, elaborate wings in the shape of mushrooms gracefully arcing out from the old wood. 

Stylized statues of snakes and jaguars are strategically placed for photos.  A deep, blue-lit well is highlighted, with a powerful grate over it’s entrance.  A man holding a conch shell will bellow loudly at the beginning of the recreation of an ancient Mayan ceremony.  It’s an odd place to find such reverence, but there ya’ go. 

Animals also make their home in the small park.  This facility isn’t a zoo, but a wildlife rehabilitation and rescue facility.  Monkey’s loop between two large jungle gyms connected by a sky-bridge going over the trail.  Alligators lounge in an infinity pool and soft-stepping deer nuzzle beneath tall trees.  An aviary with rescue birds is utterly alive with noise and a pair of living jaguars lounge, ignoring all visitors in their quiet enclosures. 

Some of these enclosures aren’t terribly large, namely those belonging to the deer.  But Choco-Story is undergoing various construction projects to increase their maximum benefit to these creatures. 

Return to Merida

Overall, between Uxmal and Choco-Story I had a truly wonderful day.   The duality of both felt authentic, genuine and extremely considerate towards their goals and method of tourism.

Tomorrow morning I’ll wake up for my usual before-dawn work shift.  I’ll hammer through that with a bit of wry humor and crusty eyes.  Then I’ll lay down and click my teeth in annoyance as I prepare for my next daunting wave of exams. 

But for today, know that life is good, chocolate heals all, and Maya ruins hold a special place in my Mexican-emotional-wellbeing.

Until I find another convenient adventure,

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written November 14th 2020

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