Uxmal Tour

I wish we could put more pictures in the blog -- these ruins are so fantastic! Our guide spoke very good English and is of Mayan descent. In fact, he was raised learning to speak Maya and learned Spanish in school. The Mayan lived in this area starting around 500 BC but the city and pyramids were not built until 600-800 AD. The short wall around the city was to delineate the noble class from the second class and poor peoples. Inside the wall were the pyramids and other buildings, while outside was the agricultural areas and the craftsmen. The nobles probably numbered 2500 while the area around the city would have supported about 30,000 people.  

The largest pyramid here is 39 meters tall (128 feet). It is called the Pyramid of the Magician. (I could give you the story of how it got its name but John says that is too much blogging. If you want to know it, let me know and I'll add it later.) Because of vandals and wear and tear on the structure, we cannot climb it. It was actually built in 5 stages and is unusual in that it's base if oval not squared off. The temple on the top is structured to look like a face with the door being the mouth. There is a nose, eyes and ears on either side of the door. This represents a lord who once ruled Uxmal.

Another quadrangle is called the Nunnery because when the Spaniards found it the architecture reminded them of a Spanish convent. It is made up of 4 long flat buildings built on top of a tall platform. The east and west buildings are higher than the north and south buildings giving them more importance. There are 88 rooms that would have been used for classroom, ceremonial and religious rites rooms, and some residences. There are Mayan carvings on the fronts of all the building, each having different meanings. One shows a serpent with his mouth wide open and a human face coming out of it. This symbolized birth.

In other areas were other large buildings, courtyards and unique carvings and friezes. A second pyramid was only partially excavated so it showed how much work went into revealing all these buildings. There was also a cemetery area and the ball court. This city was connected to others via a road built between them.

After we left the ruins, we drove to Merida, had some free time to explore and then the Super Bowl party! My team lost! But we still had fun watching the game narrated in Spanish. We sat in front of a TV on the outside of the tail gunner's coach. It got cold (70) so I had to use a blanket to keep warm!