[Stones] Mexico and Guatemala

[Giles Ingham]

A whirlwind trip around the major and not so major sites - the well-known ones like Tulum, Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Palenque, and Tikal are big draws for tour groups but they could be avoided by arriving early and with the exception of Tulum, which is a very small site but popular because of its lovely setting right next to the ocean, the ruins were big enough to absorb the numbers. Tikal was definitely my favourite of these sites - it is in a national park of dense jungle and you can stay right by the ruins and be one of the first in when it opens at 6am. Towering, steep pyramids, several climbable via wooden ladders as long as you have a good head for heights.

Most of the less well-visited sites I went to were pretty impressive as well. It would take too long to list them all but highlights included:

Ek Balam - an excellent, well-restored site near Valladolid that I had to myself with an imposing structure called the Acropolis with an amazingly well-preserved doorway in the shape of a stylised jaguar mouth; 
Yaxchilan, only accessible by boat and notable for very well-preserved reliefs and a huge stairway leading up to a building with a carved stalactite in front of it like some bizarre standing stone; 
Bonampak with its spectacular murals of Mayan nobility (and macabrely of captured prisoners, including one who has had his fingernails pulled out); 
The Olmec heads at Parque La Venta; 
The imposing city of Calakmul, only relatively recently restored and a rival of Tikal, and like that city hidden amid dense jungle.   

Still sorting out the pictures but happy to post a representative sample if people are interested.

Giles

>>> littlestone at supanet.com 03/04/2007 2:30 >>>
Hi Giles - good to see you're actually around, and your trips to Mexico and Guatemala sound fascinating - please tell us more.

LS


_________________________________________________

Bad housing wrecks lives. 

Shelter believes everyone should have a home.  We help people
find and keep a home.  We campaign for decent housing for all.
Please support us.

www.shelter.org.uk
___________________________________________________

This email is confidential and if you have received it in error, 
please inform the sender or call Customer Services on 020 7505 4699 .  
Registered address: 
88 Old Street, 
London, 
EC1V 9HU.  
Registered in England and Wales.
Company number 1038133  
Registered charity number 263710