Mexico is a country of majestic pyramids and mysterious Mayan cities. I will tell you about the finest diamonds we inherited from this great civilization. No Chichen Itza and other crazy pop! Only authenticity, only hardcore! A list for real travelers.
My choice of pyramids
If you also want to see the most charming and majestic pyramids and cities of the ancient Maya, then the list I have compiled will come in handy. There are no places spoiled by mass tourism like the well-known Chichen Itza. Alas, we lost this and a number of other Mayan cities - hordes of tourists indifferent to history and culture took them away from us and are unlikely to ever return. Local authorities only kindle this whistle even more: Chichen Itza has long turned into a tourist attraction and a car for pumping out dollars. Well, okay! Let us follow the example of the Maya themselves and sacrifice this city to the greedy god of the tourism industry in order to preserve for us, people who are not indifferent and sincerely enthusiastic, all the rest of the heritage of the Mayan civilization. Fortunately, today in the south of Mexico, a traveler can find dozens of magnificent ancient cities. I'll tell you about the best of them now.
Isamal - the magical city where the Mayans still live
I saw the first Mayan pyramid in my life not on some ancient ruins, but in a small Mexican town in the north of Yucatan. A huge, monumental pyramid rises majestically right above residential buildings, shops and other modern buildings. Can you imagine that? Probably, this is possible only in some magical city, you say. Quite right. Fortunately, our Isamal is just that - he officially has the status of a "magic city".
This city is unique not only because five of the most real Mayan pyramids proudly flaunt on its streets. It is extraordinary in that it is one of the oldest continuously existing cities in America. Just think: it was founded by the first Mayans at the very dawn of their civilization, and since those ancient times people have constantly lived here. Almost all other cities on the continent were abandoned long before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, but not Isamal. The city was founded in the period 750-200 BC, that is, it is already about 2500 years old. He is about the same age as Rome.
The most grand pyramid Isamal is dedicated to the Mayan sun god Kinich Kak Mu. Its dimensions are simply incomprehensible - the base alone covers an area of 8000 m². It was she who became the first Mayan pyramid that we saw and climbed.
Apart from its pyramids and history, Isamal attracts tourists with its unusual appearance. Almost all buildings are painted in the same yellow and gold color scheme, so the city has an easily recognizable and unique look. Wandering the streets of this sunny city is a great pleasure. Very nice!
Also read our guide to Valladolid, a beautiful colonial town with cenotes.
Mayapan - the last of the great Mayan cities
Mayapan is a post-classical Mayan city. By the time of its existence and heyday, the best years of the Mayan civilization had long passed. However, the city was strong and important, its rulers even conquered the famous Chichen Itza and then controlled almost the entire Yucatan peninsula for several centuries. All in all, this is the last of the great Mayan cities - and this makes it unique and interesting.
Mayapan is also unique in that, unlike all other Mayan settlements, it had a powerful stone wall 9 km long. It was a huge fortress! The city had 4,000 buildings and about 17,000 inhabitants. A very serious place.
Kabah - one thousand and one mask of the god Chuck
This place will impress even those travelers who have already visited many ancient Mayan cities. It's all about the unique architectural style of Puuk, in which the Kabah (Kaba) was built. This style is rich in decoration of building facades, therefore it is even called "Indian Baroque". Agree, it sounds solid, so it's worth a look.
The most beautiful thing in Kabakh is "Palace of Masks", the walls of which are decorated with many stone masks of the long-nosed deity Chuck. All the walls were simply paved with these masks, which is very unusual for Mayan architecture. There is no such beauty anywhere else!
Very few tourists come to Cabah, so here you can also wander alone among the ruins and be left alone with the heritage of America's greatest civilization. You will be accompanied only by well-fed iguanas and large birds of prey.
In general, the main city of the Puuk region is Uxmal, where the notorious pyramid of the Wizard is located. However, we did not go to Uxmal, because in recent years the tenacious paws of the mass tourism industry, destroying everything beautiful, have reached it: now tourists are brought there in batches, the prices for visits have been shamelessly inflated and all sorts of restrictions have been introduced. Well, in figs, we'd rather skip this city than spoil our impressions of getting to know the Mayan heritage.
Etzna - an ensemble of temples with an acoustic secret
To enter the territory of this ancient city, you first need to walk a little through the forest - this adds a touch of pioneering to our experience.
Then we find ourselves on a huge square, around which there are many temples, palaces and other structures. The most grandiose structure is on the left: the Great Acropolis - a complex of structures on a powerful platform 40 meters high.
We go up the stairs and find ourselves on another square, surrounded by temples. The highest and grandest of all is the Temple of Five Levels, 35 meters high. This pyramid is beautiful! It is also unusual, because instead of the blank walls we are used to, each level is filled with rooms. The temple itself is located at the top of the pyramid and looks like a ridge, before the gods were depicted on it, but time destroyed the drawings. Alas, climbing to the top of the pyramid is prohibited, but you can climb other buildings and look at the dominant from different sides and levels.
Read about the unusual acoustic effect created by the ancient builders of the city and other sights of the complex in a separate article about Etzna.
It is one of the most charming Mayan cities and one of the most famous in the world. It is already in the state of Chiapas, in the foothills of the Lacandon jungle. It is very humid and stuffy here, but wildly beautiful and atmospheric.
Palenque is worth a visit to see the classic Mayan city heyday this civilization, which was once the capital of the powerful Baakul kingdom. Chichen Itza, as they say, nervously smokes on the sidelines, because she got the honor of being the capital only at the end of the Mayan era.
The heart of Palenque Temple of the Inscriptions... It is unique in that it was built as a tomb of the great and most famous ruler of the ancient Maya - Pakalu... His rich tomb was found inside this pyramid in the middle of the 20th century. The Mayan priests so diligently walled up and masked the passage to the tomb that it took archaeologists several years to clear it. You cannot visit the tomb of the ruler, but you can look into the tomb of the Red Queen.
Also in Palenque, you will see many other beautiful temples and can wander among the ruins of the Ruler's Palace.
Among all Mayan cities, it was Palenque who most of all dreamed of visiting the brilliant Soviet scientist, the only one in the world who managed to decipher the Mayan letters - Yuri Knorozov... Fortunately, in the last years of his life, this great man, who had been restricted to travel abroad for fifty years, was still able to make this dream come true.
A lot of tourists come, but you don't have to push your elbows. For the sake of such beauty, you can tolerate a little.
