Uxmal
March 10: The whole point of this trip was to gain some familiarity with Mayan culture. I´ve now toured four Mayan sites in four days, and I might have predicted that by now they would all look pretty much the same to me. Not so! First, I made the uncharacteristically good decision to begin with sites that don´t have the reputation of overwhelming visitors. Tulum has an extraordinary setting, on a promontory over the Caribbean. Otherwise, though, is is not exciting to a casual visitor like myself. Coba, and then Chichen Itza fulfilled my desire to find powerful testimony of Mayan culture in the city ruins.
Uxmal, however, has an attraction all its own. More compact than Coba or Chichen Itza, it has many more buildings standing in a condition that allows you to see them as buildings. The courtyard of the ¨Nunnery¨ (probably a palace) could probably accommodate a soccer field. What the imposing buildings on each of the four sides probably imposed was the difference in wealth, rank, and power of the ruling class compared to the ordinary men and women who may have attended rituals there. The palace buildings, like many of the structures in Uxmal, allow you to imagine what they might have looked like when in use. Of course, you have to ingore the colorful names given by the Spanish--the governor's palace, the sorcerer's castle--since they had no idea what purpose the buildings served.
Remember, too, that buildings here include their decoration. At Coba I paused over every stela, trying to make out the form or picture engraved in it, thankful for the picture provided by conservators. Weathering has pretty much wiped out the messages of the stelae. At Uxmal, though, the pervasive representations of Chac-Mool look as detailed as they did when Alvarado first led conquistadors into the tropical jungle. Okay, I don't know that. But the decorations at Uxmal are detailed, and the designs have remaind in good condition through the centuries.
Uxmal, by the way, received a stamp of approval from a long-time traveler in Central America. I met Charlie two days later. He was finishing up several months in Central America, selling property he had owned for some years, and preparing to spend more time traveling--in Southeast Asia. Over the years he has visited many Mayan sites, and he chose Uxmal as one of the most impressive.