We were up early, wanting to be at the gates when the site opened at 8 in the morning. Even so, we were lined up behind a tour group of about 30 people who had figured out the confusing ticket purchase system before us (you need to buy a second ticket from the window next to where you buy the first ticket…one is the state entrance fee, the other is the federal entrance fee). The site, however, is huge and easily absorbed the few tourists that were there ahead of us.
Again we got lucky with the weather. I had opted, as I did at Palenque, to not take my DSLR camera due to the threat of rain, so all of the pictures here are taken either with Derek’s tablet or with my phone. But we were able to tour the site without any significant rainfall.
Pyramid of the Magician. The corners of this pyramid are rounded, unlike most that have sharp right angled corners.
Detail of the top of the pyramid.
Uxmal has lots of bas relief carvings, this one from the Temple of the Macaws
We are constantly amazed at what they were able to build, the amount of rock moved and that so much remains standing.
Little carvings of birds decorate one of the roofs at the palace del Pajaros (birds).
The buildings at Uxmal had very intricately carved decorations.
Almost all of the sites we have visited have a ball court. The game was played by manipulating the ball with your feet and hips and the object was to get the ball through the ring pictured here on the right of the photo. Losers were sometimes decapitated…but supposedly an honourable demise……
View of the grand palace from the top of another pyramid.
An indication of how extensive the ruins are in some cases, where this would be just the centre of an urban area with tens of thousands of inhabitants.
These doors led to interior rooms where there were no lights…very dark, very smelly, a bit creepy.
Keeping the skiing legs in shape by climbing pyramids.
When we returned to camp, Derek decided to change out the fuel filters on the Dodge, resulting in a couple of litres of waste diesel and two used filters. There is a Land Rover vehicle museum near the Uxmal entrance, and Derek had been over talking to the man, Juan, who works there. One of Juan’s jobs is to start each Land Rover everyday and let it run. They talked about the different Land Rovers, their engines…other guy stuff, all in Derek’s limited but improving Spanish. They also offer some of the Land Rovers for rent for the day to drive to a nearby cenote for 200 pesos…cheap.
The Land Rovers before Derek drooled on them. All but one powered by (Mercedes) diesel engines A very desirable option.
But now, we needed somewhere to dispose of the used fuel and filters…”If they are maintaining Land Rovers, maybe the museum could help us out.” As we were leaving we saw Juan and pulled in. “No problemo”, he said, taking our nicely wrapped package of waste away. Derek said it was important that it didn’t end up just getting dumped onto the land somewhere, and Juan assured us that he would take it to a mechanic shop nearby that the museum used to dispose of such things. And with an “Adios Amigos”, we were off to our next destination.