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Km 98 Carretera Escarcega, Gate entrance Calakmul site, Campeche, Yucatan Peninsula, 00000, Mexico
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Central courtyard
Small town between Edzna and Campeche
Information plaques -- a few throughout the ruins
The North Temple (from the top of 5-story pyramid)
When visiting Uxmal, you will find a lot of Iguanas. They will not hurt you as long as you don't bug them. Don't be scared of them, just kindly take there picture and move on. They like to bask in the sun, like this one in the doorway.
Getting to Edzna is not that simple. We asked at the information booth in the Campeche plaza. There are basically two options.
Option one is to use prearranged tours. They leave at regular intervals, and are four hour tours - one hour to Edzna, two hours at Edzna and one hour back. Price in 2006 was 200 pesos per person which included transportation and entry into Edzna but no guides. Personally we didn't favour the tours as we usually wished to spend more than two hours at site.
Option two is to use public transport. There are vans (Combi's) that leave Campeche from the Mercado and travel to the town of Edzna for 20 pesos per person (they do drop you off at the ruin) -- also 20 pesos to return, by the way. The entry fee to Edzna (in 2006) was 33 pesos per person. Although it took a little longer (waiting for the Combi to fill up before it left), this is what we did.
Don't forget to bring liquids, etc. Although the guide book promised a restaurant, there was no food or water there -- even the drink machine was not working. Not only that, but the signs told us not to eat any food at the ruin. We quietly ate the lunch we brought at Vieja Hechicera (the remote temple).
The other difficulty is though the Combi van will bring you right to the ruin entrance way, it does not pick you up there. You have to walk the 1/4 km out to the highway to get picked up (it is the Edzna town Combi you are taking, and the town is a little further away than the ruin).
The accompanying photo was taken with the camera out the front window. That is the aerial in the photo. The locals in the bus with me thought the gringos were nuts taking pictures of the countryside going by.
The second photo, by the way was of a town between Edzna and Campeche. The Combi driver had an errand or two to do, so he stopped in this small town on the way (for about 8 minutes) for a pee and some gas to get us back to Campeche with (drivers seem to run on empty all the time).
The Yucatan Peninsula is honeycombed by limestone. Some of the World’s largest cave systems can be found here. The limestone served as the basic building material for the Mayans. Stucco was used to mold decorations for the buildings, though due to its fragile nature, not many of the decorations have survived the years. Here, at the Templo de los Mascarones, two fine stucco masks have, however, been uncovered.
Built over several centuries, from the 4th to 14th centuries, the Temple of Five Floors is the main edifice within the Grand Acropolis. One of the largest pyramids in the Yucatan, the structure reaches a height of 31.5 meters and not all of the sides have been excavated. Within, there are 27 different rooms that have been discovered. The first four floors were thought to be living quarters for the priests with the top floor reserved for a shrine and altar.
55 km southeast of Campeche is the grand Mayan ruins of Edzna. The site is in a tranquil setting with little of the circus that goes on at Chichen Itza or Uxmal. The architecture is different from those areas, being mainly of Chenes style - though Puuc and other style influence. The star attraction is the Templo de los Cinco Pesos - the Temple of Five Stories - which is the highest Mayan temple at 30+ meters and 60 square meters. The site was founded as early as 600 BC though its peak was between AD 600 - 900. Much of the site is still unexcavated - every little mound hides something. Population at the site’s peak varied between 25000 to 75000, depending upon whom you and what you read. The main problem here, as in most of the Yucatan, was water. Besides the high temple there is also the interesting Temple of the Moon, a ball field and the Temple of the Masks ( Templo de los Mascarones) to view. Transportation to the site is the hardest thing to figure out. Not much in the way of public transport and it gets very hot out here - over 100F and 40C. Take along water. There is an entry fee - free on Sundays if you are Mexican. There is a special Mayan ceremony here in July to commemorate the return of the rains.
Tours from the Campeche hotels are around $40-50. Since Campeche is fairly easy as far as Mexican cities to drive within, you may want to get together with a few people to drive out here. Supposedly there is a public bus that can get you here, but I also read about hitchhiking and walking a long ways - it gets really hot out here!
Note that this is one Mayan site where the local mexican tourists actually outnumber the foreign tourists, but then it was Sunday:-)
For more on this site, see the off-the-beaten-path tips and more photos in the Edzna travellogue.
Near Puerta Calakmul Hotel
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Q: What to see/do in Campeche? "We're travelling to Campeche this February. Tips on travel, must see attractions in and near Campeche, hotel/restaurant..."
A: "Depending on where you are going to be... you could hop across theboreder ino Yucatan and do the Puuc Route and even get to Uxmal. It was a very long time ago since I..."
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Address: Km 98 Carretera Escarcega, Gate entrance Calakmul site, Campeche, Yucatan Peninsula, 00000, Mexico
