Calakmul has the tallest pyramidal structure left by mayan civilization in all america …

So I immediately knew I would like to go there, personally …

The archaelogical site is inside a dense and big jungle … almost in the border between Mexico and Guatemala … close to another ancient known mayan city, Tikal …

Nowadays only jungle covers this immense area that once had about 50,000 people living…

To reach Calakmul you enter the Calakmul Biosphere Protected Area. I left the city of Xpujil very early in the morning. After 55 km in a paved road, you enter the indians area, so you have to pay an fee and then drive 60 kms of a very narrow and winding road until you can finally reach the pyramids… and pay another fee…

The sensation there is very impressive … especially if you are alone … which were my case in the first hours of a morning in a low season day…

It’s like a ghost town with no ghosts anymore …

Trees are very tall and very green, stones are gray and obscure … which makes a dual tone constrast …

It´s not a bad feeling but a strange vibe of the ancestors when exploring this place … once you start to imagine how they were … but, in fact, you can not, because you immediately feel that much time has passed, which makes it is impossible to guess what was going on this place which dates back to 2000 BC …

I have been in other old places like Tiwanaku, Yerbas Buenas, Chavin de Huantar, Citadel, Roman and Greek Cities and so many others but Calakmul has induced me the most undefined sensation of time i have ever sensed…

The buildings are not really buildings but giant stoned structures … with hundreds of stairs based on triangular platforms that you climb, climb and climb again until you reach the top after passing through many levels …

On the open part for public visitation, because maybe 95% of complex has not yet been discovered, you find about 6 big structures …
I have climbed all of them … it takes a while to climb them but once at the top, you can see the horizont line of the planet, which means to see never ending jungle and the line of the sky … and the top of other neighboored structures, emerging from jungle …

all the place has many stelas, which are big slabs with both side showing carved figures as kings, warriors, animals and inscriptions …
Calakmul, which means 2 big pyramids side by side, was known at its time as the reign of the snake …

It’s a good experience for those who like to explore remote places.

“Calakmul evidences an uninterrupted architectural sequence which extended across fourteen centuries ( 550 B.C – 900 A. D). Its outstanding architecture includes figures sculpted in stone and modeled in stucco; other noteworthy features of the site are the great quantity of stelae and dated monuments, upon which the history of Calakmul’s rulers is recorded.

In the Mayan region, toward the end of the Middle Preclassic period (700 – 300 B.C), important public urban works were undertaken. During this period, the largest structures of Calakmul’s history were constructed. This was also when the site’s first public architecture appeared, making an effort to define administrative activities.

During the 5th century in Calakmul, extensive remodeling was initiated, although this activity didn’t include a modification of the city’s urban plan, which was established in the Preclassic period. Among these works is the noteworthy remodeling of the great foundation of Structure Il.

The rulers who inherited the throne of Calakmul initiated public as well as private urban works, such as palatial complexes, in various sectors of the city. They built structures to be used in artistic production and specialized craftsmanship; it was here where members of royal lineage ordered for the making of ceramics and other objects used in ritual. It is likely that toward the end of the Late Classic period (600 – 800 A.D.), a series of reforms and public works were initiated, changing the city’s image.

The peak of greatest prosperity in Calakmul occurred during the Late Classic period, during which the majority of monuments, known as ‘’smooth stelae’’ (or stelas lisas) were erected in the Great Plaza; Construction at the time, however, was restricted to minor remodeling. This era’s high yields with regard to ceramic production, along with that of the Early Classic period, indicate that both periods represent times of greatest human population at the site.”

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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Coba has one of the few pyramids in Mexico you can really climb. Most of them are forbidden, which is compreensive and annoying at same time.

Coba is near Cancun, so, the site can be suddenly crowded. I arrived pretty late and 15 minutes later I had the pyramid for myself but the colorful clothes of people gave a good contrast with the dull gray of the old pyramid at almost sunset.

Coba is a big mayan archaeological site and only a little part is restored by the archaeologists. There are many places to discover like mesoamerican ball courts and other interesting contructions.

Anyway, this is a fun place to visit from Mayan classic period.

500 to 900 AD.

Located at Quintana Roo State at Yucatan Peninsula.

You can read more at:

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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Monte Alban is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlan Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, located only approximately 9 km from the capital, Oaxaca city.

Besides being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Alban was the pre-eminent Zapotec sociopolitical and economic center for close to a thousand years.

Monte Alban was founded toward the 500 BC and situated atop an artificially leveled ridge, with an elevation of 1,940 m, in an easily defensible site. The city had lost its political pre-eminence by the end of the called Late Classic period (AD 500-750) and soon thereafter was largely abandoned.

You can read more about Monte Alban at Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Alb%C3%A1n

You can read about Zapotec Ancient Civilization at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapotec_civilization

Monte Alban is also a world heritage site at Unesco. Know more at:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/415

map-of-monte-alban

Grand Plaza

Juego de Pelota

North Platform

Stele 9

Building IV and Stele 18

South Platform

Defensive Wall at South Platform Base

Building II

Building P – Altar – Building H

Building J

System M

Danzantes Building and Gallery

Sunken Patio

Other Buildings

Tomb 118

Monte Alban Museum – Oaxaca – Mexico

Photos and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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