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MEXICO
-- Although the sign is missing at the site, the pyramids at
Labna are not to be missed along the Puuc Route.
The road that follows this Mayan trail is so dotted with pyramids,
one almost tires of seeing the breath-taking structures hidden
behind these simple, sometimes unmarked, entrances. Of course
Uxmal is the jewel in the Puuc crown; but Uxmal receives far
humbler billing than the mighty Chichén-Itzá,
its neighbor to the north. Do not be deceived, however -- Uxmal
well rivals Chichén-Itzá, and like Labna and the others here,
it is something to behold. As a Mayaphile, I wondered why I
had waited so long to take this journey along "La Ruta Puuc."
LABNA
At Labna, the ticket office sits humbly under a palapa, which
also serves as the roof of the site caretakers' home. This,
as all other pyramids in the region, are funded by INAH, the
government agency, which hosts this archeological site along
with Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Edzna and the handful of others in
the Puuc region.
I don't know if Labna always has this few tourists or if this
"throw-away" tourism year since the events of September 11 created
the silence that awaited me there. After paying 27 pesos to
the caretaker at the makeshift counter top which also doubled
as her kitchen table, we walked through the trees along an old
sacbe, or road, made from sascab, the lime gravel mixture mined
by Mayans for a millenium to be used in exactly this same manner.
The sacbe here was slightly elevated and situated among a haphazard
grove of trees, some old, some newly planted.
I noticed the new growth was mostly mahoganies, so indeed,
some re-forestation is occurring with hardwoods, even if it
is in small counterpart to the hoards of trees presently being
removed from places like Chiapas
where, according to President Vicente Fox, two-thirds of Chiapas'
rainforest has been logged in the past five years.
Upon reaching a large open area, the road veered left, and
I spotted The Palace, El Palacio, formerly 67 rooms that archeologists
say had evidence of a plaza, eating places and upstairs rooms
for aristocracy. It is a long -- now low -- building, fairly
awesome, and the slightly mottled sky brought on fine amber
hues, accentuating the lines of the edifice.
Supposedly the longest pyramid in the Yucatán, its features
are unique to the Puuc Region, so different from other Mayan
pyramids, according to archeologists. Until I visited the sites,
I did not know what to expect, but there is a difference in
this pyramid style -- more decorative perhaps, almost more sophisticated,
in art form.
MAYA MYSTERY
Exactly why these pyramids fit no other Mayan style, no one
has yet discovered. To me, this adds further to the Maya mystery,
and adds a touch of glamour to the entire region. According
to archeologists, the Maya reign here was from the mid 400's
to around 750AD, and this region was abandoned centuries before
the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, for reasons mostly
unknown. What is known is that this region receives even less
rainfall than sites like Chichén-Itzá, so perhaps Chac, the
notorious Rain God, did not do his duty for the Puuc Maya and
these elegant sites were then abandoned. In the Puuc region
the Maya created special water reservoirs, chultunes, that were
lined with lime mortar to catch and hold water for the dry season.
Images of Chac, Rain God, are everywhere and are especially
prominent at Uxmal, Labna's neighbor.
At Labna, I walked along the grass path on the elevated sacbe
road to the well- known shot of Labna, El Arco, the magnificent
arch. The corbeled structure is much smaller than one would
imagine, built around 750 AD, in classic Puuc style. So alone
are we at the site, that birds huddled in the bush nearby are
startled as we walked under the arch, and they flew hastily
away as their territory was invaded.
Orange groves abound on the deeply green wooded road that
led us to these pyramids, where you virtually pass no one, no
other cars. Is it always this way, I wondered? Occasionally
I saw a three-wheeled bicycle, but in general, the road was
simply void of anyone or anything as we continued on the trail
to Uxmal.
UXMAL
Uxmal was the more important of the Puuc city -- sites during
the Late Classic period (600-900 AD), and it is said that a
sizable population flourished there. It was first settled around
600 AD, influenced by highland Mexico in its architecture, which
most likely occured due to trade influences. Mayan trade routes
spanned thousands and thousands of miles, as evidenced by items
recovered in digs. Home to the famous Magician's House, Casa
del Advinco, wonderful myths accompany Uxmal, but I will save
that for another Yucatán Tale.
As I gazed out the car window once back on the narrow roadway
after trekking around Uxmal for a couple hours, I watched young
Mayan girls, dressed in traditional cotton huipiles, carrying
buckets of maize atop their heads. Some traditions never vary.
Yes, I told myself, as I watched this feat in wonder. I will
be back. |
