There are many very interesting Mayan Ruins in the south of Mexico and throughout Guatemala. They vary in their architectural styles. Some are enormous cities, and others are smaller. Some are very well preserved, and others are mostly rubble. Here are a few of them.
In the Yucatan peninsula, there are two major ruins. One is on the coast - Tulum. This is not one of the most impressive ruins, but it is located along the beautiful Caribbean coast. While at the ruins, you can even go down to the beach and swim.
The largest ruin in the Yucatan is Chichinitza. The main attraction at this ruins is the large central pyramid.
Outside the city of Oaxaca, there are two very different ruins. Mitla is just north of the city of Oaxaca and is a very simple ruins. All the buildings in Mitla are quite small, but they are elaborate and still have much of their original paint.
The passageways in Mayan ruins are always quite low, but in Mitla they are especially low.
The other ruin in Oaxaca is Monte Alban. This ruin is on a hill just above the city. These ruins are in worse condition than the ones at Mitla. The pyramids are much larger here, and the city was much larger, but most of the constructions are now overgrown with grass and trees.
One of the nicest ruins is in Palenque. When you get into Chiapas and northern Guatemala, the ruins start to change. The pyramids become much taller and skinnier. Palenque was once a very powerful city, so the buildings there are very impressive.
The ruin which is most difficult to reach is Calakmul. Calakmul was only just recently discovered. This ruin is many, many kilometers away from any main road, and is buried in the jungle. The pyramids at Calakmul are very large, even reaching above the tall forest canopy. The area that the city spanned was also very large. To walk from pyramid to pyramid takes quite some time. This city was also very powerful and had a fierce rivalry with the Mayan city Tikal - which is in north eastern Guatemala.
When you climb to the top of Calakmul's tall pyramids, you can look out over the jungle for what seems like hundreds of kilometers and not see any sign of civilization.
Finally, there is Tikal. Tikal has a similar architecture to Palenque - tall, skinny pyramids. This is an expensive ruin to visit, but is well worth it. The city of Tikal was enormous, and the ruins here are fairly well preserved.
One of our favorite stories of Tikal occured while walking between two areas of the city. We were walking alone on a dirt path deep in the jungle when Javi was bit by something. He let out a yelp, which caused me to stop and ask what was wrong. This was a bad thing to do, because when I stopped, dozens of fierce biting ants crawled up my pants and began to bite me. I began to run through the forest cursing, screaming, and tearing off my pants. Javier had no idea what was happening, and began to question my sanity as I disrobed. I had to brush the ants off and even kill some which were holding on tight to my skin. To this day, this is one of Javier's favorite stories to tell people.
