Uxmal Ruinas, Yucatan
Monday, April 21st, 2008I forgot to mention my trip to the ruins of Uxmal. I did this easily from Merida, catching the 8am bus from the 2nd class bus terminal directly to the ruins. I considered taking what’s called the “Ruta Puuc” bus, which is a good deal. For around $13 it makes a circuit to the ruins of Uxmal, Kabah, Payil, and Xlapak, spending 1.5 hours at Uxmal and ½ hr at the others. It leaves at 8am (also from the 2nd class terminal, on ATS) and takes 7-8 hours. As I think I mentioned before, I take my sweet time when I visit ruins so because of this and the fact that I’ve seen quite a lot of ruins in the last few months, I opted to just go for uxmal-only. The bus to Uxmal takes about 1.5 hrs.
Uxmal’s style is completely different than anything I’d seen before. this is the Puuc style, as referenced in “Ruta Puuc”. The carvings are very animated and stylized and stones are laid in intricate designs along the tops of all the temples. This, combined with the fact that there are tons of mot-mots (birds) and heaps of iguanas, makes it a really cool place to visit. I made it back to merida in the afternoon just in time to duck into the hostel and enjoy a nice thunderstorm. Except for the brief rain and hail storm in san cristobal, I haven’t had any good storms since leaving panama!! I miss the rain but the bay area’s season will be over by the time I get back.
Peggy Rehm