Uxmal Ruins – Yucatan Peninsula Mexico

We headed here after we left Merida, I think in need of some non-city culture. The ioverlander app had told us that we could camp at the ruins in a field so as an antithesis to city life we felt it was a good next move.

The sudden driving/travelling after so long stationary was a bit of a shock but out weighed by the newness of the scenery and the unknown rolling road ahead. Hanna was driving like we hadn’t known her probably since Canada and the world felt good.

When we arrived at Uxmal we were directed to a field next to the parking for the ruins and we had our first chance to put up our mosquito proof room that Sas had sown in Merida. It hangs from the awning and is made of black netting with a shiny silver and black skirt. We had designed this for the express purpose of being able to be outside after Mosquito time (which some days seemed to start almost after lunch) otherwise we had found that we just retreated into Hanna’s very comfortable interior and we lost the connection to the environment and the beauty of the evenings in and around the jungle. It was an immediate hit entering and exiting without admitting unwanted guests was a bit tricky but it was a great outcome and all for the princely sum of £18 (and a lot of hard work for Sas).

 

 

The field that we were told to set up in was functional and away from traffic – we had to pay the ruins carpark attendant 100 pesos per night and as a bonus for 50 pesos each we could use the pool at the hotel on the other side of the field – all in all a great place to spend a few days.

The ruins had, though, a light and sound show after dusk. So we paid for the night access and were shown to a row of chairs atop a platform around the central plaza and awaited the ‘sound and light’ show. It was good … really … and if I spoke Spanish and could understand all of the narration I am sure it would have been better. The lights set-in to the ruins spaced out in front of us spread across the jungle were spectacular and with a funky bass-line instead of the narration we could have had a right old rave … but I digress.

The next day we returned early to see for ourselves what we could only glimpse the night before. And it was amazing, as we spent hours wandering and scrambling and exploring the many different sites and temples, here they let you climb all over most of the ruins gaining altitude and viewing the ruins from above the jungle top is something that is quite often missing at the other sites (understandably).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each site has enough differences to make each visit worth while, of that I am sure. But looking back I can see that after the Tulum ruins, Chichen Itza, the ruins in Izamal; Uxmal had to work very hard to attract my interest and it did a plenty.

We stayed 3 days instead of 2 and that speaks to the peace and tranquility of the camping as well as the facilities and the ruins themselves. After this we pushed on for Palenque via Campeche and Escarcega.