Uxmal - Puuc architecture at its best.

Shop sign in Mérida.
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Late start today, not many of those recently, and we headed to the 2nd class bus station on the edge of town. With 2 tickets to Uxmal, and 82 pesos less in our pockets, we headed for the site.

There's no "official" stop for the Uxmal site, so we trusted the driver and got off when he stopped the bus, shouted "UXMAL" while pointing to the road on the right.

Don't miss this one!

The price displayed on the board at the entrance states that is costs 45 pesos to go in. However when you buy your ticket you end up paying 95 pesos, 45 for the official ticket, and seemingly 50 pesos for a day-glow wrist band which you must wear. We asked him why we needed it and he just said that "you just do". This seems to be a very Mexican thing as for example in a museum you can't just wander aimlessly around the various rooms - you MUST follow the arrows and on no condition must you go against the flow.

Magician's House, Uxmal.
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Uxmal is located in the south western part of the Yucatan peninsula. This zone was first settled in 500BC, but it wasn't until the 9th century AD that it became the seat of Mayan political and economic power in the region.

The architectural style at this site is one of the most authentic examples of the Puuc style; decorative features such as the 3 dimensional masks of the rain god, Chac, colonnades and the 2 headed jaguar demonstrate Uxmal's prominent position in the Maya Classic period.

Chac "God of Rain" in the Nun's Quadrangle.
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The decoration is among the richest and most varied of all the archaeological zones, and includes representations of gods, animals, dignitaries and geometric forms.

When you walk up the steps to the site the first thing that you see, looming large through the trees, is the Casa del Adivinio (Magician's house).

It's a total of 39m high, and the temple sits atop an oval base.It is decorated in elaborate Chenes style and the doorway of the temple forms the mouth of a giant Chac mask. You are not allowed to climb this structure, and that's probably not a bad thing as it´s incredibly steep. While we were there, reconstruction work was being carried out on this building at the lower levels.

One of many lizards on the site.
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Right behind the Magician's House is the Nun's Quadrangle (Cuadrángulo de las Monjas).

Archaeologists are still undecided as to the buildings purpose, but one thing they do agree on is that it certainly did not have anything to do with nuns. There are theories that it may have been a military academy, a royal school or a palace complex.

For us, this building was the most detailed and intricately adorned on the site. You could easily spend hours just staring up at the different facades, and it seems to have been lovingly restored. There is also a good view of the back of the Magician's house from a raised platform that runs the full length of one side of the quadrangle. From this same vantage-point you can see other buildings within the site.

Magician's House viewed from the Acropolis.
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Each of the internal facades of the quadrangle are adorned differently.

Although you couldn't say that the site is overrun with lizards, nevertheless they are a common sight wherever you go on the site. You'll see them basking in the sun often not moving when tourists approach. They range in size from about 5 cms to 60 cms, including tail...at least the ones that we saw did - there might be even bigger ones lurking.

We left the site and were waiting for the 5pm bus back to Mérida when a minibus stopped (Uxmal site employees) and informed us that the 5 o'clock bus may not be here until 6 or later. They advised us to come with them, to Muna, where we could catch one of the many colectivos or buses that go to Mérida from there.

View from inside the Nun's Quadrangle.
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They only charged us 10 pesos each for this part of the journey. The colectivo (minivan) sped us to Mérida (one careful driver) for only 20 pesos each. This compares with the 41 pesos each it cost us to get to Uxmal earlier in the day.

So, if you're hanging around outside Uxmal, waiting for the 5pm bus, don't. Do accept a lift from a friendly local and get to Muna. You'll always get back to Mérida from there.

Tomorrow we leave Mérida for Piste, a small village near the site of Chichen Itza.