Uxmal Yucatan Travel Guide...

It's your dude who's in love with ancient civilizations and we're gonna explore the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal …

 

Uxmal is considered one of the most important Mayan archaeological sites along with the likes of Chichen Itza and Tikal and is unsurprisingly designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. it's located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula only 60 kilometers away from the city of Merida where I did the last video if you're coming to Uxmal from Merida I highly recommend catching the 6 a.m. bus that will get you here 30 minutes before it opens and that will help you get in here before the big crowds come in because if you take the 9 a.m.

 

One it's gonna be pretty crowded by the time you get in here. and it looks like we could have snuck in if we wanted to because there was no security there. when we got here at 7:30. just a few steps into the park you'll see the Pyramid of the magician, the central structure of Uxmal towering at around 35 meters or 115 feet, it's hard to miss.

It's also referred to as the pyramid of the soothsayer or the house of the magician the name actually comes from a legend that the pyramid was built in a single night by a dwarf that was born in an egg the pyramid was actually built by several governors along 400 years. if you pay attention to the architecture you'll notice that the pyramid has some rounded edges which makes it quite unique   (Kat: do you think you can get a fine if you climb that?)

 

To answer my friend, no you were not allowed to climb those steps. you would either get a big fine or fall and hurt yourself or die the occupation of Uxmal dates all the way back to 500 BC but the city flourished from 600 to 1000 AD, all of which falls in what's recognized today as MesoAmerica's classic period. Uxmal's buildings are noted for their size and decoration which is typical of the puuc style.

 

now if you go past the pyramid coming in from the entrance and then go left you eventually get to this place called the house of turtles, named so because of turtle statues curved on all sides of building. the Mayans believed that turtles also suffered with men during droughts and would also pray for rain with men.

 

Right next to it is Uxmal's governor's palace, a massive 320 feet or 96 meter long building which is one of the longest pre-columbian buildings in Mesoamerica and while you're up there make sure you take a look back and check out the Pyramid of the magician that you saw earlier  the views from here were my favorite the buildings in Uxmal are connected to each other by these raised pathways called Sacbes the Mayans created these same Sacbes used to connect.

 

Uxmal to other big cities in the region like chichen itza or even cities as far away as in modern-day Belize or in modern-day guatemala like the city of Tikal if you've seen my video on that. now if you go past the palace of the governor on one of the sacbes you'll eventually get to the Great Pyramid. This pyramid was originally nine levels high and has only been partially restored and yes you can actually climb to the top of this one.(this climb is treacherous).

 

If you do decide to climb the pyramid please be careful. it's very easy to slip and die if you didn't know a lot of the big pyramids that you cannot climb today like the one in chichen itza or the pyramids of giza where actually once climbable  or people were allowed to climb them but they stopped doing that mainly because it was so dangerous and people died climbing them.

 

If you do make it to the top though you can probably enjoy some incredible paranomic views of the entire city of Uxmal.so we finally made it to the top of a pyramid and I'm ready to sacrifice Kat over here down the stairs. say hi. (Kat: hi) no, this is not gonna be a snuff film but I think, we and those people are the only people in the park right now. oh there's more

 

people, okay we're not the only people in the park still but we are the only

people on top of this pyramid and my favorite thing that I found in this

pyramid so far is that there's a little chimney at the top and I think that's

 

where Mayan Santa (comes in) and there's some nice little lights over here too so when he comes in at dark, it doesn't get too scary for him  right next to the pyramid is this other structure called the Temple of the Doves which has nothing to do with doves of course that's just what the Spaniards decided to call them when they found it the structure was part of another quadrangle that was destroyed and found during the excavation of the site.

 

Now if you're going back north towards the entrance make sure to stop and check out the court for the Mayan ball game. This was part of a sport that was played for over thousands of years by the Mayans mainly as part of religious ceremonies. the winning team's captain often got sacrificed to the gods because that was considered to be a big honor. interesting I know. and now for our last stop. right across the pyramid of the magician where we started is this structure called the nunnery quadrangle.

 

Once again this is nothing to do with nuns and was just a misnomer that was assigned to it by the Spaniards. During their colonization some historians believe that the nunnery quadrangle was the meeting place of the court of Uxmal. Each of its wings was dedicated to one of the four estates directing its governance.

The King to the north, the priestly or noble council to the west, the military to the east, and the secondary client subject to or allied with Uxmal to the south and with that we've covered a brief intro to the main structures of the ancient city of Uxmal.now obviously if you want to do iy justice you need to go and see it yourself. 

 

So if you're coming to Uxmal from Merida I highly recommend catching the 6 a.m. bus which means we had to wake up at 5 a.m. and walk to the bus to make sure we had enough time to stand in line and buy the tickets and then catch the bus…