Dzibanche & Kinichna

Seeing the jaguar yesterday put us both in an exploring mood.   It was a bad idea, because we are both suffering back pain from yesterdays excursion.   Now we are both flat on our backs wishing the other one would wait on us hand and foot.  :)  Oh well, some times we are both down at the same time and we simply have to fend for ourselves.   I am glad I had the forethought to put a roast, beans and potatoes in the crock pot before we left this morning. 

Thankfully, the day was worth it.

These two archaeological sites are off the beaten path.  They aren't even in our book, which we thought was fairly comprehensive.  We didn't expect much, but were hoping it would be in the middle of the jungle and maybe we would see some wild life.   They turned out to be in the middle of the jungle which is in the middle of an area that has been cleared for farming.   

There are so many pictures to choose from.   If you want to see them all, you can find them on my facebook page   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151427066607464.537992.587442463&type=3

Dzibanche has quite a few buildings and kept us busy for a couple of hours.  We had the entire site to ourselves.   

You can climb most of the structures at this site.   I am big baby, and I basically crawl up on my hands and knees, then scooch down on my butt.   I'm not really afraid of heights, but I am terrified of falling.

There are several holes at the top on the back wall.   It is difficult to figure out what they are for.   They are at different heights and different sizes, but certainly not large enough to use as a watch out.   The amount that you can see when you look through them is limited. 

You can see the holes at the top.   From the back of the structure it seems to me that they make a design, perhaps that of a snake, or perhaps they have something to do with allowing the light through.  Could this be another temple that is designed for the angle of the sun during the solstice?

Dzibanche is home to the biggest ant hills I have ever seen. 

I took a couple of videos and was unable to upload them here.    I managed to get them uploaded into facebook.    

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151427184992464

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151427163837464

Kinichna has only one structure, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality.

I was so tired, and so sore, I did not want to climb up.   How could I not?   I think one day these ruins will be as popular as Tulum and Chichen Itza and they will no longer allow people to walk on them.   There is an airport in nearby Chetumal, some good marketing and the tourists will come.     

Again, we were completely alone on this site.  It was surreal to be standing on this ancient structure.   It is only about 5 kilometers away from Dzibanche, but even as high as we were, we could not see the ruins for the forest.   

This is the back of the structure.   It has not been excavated yet.   I cannot fathom how they can be covered by so much dirt that trees grow out of their sides.    How does that happen?    

We were too exhausted and hurt too much to do any more exploring, even though we saw a few more signs for a few more ruins, we just couldn't take another step.   All the bread in all the grocery stores we tried since I got back from Chichen Itza has corn it in, so we had to find a bakery.   On our way back to the campground we went into Bacalar.

Much to our delight there was a Panderia (bakery) on the main strip just a couple blocks off the highway.   The display cabinet was almost empty, we thought they were getting ready to close.   We were in for another treat.   We were invited inside to see the bakers in action.  

42 pesos later we had buns and sweets enough for a half dozen people.   There is nothing like baked goods when you are flat on your back and feeling sorry for yourself.   :)  We will be back. 

Buying from local bakeries is more affordable than buying in groceries stores on the Mayan Riviera by a long shot.