The Puuc Route

I was so excited to come to Yucatan for several reasons but being able to go on this Puuc route bus trip (all in one day!) was right at the top of my list!! "Puuc" is a Mayan word (I don't know in which of the many Mayan languages) which means "ridge" and the Puuc Range is a low line of hills around a northwest-southeast running ridge, a distinctive feature in the northern Yucatan Peninsula (it's mostly flat). The Puuc region is characterized by relatively fertile soil but many of the Maya who occupied these ancient sites were obsessed with water. One resource for water at these sites was the chultun, an underground water storage cistern. Also ubiquitous at these Puuc sites are images of Chac, the Maya rain god. We were able to visit Labna, Sayil, Xlapak, Kabah and finally Uxmal all in one day. Here I am at Labna, the first site on the Puuc route that we visited. Labna most likely had a population of only 3000 residents at its peak around 750CE-1000CE. I've included a few pictures of the main palace which has 67 rooms distributed over 2 levels and seven patios. The palace has some fantastic frieze work and iconography of the rain god Chac. The one picture I have posted of the man emerging from a feathered serpent's mouth is found on one corner of the palace. This was an amazing day, one that I will not soon forget. I am so lucky to be able to experience these places firsthand. After discussing several of these sites in a few of my classes, it is quite exhilarating to come here and walk the grounds where the ancient Maya once lived. The Puuc route was incredible even though we only had half-an-hour at the first four sites and then 2 hours at Uxmal. Although there are several other Puuc sites, we were able to visit these five and it was so amazing!!

I really love this first image of the man coming out of a feathered serpent's jaws. I believe it symbolizes the connection of one of Labna's rulers with Kukulcan, the feathered serpent venerated all over Mesoamerica, at different times and by different peoples/cultures. I have also posted pictures of the arch of Labna, which is a portal vault which served as a passageway (perhaps) between the residential areas of Labna (the elite residential areas) and the business or administrative areas of Labna. Also, the rather large structure known as El Mirador is what John Lloyd Stephens called "the most curious and extraordinary structure" that he had seen in his many travels around the Maya world. It does have a rather impressive roofcomb (that architectural structure reaching to the sky). Labna was a great way to start out our day of the Puuc route!!

This is the site of Xlapak. No, literally, this one structure is Xlapak (pronounced Shlahpaac). We spent like 15 minutes taking pictures of this one structure but there is absolutely nothing else here! But this building is quite interesting, given all of the references to Chac, the Maya rain god.

And here I am at Sayil!! I couldn't wait to see this Palace up close. It's always so interesting to me to be able to come and visit many of the sites that have been mentioned in my classes! Although my learning about the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica has just begun, I feel like with every site that I visit, I'm able to extend the learning from the classroom to the actual ancient world of these various cultures. Sayil is believed to have been settled between the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the common era although most of its structures were built between the 8th century and the middle of the 10th. Here is the Great Palace (or the Palacio Norte). This palace contains more than 90 rooms and may have housed up to 350 people. Although the palace appears to be three levels, really each level is supported by a core of piled stone, as opposed to the story below it-it's an example of how Maya architects were accomplished illusionists. There are "diving gods" over the doorways (which are found also at the sites of Coba and Tulum-these gods may represent the god of Maize, maybe not). And of course, Chac masks are found on the sides of the palace. I really enjoyed seeing this great palace!!

I wanted to include a picture of the dense forest path that one needs to walk down in order to see this next structure called El Mirador (the lookout). It hasn't been completely restored but it's interesting to see. I've also posted a few pictures of this building that has sunk into the ground. This particular structure has glyphs around the edges of only one of its doorways which I found interesting. Sayil is really another fascinating Puuc site.

Evidence from Kabah shows that a settlement was established here between 600BCE and 300BCE. It truly is a very interesting site and I'm glad that we were able to visit Kabah. Kabah, Sayil, and Labna form a line about 20km (or 12 miles) long and about 20km south of Uxmal. The visible architecture from these three sites dates to about 800CE-1000CE. I've included a picture of the main palace and its courtyard. We were only given a half-hour at each of these sites so I don't have a lot of information about them but here at Kabah, one can see many of the Puuc characteristics such as the columns, the Chac masks, the "mat" design (which signifies royalty and the power to govern), and the same type of architecture. I really loved being here!!

Here is the Codz Poop (pronounced "pope") building at Kabah which has these two rather large figures on one side and about 250 Chac masks on the other side!! It is such an impressive building and truly worth the stop (even if we were only given a half-hour at this site). The final picture I took from the entrance in order to show a long walk in the grass before we got to the Palace. I absolutely loved being able to come to these Puuc sites and marvel at all of the constructive innovations and artistic details left by the ancient Maya in this particular region. What a great experience this was, seeing 5 different Puuc sites in my very first day in Yucatan (the very last one was Uxmal-that's a separate entry)!!

First Day in Merida: Uxmal!!

So here I am being silly at Uxmal (which means "built three times"- but actually Uxmal may have been "built" more like 5 times). Uxmal (pronounced Oosh mahl) is the greatest of the "Puuc" sites. Puuc refers to the regional style of several different sites (more on those other sites later). Uxmal covered at least 4 square miles and given its size and complexity, it may have served as a regional center of sorts. But curiously, there is no epigraphic evidence to be found at Uxmal that boasts of conquering other sites or polities. While the inscriptions of this great Maya city are few, we do know about Lord Chac (not to be confused with the god Chac) who was Uxmal's greatest king. He ruled around 900CE and many of Uxmal's greatest monuments were built under his rulership. It is truly a breathtaking Maya site and I feel so blessed to have been able to be here, where many ancient Maya lived and worked. This was probably my favorite Puuc site that we were able to visit!!

The great Pyramid of the Magician is a fascinating structure! I was so excited to see this one! Running up both sides of the staircase (and no, you can't climb the pyramid) are what appear to be Chac masks (Chac was the Maya god of rain). You can barely see me in this first picture but I wanted to show just how big this pyramid is. When John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood came here in the mid nineteenth-century, the locals called this the Pyramid of the Dwarf after a legend that it was built in one night by a dwarf with supernatural powers who bested the ruler of Uxmal in a series of tests and then the dwarf assumed rulership of Uxmal. But the present structure actually had 5 different building stages and it displays the maturation of the Puuc style (even though this pyramid started with a Chenes-style- a style from the present state of Campeche to the south of Yucatan). Also, this pyramid is an elliptical building, not very common for the ancient Maya.

Here is the Nunnery Quadrangle found at Uxmal. It is a huge courtyard directly west of the Pyramid of the Magician. The buildings contain small rooms and to the first Spaniards, appeared to be just like the nunneries in Spain so they named it the Nunnery Quadrangle. The buildings were apparently built in one concentrated effort toward the end of the 9th century. Various studies have shown that the orientation of the buildings, the number of rooms, their levels, and ornamentation correspond to a Maya cosmogram (such as the 13 doorways that stand for the 13 levels of the heavens). There is quite a bit of feathered serpent ornamentation here and the serpent motifs recall the Maya (and greater Mesoamerican) association of serpents with the sky (which just fascinates me!!).

Here are some pictures from around the grounds of Uxmal. I included a picture of a ballcourt at Uxmal and the remnant of what was once an entire sculpted image of the feathered serpent (the feathered rattle differentiated Kukulkan from other serpents- he was known as Quetzalcoatl to the central Mexican cultures but both names signify "feathered serpent" in different languages). I'm also including a picture of the Great Pyramid of Uxmal which is a much more typical Maya pyramid than the Magician. This pyramid predates the Governor's Palace and you can still climb to the top of this pyramid. The exterior facade has several images of macaws and it's an interesting building.

And finally, here is the Governor's Palace at Uxmal. The Palace is 321.5 feet long and the upper frieze has lattice patterns, feathered serpents, and over 100 Chac masks. It's a very beautiful building here in Uxmal and one of the things that I really wanted to see! It could have possibly been an elite administrative building and residence. Over the center door was the face (now gone) of a god, some say of Chac, the Maya god of rain. This is truly a special building and obviously one of great importance. I like the view of the Pyramid of the Magician from the Governor's Palace. This was a great place to visit and I feel so lucky to have been able to come here!

Hierve El Agua and Teotitlan del Valle

So here we are at Hierve El Agua, a beautiful place that sits about an hour outside of the actual city of Oaxaca. I had never heard of this place before but Vicki and Tami wanted to visit Hierve so we came here and I'm glad that we did. It was really pretty and we felt like we were one with nature for about 20 minutes (just kidding!). But it was a nice place to see and there were quite a few other people there. The petrified waterfalls were interesting and I enjoyed our visit here.

Here are some more pictures of Hierve El Agua. You can see the petrified water that appears to be falling over the side of the hill but that waterfall is actually not moving at all. This was a very pretty place with a remarkable landscape and I'm glad that Vicki and Tami found out about it because I had never been here before. Vicki, like all of my sisters, does not really care much for nature but she wanted to be able to say that she did this activity, that we went out into nature. And I'm glad that we did. I also included a few pics of the springs at Hierve and a few panoramic views.

So here we are in Teotitlan del Valle which sits in the Oaxaca Valley, about half an hour outside of the city of Oaxaca. It's a small little pueblo known for its weaving! This was the second time that I was able to visit Juan Ramon Martinez Vasquez and his wife at their art gallery/workshop called El Caracol. They are definitely true artists and Juan speaks Zapotec (the introduction of his presentation of the whole process was in Zapotec!), Spanish and English (which is very rare). He and his wife are so friendly and hospitable. Here are some pictures of us trying to take part in the process of brushing out the wool (Vicki), spinning the wool (me) and on Tami's hand is the actual cochineal (a bug that grows on cactus that provides the natural color for the wool). Juan crushed the cochinilla (that bug in Spanish) in Tami's palm to show us the different colors that can be procured from that bug (when adding lime juice the color can change). It's an interesting process that takes a month or two to complete the tapete (or more time if the design is much more intricate). This was part of my first experience of being in Oaxaca so I'm glad that we had time to stop by Juan's place and see this again. Vicki and Tami even bought a tapete so I think that they really enjoyed this experience as well.

And then Juan showed us the loom which he uses to weave the intricate designs and patterns into the tapete. The first time that I came here (back in 2007) he mentioned that the Zapotec weavers of Teotitlan del Valle have been doing their weaving this way since pre-Colombian times. But the loom was brought over by the Spaniards so the Zapotecs have not been doing their weaving this way for millenia! We talked about this aspect of weavers' tales in Teotitlan del Valle in the one Anthropology class that I took at UC; the professsor, Martha Rees (who I just adored!), said that it's quite common for the weavers to try to perpetuate this myth but it just isn't true. The Spaniards brought the loom! Anyways, Juan and his wife are very friendly and true artists! Someday I will be able to afford one of these tapetes and perhaps be able to study the Zapotec language! That would be a dream come true. The last few pics are of Juan's great showroom. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Juan and his wife again and seeing their artistic knowledge and skill at work.