Calakmul

We got back yesterday from a trip to Calakmul, a set of impressive Mayan ruins well off the beaten track, 20 km from the Guatemalan border.  As an aficionado of Pre Columbian archaeology, this site has been on my bucket list for a long time. They are actually physically quite close to Tikal in Guatemala and apparently this group were at war with Tikal a lot.  The site is noted for its large number of Stelae, some of which still show some original paint. We left Isla Aguada in the afternoon and found a hotel in Escarcega. A very friendly one. The owners were great and treated us like family. We got up at 7 AM and they served us breakfast for free and we headed down the highway towards Chetamul. 2 hours later we reached the turnoff to Calakmul and headed down the narrow 60 km road to the ruins. 20 km in we hit the edge of the biosphere reserve and found out they would not allow dogs in there, even if we promised to keep them in the vehicles. We had expected this at the site itself and Terry had volunteered to look after them, but not in a parking lot 40 km short of it, but she did anyway. This added 2 hours to the time she was alone, but she sure was a trooper. We set her up with a chair in the shade and drove the final rough 40 km to the site. When we arrived it turned to be a 40 minute hike into the ruins, Terry would have never made it, anyway. They were impressive, rising right out of jungle. I climbed up one of pyramids, not an easy feat for an almost 70 year old, but I have climbed up most of the big ones in Mexico, so I had to do it. Hardy anyone at the site as it is so remote, nothing like the 3000+ visitors to Chichen Itza ever day. By the time we got back to Terry it was almost 3 PM, and with a 5 hour drive back to Isla Aguada, we arrived well after dark. Broke one of my cardinal rules about Mexico which is never drive after dark.