It’s difficult to leave at 6:30 when you wake up at 6:40, but today we managed. We stare puzzled at our phones. Tim’s phone says it’s 6:40, Olga’s phone says 5:40. How do we know what’s right?
We look up the time on the Internet, it’s 5:30 in our city. We’re close to the next time zone, so the “smart phone” and “smart watch” may have inadvertently updated to the wrong time zone. We are relieved to have solved the time issue and we take a shower, wake the kids and jump in our car. We eat the left over bread of yesterday as breakfast. It’s a 1,5 hour drive to Calakmul.
We buy two tickets at the start of the Calakmul forest. It’s one more hour to the entrance of the site. Yesterday, we heared tourist talking about monkeys and tucans they saw in the forest. The forest even has unesco status, because of the unique and rich flora and fauna, it’s the second largest tropical forest in the Americas. We scan the trees for animals, but the only birds we see are dozens of big turkeys blocking the road.
At 8:10, we arrive at the entrance. As with all things you want to visit in Mexico, you have to pay multiple times. Every pocket has to be lined, we paid for the national Park, for the road and now for the ruins themselves.
The ruins are beautifully situated in the forest, which only becomes clear when Tim climbs the first pyramid which towers over the surrounding jungle. Opposite this pyramid is an even bigger one, we’ll climb that one together. It’s a tiring climb, but the views are worth it. Just 20 kilometers to our south lies Guatemala, home to the biggest rival of Calakmul, Tikal. They fought three recorded wars, two of which Calakmul won, they lost the last one which ended their hegemony.
We tour the rest of the buildings and the jungle and Tim climbs the Gran Acropolis as the last building. This is when Zeno shouts, “animals, animals!” A family of wild boars cross the path back into the jungle, Tim comes running down but doesn’t get more than a fleeting glimpse. Time to return to the car and find some place to get lunch. We’ve spent 2,5 hours at the site and have to drive all the way back. We are in the middle of nowhere, so no supermarkets.
The first restaurant we’ve pinned (named “the best restaurant of Calakmul”) doesn’t seem to exist, so we continue to the next village. Here some people are eating so we join them opposite the ruins of Xpuhil. Olga and Tim try some original Mexican dishes since we haven’t been eating out this much. But beside a small salad, there is only cheese and meat. Maybe we’re just not used to eating meat anymore but we like our own Mexican inspired food based on beans way better.
When we cross the road to visit the ruins of Xpuhil, we are turned away. They have a huge bee problem, an enormous hive has formed on the path to the ruins so they are closed. Luckily this region has a lot of sites, so we go to the neighbouring town of Becan.
It’s an old site dating from 550 BCE, growing to it’s largest size some 2000 years ago. The site has steep pyramids, Tim climbs the first one with a rope and emboldened says he will take Zeno with him to the top of the second one. This way Olga has some rest as she normally has the help both children. It’s a huge mistake, going up goes reasonably well but once there, the steep almost vertical stairs down frighten Tim and he holds Zeno tight while he sits down at the top trying not to look down. Olga has to bring Zeno down while Tim is not looking as he fears that they all will fall down. Cleo waits with Tim at the top for Olga to come back while Zeno sits with a Mexican woman under a tree. Once the children are down Tim manages to get himself down.
We quickly tour the rest of the site as everyone is longing for the swimming pool. We all jump into the pool and deservingly cool down after all the climbing and walking. Tim reads up on Becan and his fears are validated as he reads that a Mexican archeologist fell from the pyramid and was paralyzed.
