TRAVELS TO UXMAL

IN THE 80'S MY HUSBAND AND I TRAVELED TO CANCUN AND THE YUCATAN ARCHAEOLOGY SITES AND WENT SWIMMING FOR A VACATION. UXMAL IS SOUTH OF THE CAPITAL OF MERIDA. WE TOOK OUR BACKPACKS AND TRAVELED BY BUS. IT IS 1000 YEARS OLD AND THERE WERE ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIGGING AT THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID OF THE MAGICIAN. IT IS A VERY TALL PYRAMID WITH EXCELLENT STONE WORK AND WHAT THEY CALLED PUUK STYLE ARCHITECTURE. THE MODERN MAYA CUT AND BURNED THEIR CROPS AND PLANTED THEIR CROPS LIKE THE PREHISTORIC FOLKS DID. LORD CHOC UINAL KAM AND HIS SON WERE RULERS OF UXMAL IN 800 AD. ARCHITECTURE SUGGESTS THEY WERE MAYAN, BUT THEIR IS A FEATHERED SERPENT AND SKULL AND BONES CARVING. THERE WAS A RELATIONSHIP OF RULING PEOPLE BETWEEN UXMAL AND CHICHEN ITZA DURING 800 AD BASED ON ARCHIVAL NOTES.

ALL THE PUUC CITIES DATE TO LATE CLASSIC MAYA, AND IN THE SOUTH THEY WERE ABANDONED. UXMAL WAS PROBABLY ABANDONED BEFORE THE TOLTECS ARRIVED AT CHICHEN ITZA. THERE MAY HAVE BEEN ABOUT 20,000 PEOPLE LIVING THERE. THERE IS A HOUSE OF THE GOVERNOR, THE NUNNERY, AND PYRAMID OF THE MAGICIAN TO THE NORTH. THEY PICKED THE STONES OF THESE PYRAMIDS WITH OBSIDIAN OR GRANITE TOOLS TO FIT CLOSELY TOGETHER. THE DESIGNS CARRIED RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE. CHAC, THE SUPERNATURAL RAIN GOD, IS THERE. THIS SITE HAS ARTISTIC SKILL IN HOW THE CITY WAS LAID OUT AS WELL AS HOW THE BUILDINGS WERE DESIGNED. IT SHOWS A MIXING OF MAYAN AND PUUC MOTIFS AND THE ART AT UXMAL IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING OF MESOAMERICAN PREHISTORIC CITIES. THERE IS A STONE WALL THAT SURROUNDS THE CITY. I REMEMBER WALKING ON IT TO NOT GET TANGLED IN THE BRUSH.

WILLIAM FERGUSON