The Route Puuc

I am glad to share with you the experiences  the students from Second semester A,B, and C had in the Puuc Route journey organized by History Teacher Patricia Hernández, supported by the Teacher Ana Luisa Mercado, Coordinator Cesar Plaza, and the Teacher David Ramírez .

First of all let me introduce what Puuc Route is.

An interesting tour that gives you an overview of the Mayan civilization awaits you just 50 miles south of Mérida, known as the Puuc (hilly) Route. Puuc is the Maya name given to a series of low-lying hills with a unique culture and style.

 On this route there are Mayan sites (Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, X-Lapak, Labna), the caves of Loltún, and larger Mayan city/town of Ticul.

   

The journey started at 5:00 A.M. on Friday. The students traveled by bus (two of them actually), and they arrived to the first stop (Loltún) at around 11:00 A.M. then they visited Sayil, Labná and Kabah sites.

The name in Maya means “Flower of Stone”. Evidence has been found of human settlements here from 400 to 7,000 years ago. The trail begins at the entrance to Nahkab or the beehive, where the famous bas-relief known as the “Warrior of Loltún” is found.

Visitors can admire many other formations with imaginative names: “The Cathedral,” “The Gallery of the Canyon,” “The Ear of Corn,” “The Stalactite Room,” etc. There's also the “Room of the Musical Columns” where huge stalactites produce different tones when they are struck.

Most of the students got exhausted because the weather conditions, it was too hot, and also because they walked all the way up to the different archeological sites.

Sayil

An extensive urban center, Sayil lived between 600 and 900 AD. The city is distributed in three zones: the first is the nucleus of the site and includes buildings for the elite society members. The second contains residences which were once inhabited by the ancestors, while the final zone stretches towards the outlying settlements of people who paid tribute to Sayil.
Sayil is roughly 33 km southeast of Uxmal along Highway 261.

Labná

A small but important city, this Mayan center reached its glory between 600 and 900 AD. It is famous around the world for its beautifully carved stone archway, one of a group of buildings scattered around a small valley. The most important of these buildings were “The Palace” and “The Mirador” (vantage point) which were connected by an ancient Mayan path.

Visiting times to these archaeological zones are daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This city is known as the second largest religious center in the Puuc style and flourished around the year 800 AD. 

The most remarkable construction, however, is the Palace of the Masks, with an impressive façade comprised of over 250 masks of the god Chaac, all finely cut from stone and positioned in a magnificent baroque-style extravagance.

After visiting those archeological sites the students were starving. So at around 6:00 o´clock they ate at at restaurant a typical Mayan food named Poc chuc.

They had to wait around two hours long to eat because they got confused and arrived to a different restaurant it was programmed.

Some f the students did not like the Poc chuc.

After the restaurant they check in at the hotel in Ticul. They  took a bath and were free of taking a walk around the town. They had to be back to their hotel rooms by 10:00 P.M.  It was so nice to meet Ticul.

Even when they had to be on bed by 10:00, some of them were awake chatting until 2:00 A.M, some others were having a sleepover.

On Saturday morning they got up at 6:00 A.M. At 7 :00 they had breakfast (the menu was diverse, it included Sopa de Lima, Cochinita Pibil and chicken in tomatoe sauce, as a dessert ice cream and flan) and they left left the hotel by 8:00 A.M.

Delicious Cochinita Pibil

They also visited Uxmal

Antropology and History Museum

                                                             

Original Mayan pieces, Mayan culture information. Open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Location: Paseo de Montejo, ex-palacio Canton. Entrance fee: 14.00 pesos, free on Sunday.

Finally the teachers drive the students to the Park, in order to take photos for the report and also for buying some souvenirs; Candies, t-shirts and handicrafts were bought by the students.

In general terms, students said it was a nice and educational trip, because now, they know more about the Mayan culture and in addition the funny and cool moments they shared together all the way back to Playa del Carmen, singing and dancing on the bus.

They are all agree about having this kind of experiences again in the future.

Thanks to La Salle Playa del Carmen, which is worried about keeping the new young people generations involve with the Mayan Ancient culture.  

See you soon, may be in the following journey to the History.