Xpujil
The name means a type of plant similar to a cattail. The architectural style is known as Rio Bee, characterized by heavy masonry towers simulating pyramids and temples, usually found rising in pairs at the ends of elongated buildings. The main building at Xpujil features an unusual set of three towers, with rounded corners and steps which are so steep they are unscalable, suggesting they may have been purely decorative. The facade features the open jaws of an enormous reptile in profile on either side of the main entrance, possibly representing Itzamna, the Maya god of creation. Xpujil’s main period of activity was 500-750 AD; it began to go into decline around 1100. Major excavation on the third structure was done as recently as 1993, and there are still many unexcavated buildings dotted about the site. It can be very peaceful and quiet in the early mornings, compared with the throng of tourist activity at the more accessible sites such as Chichen Itza and Uxmai.
The tiny village of Xpujil on the Chetumal-Escarcega highway, is conveniently located for the three sets of ruins in this area, Xpujil, Becan and Chicanna. There are two hotels and a couple of shops. Guided tours to the more remote sites such as Calakmul and Rio Bee can be organized through either of the two hotels listed below, costing about USS20-30 per person for the whole day.
Hormiguero
Twenty kilometres southwest of Xpujil, Hormiguero is the site of one of the most important buildings in the Rio Bee region, whose elaborate carvings on the facade show an excellent example of the serpent's-mouth entrance, with huge fangs and a gigantic eye.
In the opposite direction to the other group of sites in this area, Rio Bee is south off Rib Bee the main highway, some 10 km along the road to Chetumal. Although the site gave its name to the architectural style seen in this area, there are better examples of it at the ruins listed above. Rio
Chicanna
Located 12 km from Xpujil, Chicanna was named upon its discovery in 1966 in reference to Structure II: chi - mouth, can - serpent, and nd - house, 'House of the Serpent's Mouth'. Due to its dimensions and location, Chicanna is considered to have been a small residential centre for the rulers of the ancient regional capital of Becan. It was occupied during the late pre-Classic period (300 BC-250 AD); the final stages of activity at the site have been dated to the post-Classic era (1100 AD). Typical of the Rio Bee style are numerous representations of the Maya god
Becan
Seven kilometres west of Xpujil, Becan is another important site in the Rio Bee style, its most outstanding feature being a moat, now dry, surrounding the entire city, believed to be one of the oldest defence systems in Mesoamerica. Seven entrance gates cross the moat to the city. The large variety of buildings on the site are a strange combination of decorative towers and fake temples, as well as structures used as shrines and palaces. The twin towers, typical of the Ri'o Bee style, feature on the main structure, set on a pyramid-shaped base supporting a cluster of buildings which
Campeche is a city of Mexico located at 19°85′ N 90°53′ W, on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The city's population estimate for 2002 was 230,910 people.
The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the preexisting Maya city of Canpech or Kimpech. The Pre-Columbian city was described as having 3,000 houses and various monuments, of which little trace remains.
The city retains many of the old colonial Spanish city walls and fortifications which protected the city (not always successfully) from pirates and buccaneers. The state of preservation and quality of its architecture
Sihoplaya & Seybaplaya
Highways 180 and 261 are combined for 17 km until the latter darts off east on its way to Edzna and Hopclchen (bypassing Campeche, should this be desired). A 66-km toll autopista, paralleling Highway 180, just inland from the southern outskirts of Champotdn to Campeche, is much quicker than the old highway. Champoton and Seybaplaya are bypassed. But from the old Highwav 180, narrow and slow with speed bumps you can reach the resort of Sihoplaya. Here is the widely known C Hotel Siho Playa, T62989. A former sugar hacienda with a beautiful setting and beach facilities,
Calakmul
Three hundred kilometres southeast from Campeche town, and a further 60 km off the main Escarcega-Chetumal road, the ruins of Calakmul are only accessible by car The site has been the subject of much attention in recent years, due to the previously concealed scale of the place. It is now believed to be one of the largest archaeological sites in Mesoamerica, and certainly the biggest of all the Maya cities, with somewhere in the region often thousand buildings in total, many of them as yet unexplored.
There is evidence that Calakmul was begun in 300 BC, and continually added
Francisco Escarcega
Escarcega, as it is commonly known, is a major hub for travellers on their way south to the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, north to Merida in the state of Yucatan, east to Maya sites in Campeche and Quintana Roo states, and further east to the city of Chetumal. The town itself is not particularly enticing, set on a busy highway with a dusty wild-west atmosphere. If stuck here overnight, all you need to know is that there is a clean budget hotel around the corner from the bus terminal {Escarcega, see below), one bank nearby and several cheap
Jaina
The small limestone island of Jaina lies just off the coast, 40 km north of Campeche. Discovered by Morley in 1943, excavations on Jaina have revealed the most extensive Maya burial grounds ever found, over 1,000 interments dating back to AD 652. The bodies of religious and political leaders were carried long distances from all over the Yucatan and Guatemala to be buried beneath the extremely steep Pyramids of Zacpol and Sayasol on Jaina.
The corpses were interred in jars in crouching positions, clutching statues in their folded arms, some with jade stones in their mouths; food, weapons, tools
Campeche
81 Highway 180 enters the city as the divided Avenida Resurgimiento, which passes either side of the huge Monumento al Resurgimiento, a stone torso holding aloft the torch of Democracy_ Originally the trading village of Ah Kim Pech, it was here that the Spaniards, under Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, first disembarked on Mexican soil (22 March 1517) to replenish their water supply. .For fear of being attacked by the native population, they quickly left, only to be attacked later by the locals further south in Champotdn, where they were forced to land by appalling weather conditions at sea.
It
Spain to build Latin America's largest tourism resort in Mexico
The Spanish tourism firm, Mall, will invest 450 million U.S. dollars in Mexico to build the largest resort in all of Latin America, the firm's President Julio Fernando Noval said in a statement on Friday.
Land has been reserved for the resort's construction along the coastline of the Mexican state of Campeche, and it is expected to begin operating at the start of 2008, Noval said.
This center will give Campeche an "important economic boost" and generate around 5,000 jobs in the construction phase and 2,500 jobs when it opens, Noval
