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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 and jewellery accompanied the owner into the afterlife. Terracotta burial offerings (including figurines with movable arms and legs) have provided a revealing picture of Maya customs, dress and living habits. Many of these are now on display in Campeche or in the museum at Hecelchakan (see below). The island is Federal property, well guarded and currently closed to visitors. Major restoration and excavation is in progress and the island will reopen in a few years as an accessible tourist attraction.
Dzibilnocac
Twenty kilometres northeast of Dzibalche’n at Iturbide, this site is one of the largest in Chenes territory. Only three temples have been excavated here (many pyramidal mounds in the forest and roadside milpas); the first two are in a bad state of preservation, but the third is worth the visit: a unique narrow edifice with rounded corners and remains of a stucco facade, primitive reliefs and another grim mask of Chac on the top level.
Much of the stonework from the extensive site is used by local farmers for huts and fences, keep an eye out in the vegetation for thorns and snakes. â– Daily 0800-1700, US$4.35. A bus leaves Campeche at 0800,3 hours, return 1245,1345 and 1600, US$3.35. If driving your own vehicle, well-marked ‘km’ signs parallel the rocky road to Iturbide (no accommodation); bear right around the tiny Zocalo and its attendant yellow church and continue (better to walk in the wet season) for 50m, where the right branch of a fork leads to the ruins. Other sites in the region would require four-wheel-drive transport and bclikely to appeal only to professional archaeologists.
Hochob
Of the more remote and even less-visited sites beyond Edzna", Hochob and Dzibilnocac are the best choices for the non-specialist. Hochob is reached by turning right at Hopelche’n on Highway 261,85 km east of Campeche. This quiet town has an impressive fortified 16th-century church but only one hotel, D Los Arcos. A traditional honey and corn festival is held on 13-17 April; another fiesta takes place each 3 May on the Uia de la Santa Cruz. From here a narrow paved road leads 41 km south to the village of Dzibalchen; no hotels but hammock hooks and toilet facilities upon request at the Palacio Municipal, there are some small eating places around the Zocalo. Don Willem Chan will guide tourists to Hochob (he also rents bikes for US$3.50 per day), helpful, speaks English. Directions can be obtained from the church here (run by Americans); essentially you need to travel IS km southwest on a good dirt road (no public transport, hopeless quagmire in the rainy season) to the village of Chenko, where locals will show the way (4 km through the jungle). Remember to bear left when the road forks; it ends at a small palapa, and from here, the ruins are 1 km uphill with a magnificent view over the surrounding forest.
Museums in Campeche
Museo Regional de Campeche, in the Casa Teniente del Rey, Calle 59 between Calle 14 y Calle 16, charts a history of the state of Campeche since Maya times with interesting displays. MTue-Sat 0800-1400, 1700-2000, Sun 0900-1300, US$3.
Museo de la Cultura Maya, in the Fuerte de San Miguel, contains the results of continual excavations at the ruins of Calakmul, including jade masks and a mummified body, fl Tue-Fri 0800-2000, US$1. Museo de la Escultura Maya, Baluarte de la Soledad, has three well-laid out rooms of Maya stelae and sculpture. Museo Grafico de la Ciudad, Baluarte de San Carlos, contains interesting scale models of the 18th-centurydefences and a collection of colonial arms and seafaring equipment, small library, a fine view from the cannon-studded roof, dungeons and a government-sponsored handicrafts market; for a few pesos, guides will conduct you through underground passageways which once provided escape routes from many of the town’s houses (most have now been bricked up). Exposition de Artesanfas, Baluarte de San Pedro, is a permanent collection of local handicrafts with a shop.
Jardin Botanico Xmuch’HaJtun, in Baluarte de Santiago, is a small, but perfectly formed collection of tropical plants and flowers in a peaceful setting. MMon-Sat 0900-1300, 1800-2000, Sun 0900-1300. Free. Centra Ecologico de Campeche, Avenida Escenica s/n, T1252S, has a good collection of local wildlife. â– Tue-Fri0900-1300, SatandSun 1000-1630.
The Fuerte de San Miguel, on the Malecdn 4 km southwest, is the most atmospheric of the forts (complete with drawbridge and a moat said to have once contained either crocodiles or skin-burning lime, take your pick!); it houses the Museo Arqueologico, with a well-documented display of pre-Columbian exhibits including jade masks and black funeral pottery from Calakmul and recent finds from Jaina.
Of the original walls, seven of the baiuartes and an ancient fort (now rather dwarfed by two big white hotels on the seafront) remain. Some house museums.
The heart of the city is the Zocalo, where the austere Franciscan Cathedral (1540-1705) has an elaborately carved facade; inside is the Santo Entierro (Holy Burial), a sculpture of Christ on a mahogany sarcophagus with a silver trim. There is plenty of shade under the trees in the Zocalo, and a small pagoda with a snack bar. Right in front of the Zocalo is the Baluarte de la Soledad, the central bulwark of the city walls, from where you can do a walking tour of the Circuito Baiuartes, the remains of the city walls. Heading south, you will come to the Puerta del Mar, formerly the entrance to those permitted to enter the city from the sea, which used to come up to this point. Next along the Circuito is a pair of modern buildings, the Palacio de Gobierno and the Congreso.
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 was not until 1540 that Francisco de Montejo managed to conquer Ah Kim Pech, after a failed attempt in 1537, and an earlier unsuccessful attempt by his father in 1527. The city of Campeche was founded by Montejo on 4 October, 1541. The export of local dyewoods, chicle, timber and other valuable cargoes soon attracted the attention of most of the famous buccaneers, who constantly raided the port from their bases on Isia del Carmen, then known as the Isla de Tris. Combining their fleets for one momentous swoop, they fell upon Campeche on 9 February 1663, wiped out the city and slaughtered its inhabitants. Five years later the Crown began fortifying the site, the first Spanish colonial settlement to be completely walled. Formidable bulwarks, 3 m thick and ‘a ship’s height’, and eight bastions (baiuartes) were built in the next 36 years.
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, pool, disco/bar, breezy rooms, etc, but, despite remodelling in the past, it has seen better days.
A short distance further north is the larger resort of Seybaplaya. This is an attractive place where fishermen mend nets and pelicans dry their wings on posts along the beach. On the Highway is the open-air Restaurant Veracruz, serving delicious red snapper (fresh fish at the seafront Public Market is also good value), but in general there is little to explore. Only the Balneario Payucdri al the north end of the bay makes a special trip worthwhile; this is probably the closest decent beach to Campeche (33 km), although a little isolated, since the water and sand get filthier as one nears the state capital. Nevertheless, there is still much reef life to enjoy.
Isla Aguada
Eleven kilometres beyond Carmen is the Rancho EIFfriix, with an interesting iguana (lagarto) hatchery. Highway 180 runs northeast along the Isla del Carmen and crosses the bridge to Isia Aguada (C Hotel Tarpon Tropical. D Motel La Cabana and Trailer Park at former boat landing just after the toll bridge. Full hook-up, hot showers, laundry facilities, quiet, US$12 for vehicle and two people), actually a narrow peninsula with more deserted shell-littered beaches on the Gulf shore. The road then undulates its way northeast through tiny fishing villages towards Campeche; there are many offshore oil rigs to be seen. At Sabancuy (85 km from Carmen) a paved road crosses to the Villahermosa-Escarcega highway, 57 km away. Sixty-three bumpy km later, Highway 180 reaches Champotdn
Champoton
Back near the west coast of Campeche State, Route 261 runs 86 km due north from Escarcega through dense forest to the Gulf of Mexico, where it joins the coastal route at Champoton, a relaxed but run-down fishing and shrimping port spread along the banks of Rio Champoton. In pre-Hispanic times it was an important trading link between Guatemala and Central Mexico; Toltec and Maya mingled here, followed by the Spaniards; in fact blood was shed here when Francisco Hernandez de Corboba was fatally wounded in a skirmish with the inhabitants in 1517. On the south side of town can be seen the remnants of a 1719 fort built as a defence against the pirates who frequently raided this coast. The Eeast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December) is celebrated with a joyous festival lasting several days.
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 Bee is a cluster of several smaller sites, all of which are very difficult to reach without a guide. Guided tours to all the sites in this region can be arranged in Xpujil.
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