Magical Towns

Mexico for Cultural
Travel
Izamal, Yucatán
Magical Towns
A Magical Town is a small location that preserves alive its legends, its culture, as its pure Mexican charm
towns that are the typical reflection of Mexico´s
spirit.
Mexico is a country full of artistic, cultural and human
wealth. Among these are a number of towns –quite a few,
in fact– that are authentic jewels, representative of our
historical traditions. In light of this, the Mexican governReal de Asientos, Aguascalientes
ment, through a Tourism Ministry program called Magical
Towns, or “Pueblos Mágicos” in Spanish, has provided
support to several small towns around Mexico that reflect
the regional folklore, tradition and culture of the country.
At present, 44 towns have been named “magical,” and
each offers a special attraction for visitors.
Some of the magical town to visit are:
• Real de Asientos, Aguascalientes. See page 54
• Palizada, Campeche. See page 55
• Creel, Chihuahua. See page 77
• Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato. See page 91
• Tequila, Tapalpa and Mazamitla, Jalisco. See page 88
• Tlalpujahua, Pátzcuaro, Cuitzeo, and Santa Clara del
Cobre, Michoacán. See page 147
• Santiago, City of Monterrey.
• Capulalpam de Méndez, Oaxaca. See page 63
• Cuetzalan and Zacatlán, Puebla. See page 128
• Bernal, Jalpan de Serra and Cadereyta, Queretaro. See page 134
• Coatepec, Veracruz. See page 156
• Izamal, Yucatán. See page 107
• Jerez and Teúl de González Ortega, Zacatecas. See page 161
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Mexico for Cultural Travel
Jalpan de Serra, Querétaro
Jerez, Zacatecas
Other Magical Towns: Taxco in Guerrero, Tepozotlán, Valle
de Bravo and Malinalco in Estado de Mexico (State of México); San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas; Parras de Fuente in
Coahuila; Huasca de Ocampo, Real del Monte and Mineral del
Chico in Hidalgo; Álamos in Sonora; Cosalá in Sinaloa; Comalá
in Colima; Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosí; Huamantla in
Tlaxcala; Todos los Santos in Baja California; Bacalar in Quintana Roo; Mier and Tula in Tamaulipas; El Fuerte in Sinaloa;
Tapijulapa in Tabasco; Tepoztlán and Tlayacapan in Morelos.
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Bernal, Querétaro
Capulálpam, Oaxaca
Cuetzalan, Puebla
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World Heritage Sites
Historic Center of Oaxaca
Mexico, fourth place in the number of cities declared as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, only behind
Spain, Italy and Germany.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), has dedicated a portion of its
resources and efforts to the preservation and promotion of
the cultural legacy of cultures around the world. Through
these efforts, UNESCO ensures that present and future generations will be able to enjoy cultural and natural wonders
that might otherwise be lost.
Within this framework, UNESCO has named 31 World
Heritage Sites in Mexico, as well as the naming of 6 cultural
expressions as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Mexican cities and city districts that have been
awarded World Heritage Site status are:
• Historic Center of Mexico City, made up of buildings
that date from the 16th to the 20th centuries, plus the
ruins of the great Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.
• Historic Center of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of
Monte Albán. Monte Albán features an impressive concentration of masterful pre-Hispanic architecture, and the
city of Oaxaca is home to a set of magnificent buildings
erected by the Spaniards from the 16th to 18th century.
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Mexico for Cultural Travel
• Historic Center of Puebla, founded in 1531, place of
monumental religious edifices from the 16th and 17th
centuries. Puebla’s architecture is a fine example of the
Mexican baroque, a fusion of European and American
aesthetic concepts.
• Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines. It was
founded in the 16th century, and its mines once provided New Spain with more silver than any other mines
in the Americas. Guanajuato is also considered the “cradle” of Mexican Independence, and its buildings are a
shining example of the baroque.
• Historic Center of Morelia, a reflection of 16th century
urban planning. The city offers visitors around 200 Renaissance, baroque and neoclassic edifices.
• Historic Center of Zacatecas. Was an important mining
center during the colonial period, and the old city is
notably well planned and designed, also featuring fine
colonial civil and religious buildings in the baroque with
indigenous elements.
• Historic Monuments Zone of Tlacotalpan. This port city,
founded by the Spanish in the 16th century, still conserves its original Spanish-Caribbean flavor.
Zócalo Mexico City
Historic Center of Guanajuato
• Historic Center of Querétaro, an excellent example of
a traditional colonial town, its streets lined with stately
religious and civil constructions where baroque imagination found fertile ground.
• Historic Center of Campeche, traditional New Spain
port city that has conserved its city walls and forts built
as a defense against attacks from the sea. The city
center follows the baroque model, with undeniable
influence of the military architecture of the 17th and
18th centuries.
• San Miguel de Allende and the Sanctuary of Nazareno
de Atotonilco in Guanajuato. San Miguel conserves a
colonial air in the vice-regal architecture of its streets
and buildings. The Sanctuary of Jesus of Nazareth, 14
km away, displays the splendour of the baroque style in
its construction dating from the XVII century.
Under the heading of natural areas of extraordinary
beauty, UNESCO has awarded World Heritage Site
status to:
• Sian Ka´an Biosphere Reserve, located on the west
coast of the Yucatan Peninsula –an extraordinary reserve with tropical jungles, mangrove swamps and marshes, a natural marina and a barrier reef.
• Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino. Located on the Baja
California Peninsula, a sanctuary for an extensive variety
of ecosystems. This is also a breeding ground of the
gray whale, as well as the winter home for a significant
number of marine species.
• Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California.
Made up of 244 islands, islets and coastal areas in the
Gulf of California, this region is considered a natural
laboratory where most any oceanographic process can
be observed.
• Monarch Butterfly Biosphere. Arriving from Canada to
Michoacan and Estado de Mexico.
UNESCO has also awarded World Heritage Site status
to the archaeological finds of:
• Palenque, Chiapas, Mayan city dating back to 500-700
A.D.
• Monte Albán, Oaxaca, magnificent Zapotec city founded
in 650 B.C.
• Chichén-Itzá, Yucatán, once the principal ceremonial
center of the Mayan people, with a history stretching
back to the year 1000 A.D.
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Uxmal, Yucatan
Landa Mission, Queretaro
• El Tajín,Veracruz, located in the state of Veracruz, a
ceremonial center that dates from the 9th to 12th
centuries, and which offers a unique architecture
featuring columns and friezes.
• Uxmal, Yucatán, Mayan city founded in 700 B.C., a
center of astronomical observation, with culturally
important and beautifully decorated constructions.
• Paquimé, Chihuahua, which flourished around the
14th and 15th centuries, and which played an important role as a cultural center in the development of
Mexico’s northern region.
• Xochimilco, Mexico City, network of channels and
artificial islets, testimony to skillful city planning and
adaptation to nature by pre-Hispanic cultures.
• Cave Paintings of the Sierra de San Francisco, Baja
California Sur, presenting the world-vision of a people
who lived between 100 B.C. and 1300 A.D
• Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of
• Xochicalco, Morelos, this archaeological site, once of
Popocatepetl, Morelos and Puebla, Fourteen very well
preserved monasteries, examples of the architecture
used by the first missionaries during the period of
evangelization.
great religious, political and scientific relevance, rose
after the fall of Teotihuacán, Tikal and Palenque.
• Hospicio Cabañas, Guadalajara. Built at the start of the
• Calakmul, Campeche, an important Mayan city deep
in the jungle, with a great number of steles as well as
buildings of cultural significance.
• Guachimontones, Jalisco, a pre-Hispanic ceremonial
center located in the state of Jalisco, notable for
its singular constructions with levels staggered in
concentric circles.
• Teotihuacán, Estado de México. This “City of the
Gods” was built between the 1st and 7th century
B.C., and is home to the majestic pyramids of the Sun
and the Moon.
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Other World Heritage Sites include:
Mexico for Cultural Travel
19th century, this hospice provided care for orphans
and others unable to care for themselves. It was the
only institution of its kind at the time. In the 20th
century, José Clemente Orozco decorated the hospice
with his celebrated mural paintings.
• Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro,
made up of five missions built during the period of
evangelization in Mexico (18th century) and richly
decorated.
• Luis Barragán House and Studio, built in 1948 in Mexico City, an example of the architect’s creative work
during the postwar period.
Dance of the Parachicos
The Day of the Dead offerings
• Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of
• The Day of the Dead. This festival takes place throug-
Tequila, Jalisco, recognized by UNESCO as a cultural
landscape, the only one of its kind in the world.
hout the country on the 1st and 2nd of November and
includes customs such as visiting and decorating cemeteries and placing offerings on tombs to attract and
guide the souls of those departed.
• Central University City Campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, (UNAM). Built
between 1949 and 1952 by 60 architects, engineers and
artists. A unique example of 20th century modernism,
combining urbanism, architecture, engineering, landscape design and art.
• Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Also known by the name
of “The Silver Road”, it was used between the XVI and
XIX centuries to transport the silver extracted from the
mines in Zacatecas, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí.
• The prehistoric caves at Yagul and Mitla. Located in the
• Ritual ceremony of the Fliers of Papantla. A dance of
the Totonaca culture associated with the fertility of the
earth, in which dancers in typical dress participate in an
amazing ritual and invoke the four corners of the universe, as well as water, wind, earth, moon and sun, elements that are indispensable for creating life on earth.
• The memorials and living traditions of the Otomí-
Chichimecas of Tolimán: “la Peña de Bernal, guardian of a sacred land”. A group of cultural traditions
that include a symbolic land where pilgrims gather each
year to ask for water and divine protection and worship
their forefathers.
Tlacolula Valley, in Oaxaca State, there are sites with
archeological ruins and a series of prehistoric caves, testimony to the life of the first settlers who farmed here
10,000 years ago.
• Pirekua Songs. Traditional purhépecha music created
Mexico has received Intangible Cultural Heritage nominations for the following:
by the syncretism of European religious songs with
indigenous music, passed down orally from generation
to generation.
• Traditional Mexican Cuisine. The aim of the nomina-
• Dance of the Parachicos. A dance that takes place each
tion is not only to save the dishes, but also the whole
system that surrounds traditional Mexican cuisine: its
essential products, the farming methods, the use of
special utensils; elements that represent an indisputable legacy of traditions.
year between the 4th and 23rd of January as part of the
Fiesta Grande de Chiapa de Corzo, in Chiapas. During the
dance characters wearing masks and multi-colored dresses walk through the streets singing songs and shaking
“chinchines” (maracas).
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Archeology
Mexico’s archeological riches –a window into the nation’s
cultural heritage– are widely considered the grandest in
Latin America. Today, over two thousand archeological
sites spanning more than three thousand years of history
are open to visitors.
In the 19th century, President Porfirio Diaz decreed that
archeological finds would fall under national control. In
1910, one hundred years after Mexican Independence, the
archaeological sites of Xochicalco and Teotihuacán were
opened to the public, beginning the flood of visitors that
have come to enjoy these sites for a century.
Central Region
Mexico’s central region features an especially rich
archeological heritage. The Templo Mayor, in the historic
center of Mexico City, is particularly significant as it gives
visitors a chance to see remnants of several different
stages of the temple complex’s evolution. Visible constructions include the temples erected to Huitzilopoxhtli
and Tlaloc; a sacrificial stone; a stone sculpture of moon
goddess Coyolxauhqui, and a Chac Mool (an originally
Toltec statue, also worked in stone, representing a figure
laying back with legs gathered and torso raised, with an
imaginary bowl atop his abdomen), dating from the first
stage of construction, just years after the founding of
Tenochtitlán.
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Mexico for Cultural Travel
Teotihuacán, at 40 km (24.85 miles) from Mexico City,
in the State of Mexico, is one of the most visited archeological sites in the country. Known as the City of the Gods,
and home to the pyramids of the Sun and of the Moon,
Teotihuacán was named World Heritage Site by UNESCO
in 1987. The first stones of Teotihuacán, considered the
largest settlement of the pre-Columbian era, were laid in
100 B.C.
Ninety-four kilometers (58.41 miles) north of Mexico
City, in the state of Hidalgo, the city of Tula was founded
on territory originally shared with the Otomi people.
The Toltecs, who settled the region during the middle of
the 7th century, worshipped Quetzalcóatl, god to whom
they erected an impressive temple with monumental
pillars called “atlantes” (human-figure statues used as
columns), sustaining a ceiling 4.8 m (15.74 ft) high.
In the state of Morelos at 21 km (13.04 miles) from Cuernavaca and 90 km (55.92 miles) from Mexico City, we find
the archaeological areas of Tepoztlán, high on the mountain called Cerro Tepozteco, and Xochicalco, a religious
and scientific center where important observations of the
heavens were made, and which has been named UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
In the state of Puebla, visitors are awed by the ceremonial center of Cholula, considered the largest pyramid in
Mesoamerica at 65 meters (213.25 ft.) high.
Cacaxtla, located in the state of Tlaxcala, at 75 km
(46.60 miles) from Mexico City, is one of the most interesting of Mexico’s archeological sites because of its many
perfectlypreserved murals dating from 650 to 900 A.D.
Additionally, not far from this site are the Abrigo Rocoso
cave paintings, made over six thousand years ago.
Gulf of Mexico Region
This region, the home of the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica – the Olmecs – includes the states of Veracruz and
Tabasco.
The Olmec civilization dates back to 1200 B.C. and its cultural, social, political and religious development influenced
later cultures in Mexico and Central America.
The word “Olmec,” literally meaning “people of the
rubber country,” is directly tied to the region. The Olmecs
founded three major settlements: San Lorenzo, La Venta
and Tres Zapotes, and produced important sculptures and
pyramids that have stood the test of time. These creations
include the monumental stone heads weighing multiple
tons and from 1.5 to 3 meters (4.9 to 9.8 ft) tall.
Pacific Region
Culturally speaking, Oaxaca and Michoacán are two of
the richest states in Mexico. These regions were and are
the homes of the Mixtec, Zapotec and Purepecha cultures.
The Mixtec and Zapotec civilizations built ceremonial
centers famous for their architectural beauty, including
Monte Albán, and Mitla.
The architectural complex of Monte Albán, at 10 km
(6.21 miles) from the city of Oaxaca, is considered to be
the first important city in the Mesoamerican world.
Discovery was made here of buildings dedicated to the
funerary cult, an uncommon practice among pre-Hispanic
peoples. The tombs discovered held human remains in
fine dress and a variety of offerings.
A 25-meter (82 ft) ball court also graces the grounds, as
does the Olmec-influenced Gallery of Dancers, and multiple engravings and calendars that give us insight into the
daily life of this pre-Hispanic civilization.Mitla is located at
32 km (19.9 miles) from the city of Oaxaca. Mitla, literally
meaning “Place of the Dead,” was inhabited since prehistoric times, and over time became a vitally important
center of culture for the Mixtecs and Zapotecs.
The constructions in Mitla are divided into five distinct
sets, decorated with patternbordered friezes showing
geometric forms similar to those used by the Egyptians.
Northern Region
Discovered by the Spaniards in 1565, the city of Paquimé is considered to be the most important pre-Hispanic
archaeological site in northern Mexico. Called “Casas
Grandes” (“Grand Houses”) by the Spaniards, Paquimé
has been designated a World Heritage Site.
Built high in the Sierra Madre, in what is now the state
of Sonora, the city of Paquimé reached its peak between
1200 and 1400 A.D. Adobe was the construction material
of choice here, and, according to chronicles, buildings
reached seven stories tall, and towers and fortress walls
surrounded the city. Ruins of the great rammed-earth
constructions can still be admired today.
The drinking water for the entire city was supplied
through a system of cisterns and channels, fed by a
rainwater collection system, capturing water from courtyards and plazas.
The settlement, stretching over an area of 25,000 square meters (269,097 ft2), was designed to resist erosion
of its dry top soil through ambitious barriers on hillsides
orienting the flow of water towards the fields.
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Mayan World
Chichén Itzá Archaeological Zone
Ancient Maya civilization is recognized worldwide for the
precision of its mathematical calculations, knowledge that
transcends time yet is still seen today in the Mayas’ nearperfect engineering and sophisticated calendar system.
Some archaeologists believe that Mayan civilization began in the region now known as Central America around
3000 to 2600 B.C. This region saw nomadic groups gradually become sedentary maize farmers, setting the stage for
the amazing developments in centuries to come.
From roughly 2000 BC to 1546 AD, the Maya built a civilization whose architecture is now the most tangible aspect
of Mexico’s ancient heritage, and includes huge palaces, richly detailed murals, imposing ceremonial centers and the
vestiges of urban centers. Each new discovery sheds light
on the Mayas’ deep scientific and astronomical knowledge, and confirms what we already knew: few others match
this civilization’s greatness.
Secrets hidden in pyramids and temples, or the depths
of the jungle, along enchanting streets or as part of the
warmth of the people you meet... all are a true source of
pride to Mexico and its people. The Maya World awaits,
ready to welcome anyone looking for surprise and adventure in the land where, in 2012, a whole new era will begin.
The Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana
Roo, Tabasco and Yucatán were the birthplace of Ancient
Maya grandeur, wisdom and splendor. To this day they
are repositories of priceless cultural treasures everyone
should experience at least once in life.
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Mexico for Cultural Travel
Maya Retable
Campeche:
With some of the most beautiful Maya ruins, coastlines,
jungles, and cenotes of all—plus rich colonial heritage in
its cities—Campeche seems impervious to the ravages of
time, just like its walled capital city. The vestiges of Maya
civilization found here date from the Middle pre-Classic
period, an era that initiated important advances in agriculture and ceramics. Many structures seen today date from
the Classic period, and make Campeche one of the most
attractive ways to discover the Maya World.
Calakmul
Calakmul—an architectural complex as well as UNESCO
World Heritage Site (since 2002)—is just beginning to
reveal the splendors of its glorious, ancient urban space.
A Classic period city—considered Mexico’s largest— Calakmul is magnificently preserved, especially its temples:
grand structures that soar over dense, underlying jungle.
The city’s Gran Plaza, placed amid five architectural compounds, lends cohesion to the ancient political and religious center. And the view from Structure II, fifty meters
up, is truly without equal.
Campeche City
The Maya occupied the area of Campeche’s capital city
starting around 900 BC, under the political control of
Edzná. The city’s foundation, however, did not take place
until the Spanish Conquest. A combination of Spanish
Calakmul Archaeological Zone
The Observatory
influences and the traditions of its original culture produces a splendid result: Campeche maintains a relaxed,
small-town atmosphere. The city’s compact downtown—
surrounded by its famous wall, erected between 1686 and
1704—features perfectly preserved colonial townhouses
whose façades always seem freshly painted. Plaza de la
Independencia brims with life each afternoon; as night
falls, its imposing cathedral becomes a tower of light. A
UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999, Campeche is the
only walled city in Mexico.
Edzná
This expansive archaeological zone, whose oldest ruins
date back to 400 BC, achieved its greatest splendor as a
political and religious center around 1000 AD. It is famed
for a number of structures housing everything from
temples to administrative buildings and even residences.
But what really fascinates at Edzná—a testament to Maya
knowledge and technology—is the city’s sophisticated
drainage system that served to irrigate this largely agricultural region. Among other structures, the so- called “FiveStory Building” is the most renowned. Located in the
compound called “The Grand Acropolis,” a temple stands
at its highest point, now the center for celebrating the
region’s equinoxes and a gathering place for numerous
visitors who take part in symbolic renewal rites.
Chiapas:
Treasures abound in Chiapas, whether it’s pre-Hispanic heritage kept alive by local indigenous groups, the colonial ambience of its towns and cities, or the vast diversity of its flora
and fauna. The Maya inhabited this land starting around 600
BC, and you can still see vestiges of Maya civilization.
Izapa
Close to the Guatemalan border and Tacaná Volcano, visitors marvel at the ancient city’s wealth of mounds, many
of which once supported temples. Pyramid foundations
have also been found, along with ball courts and plazas,
but the most extraordinary discovery is what is known as
Izapa Stele 5: a 1.5-metric ton monolith believed to document a Maya creation myth.
Palenque
Amid dense jungles lies one of the Maya World’s most
beautiful cities. Palenque, whose main structures date
from the Classic period, is renowned for its ball court and
aqueduct, and above all its well-preserved temples and
palaces. The Temple of the Inscriptions is considered the
compound’s most important and is also its largest. It
owes its name to numerous interior hieroglyphs that recount the history of the city’s nobility. Declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1987, Palenque’s verdant backdrop
only intensifies the beauty and transforms your visit into
breathtaking adventure.
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Tulum
The Thousand Columns
San Cristóbal de las Casas
Tulum
A colonial settlement with a notable pre-Hispanic spirit—is
home to immense cultural riches, a mix of local cultures
that express themselves as you wander the city’s streets.
A federally-designated “Pueblo Mágico”—“enchanted
town”—you can also appreciate San Cristóbal’s rich Spanish heritage, especially in architecture.
The ancient commercial port and walled city of Tulum was
largely constructed in the post-Classical period. Among
other functions, it was an important center for astrological
observation and is still a privileged position for contemplating the stars and celebrating solstices and equinoxes. In
the ruins’ colossal architectural complex, stands out the
building known as “El Castillo”, that served as a lighthouse
and warned seagoing traders off a nearby coral reef.
Quintana Roo:
Well before its large-scale tourism developments—before
Cancún and the Maya Riviera— Quintana Roo was one
thing only: dense jungle on the shores of the Caribbean.
The area that now makes up the state was, at the zenith
of Maya splendor, one of its most populous, and is now
home to a number of must-see archaeological zones.
Cobá
Its riches still in the process of complete discovery, Cobá—
which achieved its greatest splendor around 623 BC—
evinces surprising and unequalled beauty. The complex
is renowned for its striking aesthetics and ancient roads
that, coupled with a strategic location between a number
of lakes, allowed Cobá to become an important trading
center. Its pyramids and inscriptions still hide secrets,
waiting to be revealed.
El Cedral
Is a small community on Cozumel whose fantastic cenotes and wide variety of flora and fauna. Its impressive
archaeological zone, from the Classical period, is just one
of twenty on the island. Unspoiled nature makes El Cedral
especially attractive to eco- tourists and its yearly festival
presents an expansive cultural program.
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Mexico for Cultural Travel
Tabasco:
In Tabasco the jungle takes the lead, even in cities and
small coastal towns. Ancient Maya civilization took root
there largely in the Classic period and a number of preserved archaeological zones are a modern-day testament to
Maya influence.
Comalcalco
Is the most important vestige of Maya culture in this grand
and ancient necropolis. The city’s “Grand Acropolis” is
another must-see, once a ceremonial and funerary center,
and a reflection of the different eras during which the city
was built. Note as well that structures preserved here are
not made of stone—as they are in other local archaeological zones—but from clay bricks. Give yourself all the
time you need to explore temples, the palace, and other
buildings as well as mounds that make up the complex.
Tortuguero’s monument 6, Villahermosa
Here visitors can see an inscription that foretells the end
of the current 5125-year period, established by the same
Maya Long-Count 13 baktun calendar that allowed the
Maya to measure time with such extraordinary precision.
Chichén Itzá
Mexicans have known all along that few travel experiences can compete with a visit to Chichén Itzá, the majestic
Maya city, today one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern
World and named a unesco World Heritage Site in 1988.
Founded in 525 AD, the complex is best known for its main
structure, the Temple of Kulkulcán. During vernal and autumnal equinoxes, it presents one of the most impressive
spectacles you’ll ever see, when a play of light and shadow
projects a plumed serpent’s descent down the pyramid’s
nine levels, highlighting the Maya’s acute powers of astronomical observation as well as their singular talent for
expressing this knowledge in architecture.
Uxmal Archaeological Zone
The cycle’s end coincides with our 21 December 2012. Hype
aside, there are few sites as fascinating as Tortuguero
when it comes learning about the Mayas’ astounding
mathematical knowledge.
Pomoná
Izamal
The most impressive structure in Izamal—nicknamed the
Yellow City because all its principal buildings are painted the
same egg-yolk shade— is the massive Nuestra Señora de
Izamal convent, from which visitors observe a series of hillocks that are unexcavated Maya pyramids surrounding the
town. The Maya settled here around 550 AD and though the
Spanish occupied the city from the time of the Conquest, it
never completely shed its original, indigenous nature.
This ceremonial center of the Classic period, impacts
mainly by their various construction that include brick,
limestone and other materials. Pomoná’s ruins, splendidly
framed by exuberant plant and animal life, allow visitors
to study and understand civilizations as complex as the
Maya. While a great deal of the compound’s history has
yet to be discovered, the Pomoná museum—home to
several pieces discovered on site—offers fascinating clues
for its interpretation.
Uxmal
Villahermosa
For the Maya the changes in the seasons were important
occasions. The Spring equinox marked the beginning of
the cycle for preparing the earth for farming, so that it
would be ready for Chaac, the god of rain, to start to giving the first drops of water to germinate the corn seeds;
while the Fall equinox indicated the period in which fruit
was ripe and ready for harvesting.
Many structures attest to the Mayans’ interest in the
heavens and the relevance of its observed phenomena.
Most notable is the descent of the plumed serpent seen at
Chichén Itzá’s Temple of Kulkulcán, at the precise moment
the seasons change. Large numbers of visitors make a
point of visiting Maya archeological zones at these times to
take part in symbolic renewal and recharge ceremonies.
The vernal equinox takes place from 20 to 21 March and
the autumnal equinox is observed from 22 to 23 September
Solstices occur on 22 June and 22 December.
Tabasco’s capital combines rich cultural activity with
modern tourist infrastructure. The Museo Carlos Pellicer
Cámara is one of the city’s most important museums,
home to a number of pieces originally gathered at nearby
Maya archaeological sites. Tomás Garrido Canabal park,
whose architecture reflects the city’s mestizo heritage, is
another highlight.
Yucatán:
The state of Yucatán was the scene of Maya civilization’s
greatest splendor; during the post-Classic period, it constructed its most important and powerful cities there. Not
surprisingly, vestiges of the culture remain at impressive
archaeological sites such as Chichén Itzá. It’s also no surprise the people of the Yucatán remember their history—
which permeates the entire region—with such pride.
Just as impressive as Chichén Itzá, and equally relevant to
Maya civilization, this exceedingly ancient archaeological
zone, was an important political and religious center. Today, Uxmal’s highly preserved structures and the surrounding natural exuberance make it one of the Maya World’s
most visited and spellbinding cities.
Equinoxes and solstices
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