The Mayan Ruins of Kohunlich

WARNING: This post contains no food. Not even a sad picture of the half squashed peanut butter sandwich I ate at the ruins. So for those of you coming here looking for food, I’m sorry, you might want to navigate away now. But if you have a minute, you might want to stay, and check out one of my favorite things from the Yucatan.

When a history major and an anthropology major marry, a certain theme emerges in their vacations. While others lounge on beaches and enjoy frosty drinks, they do strange things–like go to a concentration camp on their honeymoon, spend way too much time photographing places overrun by volcanoes, and photographing every segment of every roman wall, in every city they visit.

So is it any surprise, really, that as soon as the boat made it’s first dock on our caribbean cruise we were off, not to the beach, but rather on a two and half hour bus ride into the jungle to check out the best preserved Mayan ruins in the area? No, I’m afraid, it is not.

Kohunlich was a major Mayan city in the Classical period. Unlike some other Mayan sites, the city was an all purpose city, with housing, a palace, religious sites, and even a ball court. Archaeologists believe it was a major trading center on the Yucatan. The site is HUGE, even though only about 30 percent of the city is excavated. The rest of it is still covered with dense jungle, waiting for the Mexican government to find funds to excavate.

As we walked around the site, we really were amazed at how large it was and how complex the building structures were. To think that like all Mayan cities, this well developed city was simply abandoned for an unknown reason, is startling.

But the thing that really sets Kohunlich apart are the stone ceremonial masks, which are contained in the great temple at one edge of the complex.

These masks are each about six feet high, and there are six of them. Our guide explained to us that the faces depict the traditional Mayan concept of beauty in a warrior face.

Of the six masks, only four of them are in this pristine condition. One is still under stone covering, waiting for future excavations to uncover it. And one was destroyed by ruin robbers, who stripped the mask and sold it before the site was under the protection of the Mexican government. It’s sad that it takes an act of vandalism like this to get a country to protect its natural treasures, but I realize that compared to the US, Mexico is a relatively poor country and funds are limited.

Although we may not have all made it (nothing wrong with taking a break on the steps, people!) the view from the top is really amazing and (probably would have been) worth the climb. The jungle is so dense, you can barely tell there is a city down there.

The city even has a ball court, which was a little bit bigger than a tennis court and reminded me of a Roman amphitheatre. The Mayans played a type of war ball on this court, with the loser often losing his life. A little bit more intense than tennis, I say.

The site was really phenomenal to visit, and I really got that sense of wonder that I always get when I’m visiting sites from the ancient world. To think that the Mayans built all of this, without modern technology, is pretty amazing. Kohunlich is pretty centrally located in Quintana Roo state, so if you ever have the opportunity to visit, I would recommend it!

And I have to say thanks to The Native Choice the company that took us on our tour of the ruins. They are an independent operator–not affiliated with the cruise line–in the area and their whole business is taking cruise passengers on adventurous day trips out of the port of Costa Maya. They were wonderful guides to the area.

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