Maya ruins in the jungle: Becan and Chincana

We visit 3 archeological sites on the way to Campeche today. The first is just 10-15min drive from Xpujil and called Becan.

We are the only ones. And it's an impressive site to visit. Barely a fraction has been restored and we walk in the jungle around massive pyramids and palaces. The ceremonial heart of the city is surrounded by moats. As we walk around two big pyramids, one of which we could climb for a gorgeous 360 view of the jungle, we arrive behind one to find a lot of smaller structures: palaces.

There are narrow staircases and smaller courtyards and as we walk beneath stone arches and tunnels, I feel like an adventurer.

We end up walking higher into an inner plaza that is on top of the pyramids. It's rectangular, trees have grown around and it is surrounded on each side by the top of 4 pyramids. From the ground you don't see this. It's an artificial mountain, and on two sides are those residential structures we saw built in the slopes.

I am impressed at what I see, and we can climb again one of them. When we look below, there is a good 30m of elevation to the actual bottom.

As we exit the last structure, Max points at an area covered by a plastic sheet. There are faded markings on it, and you could have bypassed it easily. It's there to protect from the light an amazing carving behind it. You have to put your hands around your eyes to peek inside the room that the flap protected. It's an incredible statue of the god of creation perfectly preserved.

I am amazed by this site, and surprised to find that hardly anyone is visiting it. It's also very big, it took us 1h30 to walk around it all.

Our second stop is barely 5min away, it's a residential neighborhood for the upper class of Becan called Chicana.

It is very small and consist of this rectangular plaza with 4 buildings on each side. Similarly to Becan, each of them represents part of the Maya cosmogony. A tall building for the upper world, two medium pyramids for the world of humans and a low one for the underworld.

And it's the latter that is amazing. It's completely carved and the entrance is shaped like a mouth with teeth. The face is monstrous and side carvings represent snakes. This is why people visit this site, because of this building also called the house of the snake.
 

After this last morning visit, we start an extremely long portion of driving to Palenque. We stop to grab some fast food to go and continue. Once we arrive at the waterfall of Misool Ha, we had enough of the van. 
 

There was a hurricane passing by the center of Mexico the day before and the water level of the river and the waterfall is high. We were hoping to swim but it’s now forbidden. In exchange, we get an impressive waterfall of 45m that’s raging and beautiful. There is a path and you can walk underneath it for a unique view. An interesting break in the afternoon driving. 
 

Thankfully the hotel we stay at for the night is just 10 more minutes’ drive away. It’s along the river and has a nice forested ground. We spot an Agouti as we walk to the room. We decide to relax in the pool for a little while to unwind from the long ride. 
Diner is done at the hotel; the restaurant has a nice view of the river.