Chetumal Quintana Roo
There is a grand story of a young Frenchman, Michel Peissel who decided to walk from Puerto Juarez to Belize, looking for Mayan ruins. In his now out-of-print Lost Kingdoms of Quintana Roo he describes how he eventually found sixteen sets of ruins, fourteen of which had never been viewed by outsiders. He defied all odds venturing ill-prepared by himself into a region considered so desolate and remote that Castro selected it for clandestine training ops.
We, consisting of a driver, a genuine Mayan guide, a language professor and her Mexican husband, a history professor and his professional wife, our group leader and her adult son, and myself have set off to explore the lost worlds of Quintana Roo for ourselves. Even with the advent of huge tourist destinations at Cancun, Cozumel and as far south as Tulum, there is plenty of desolation and remoteness to be had further south and inland.
South of Tulum one no longer see hundreds of all-inclusive tourist compounds, which eventually give way to the barrenness Peissel describes. One indicator of ‘progress’ is the surprisingly good road to be had for several hundred miles. Thus far, tourists do not seem to be making use of it.
Even some well-studied, field-trained Maya experts are not familiar with some of our selected sites. Our first destination brought us in late afternoon to the ruins of Chacchoben containing exquisite nine-layer sun temples. We were most heartened to see evidence of very good quality archeology and restoration work having been applied to the large site. There were no other people in the entirety of this ancient collection of pyramids and temples during our survey other than a caretaker and an attendant to collect the trivial admission fee. For about $5 one was free to explore the nearly two-thousand-year old sun temple, Las Vasijas, and a variety of other important features to this ancient ceremonial city left behind in the Mayan Classic Period. We stayed in the site until closing time.
Unlike Peissel, who walked solo on foot in the immense heat, we took refuge in a new van with very good dual AC and a very competent driver. We had not planned to visit any sites today but circumstances worked out so well, we were able to visit remote Chacchoben and an hour further south after leaving Chacchoben, we found a fine intact fort in Bacalar from the Spanish era. The 1733 Fort of San Felipe has a rather pleasing siting overlooking the beautiful Laguna Bacalar. It was a splendid photo op at sunset.
It does not hurt to have a true 100% Mayan guide who has been doing this for forty years, starting when Cancun was a village of a couple dozen houses. Most of the coastal cities did not yet exist. Despite the massive influx of tourists since 1974 and a couple million workers to service them, we are already finding the splendid solitude and remoteness of Quintana Roo.
Our accommodations here in Chetumal are grand, with AC and amenities I never experienced in all the years I did field work in Mexico. The outside temp is 110+ and wilting. Tomorrow we will ride in a small boat for a couple hours to get to a site in Belize called Lamanai. This is another very substantial ceremonial city that is virtually unknown, far better for photography, because there will not be hordes of cruise ship tourists climbing on it. Even some of our well-travelled Maya experts have never heard of the site. It shall be a most interesting day.
I feel a bit like Jules Verne about to start on his Journey to the Center of the Earth or Mark Plotkin on his Journey Beyond the Emerald Door.
Beauty is an infinitely renewable resource. The odds of finding it are 100% if you but look for it.
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