The next morning we set out for Calakmul. This was one of the most powerful city states in the classic period, controlled most of the area between Tikal and Palenque and was their rival and contemporary. It is estimated that the city contains many hundreds of major buildings and covers more than 100 sq km.



The main plaza has been reconstructed and uncovered and there are half a dozen extremely tall pyramids there as well as palaces and long administrative buildings. It was a long 60km drive to the site from the main highway, the road was paved and pretty good and they are clearly preparing for a major influx of tourists in the near future. I'm glad we got to see it now. Once at the site, it is still over a mile walk from the parking area through dense high jungle with lots of monkeys and birds. The buildings are really impressive, this is a site equal to Tikal and Palenque even now and well worth visiting if you are in the area.


Back at Demetria's, her 3 sons were out mowing the lawn with really sharp machetes. I flinched when I saw them swinging those blades so close to each other and with such force. Even the smallest one had a short machete and was swinging away as well. She mentioned to me that in the US they would be using a machine, I didn't tell her that it wasn't the way they were doing it but that kids that age would be doing it at all. It's a different world.