Dzibilchaltún

An excellent archeological site very close to Mérida, with a terrific cenote for swimming and cooling off.

Name means "place of the stone writing" in Mayan, but the name is a tongue twister.  No disrespect intended, but as Katie and I were talking about it and planning a visit, we had to find a name we could pronounce.  So in place of Dzibilchaltún we call it BzBzBz (pronounced bzzbzzbzz). 

Short thumbnail history.  Dzibilchaltún is only ~15 miles from Mérida, the largest city in Yucatan. And the site is huge: 15 square kilometers, with more than 8000 Mayan buildings identified since its "discovery" in 1941.  Only half a dozen buildings excavated so far -- much of this site is nearly pristine, still covered in vegetation.  How did this happen???  How did it stay unknown until 1941?

Answer is ironic.  It wasn't unknown.  It was forgotten.  Conquistadors began "development" of the area about the same time as Mérida, early 1500s.  In this case, "development" meant granting this huge piece of land to one family, who immediately began to tear down the most convenient Mayan buildings and use the stones to build a church.  But here is the kicker: after a few years the family decided that Mérida was where it was happening, so they moved to the city... and left their land grant (Dzibilchaltún) essentially abandoned and ignored for the next 400 years.  Yes, a time capsule, made possible because some conquistador said "Jed, Mérida's the place you ought to be..."   Meanwhile, they abandoned construction of the Christian church they had begun on their hacienda... so it became a ruin, among the older ruins.  The site then sat unmolested for 400 years.

Katie and Mimo

We benefited from the knowledge of a terrific guy (nickname, Mimo) who was available as a guide.  So glad we met him.  He had, for example, photos he had taken of sunrise on the solstice shining through the window of a key temple building.  Doesn't sound like much but it is pretty beautiful.

Plus, a wonderful cenote.   
In simplest terms, cenote is Spanish for swimming hole.

Katie, Mimo and Pyramid

Ruins of the abandoned Christian church project...

Cenote