Uxmal and Izamal

Uxmal is in the Puuc region (see also Kabah, below), and is a very large, ceremonial site.  It's one of the main places John Lloyd Stephens (Incidents of Travel in Yucatan) and Frederick Catherwood visited and documented in 1841-43.  It's also the site that American architect Frank Lloyd Wright felt was the "finest example of ancient American architecture" (specifically, the "House of the Governors" complex).

Below is the group in front of the Pyramid of the Magician.  The architect designed the small building at the top to be seen as a rectangle, even though, in actuality, it bows out, one of many tricks of perspective the ancient architects used to create perfectly symmetrical-looking structures.

Here's the group (with the addition of professors) on the other side of the Pyramid of the Magician, where you can see that top structure a little better.  This temple (largest in Uxmal), is also unusual for its elliptical shape.

This rock face is on the back side of the Pyramid of the Magician.  The door represents the mouth with the eyes above; the stairs that run down below the mouth (to the ground; about 50') represent the tongue!

Below are students climbing (sliding) down a pyramid near the House of the Governors.

Our visit to the city of Izamal ("The Yellow City," so named because ALL the buildings are painted a bright yellow, somehow reminiscent of the Emerald City of Oz) included a trip to the convent (Franciscan monastery, San Antonio de Padua) where Bishop Diego de Landa once lived.  The Bishop was the person responsible for burning all the sacred Mayan codices . . . at the same time, he also carefully recorded, in his own book, the rites, rituals, habits, etc. of the Mayan people, creating the only "history" of their civilization.  The convent is also known for its being built on top of Mayan ruins, and for incorporating both Mayan design and Moorish arches in its design.  The Virgin of Izamal (Nuestra Senora de Izamal) was brought from Guatemala is 1652 (by order of Diego de Landa).  

After lunch at a traditional Yucatecan restaurant, the group also visited the unrestored Mayan pyramid of Kinich Kah Mo.

Later, we went to visit a small Mayan cemetery.  The first photo below is the mausoleum of a Korean family (the writing is in Chinese).  Many Koreans came to Mexico to work in the henequen plantations.