Campeche and Quintana Roo Archaeology Extravaganza! (pt. 1Edzna and Becan)

I am currently writing this post in my hotel room in Xpujil Campeche. I am not sure when I will have the chance to get online (hopefully as soon as tomorrow) and there is quite a bit to post… so I figured I would get a head start and upload everything as soon as I get the chance. There are quite a bit of photos to post since I have been visiting quite a few places… and I am of course (as always) quite shutter-happy. The trip I am doing is of southern Mexican states of Campeche and Quintana Roo. I am quite happy because this is my first time visiting most of these archaeological sites, due to the fact that they are quite remote and not really close to anything else at all (except Tulum and Edzna). Anyway for the first post I will cover Edzna and Becan. Edzna is located about 80km away from the state capital of Campeche (also called Campeche). It’s not a huge site but possesses some really interesting buildings such as the acropolis, the ball court, a temple with some really nice stucco masks… and a massive five floor temple. I was also able to nab some nice photos of birds in Edzna, so hooray for me! Becan (also in the state of Campeche) is very interesting but does not preserve very much in the way of hieroglyphics (unlike Edzna)… however Becan does posses a fairly impressive network of corridors and large pyramids. That being said, the most interesting feature of the sight is perhaps the wonderfully preserved stucco mask which adorns a ceremonial platform… seeing something like this, and imagining it painted and gleaming begins to give one the idea of the splendour which these monuments once possessed. The area of the acropolis is not very large, but fairly impressive since it is surrounded by such large structures. I found the circular platforms fairly interesting, since its not something you see all that much of in the Maya world.