El Tabasqueño & Hochob

A couple of days ago I made my way south to Campeche with my dad with the purpose of finally getting around to explore some Chenes Maya Archaeological sites which we had been wanting to visit for quite some time. The main reason we had not been out there before is that the roads in this inland area of Campeche are notoriously bad and have only recently been rehabilitated by the state goverment. The roads have gotten infinately better... however travel in this region is not without dificulty since the infrastructure is sparse... their are very few gas stations and the signage to places of intereste is spoty at best. Anyway we did manage to visit the Mayan prehispanic cities of El Tabasqueño, Hochob and Dzibilnocac as well as take a look arround several small towns and villages in the region.

Both El Tabasqueño and Hochob present a type of architecutre refered to as Chenes. Chenes arquitecture is characterized by the presnce of enourmous "Monstruos de la tierra" (Monster of the Earth) masks which cover the enitre facades of complete structures or altars. The presence of rain god masks is ubiquitous in Chenes architecture, however such feature s are usualy more commonly asociated with the Puuc style. Many elements from Rio-Bec architecture are also found in Chenes which leads many Mayists to consider Chenes architecutre more of a transitional style than a style in itself.

I hope you enjoy the photos of El Tabasqueño & Hochob!

El Tabasqueño:








Hochob:








Thanks for reading and check back soon for more from the Chenes region!