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Calakmul - 1/20/2013 7:36:33 AM

bunrab

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We will be spending 4 days in Bacalar and a week in Akumal in April. Wondering if any of guys have been to Calakmul and what your experience was like. We are planning on some adventure and visiting other ruins, Rio Bec, etc. Any advice about this part of the journey will be appreciated.

< Message edited by bunrab -- 1/20/2013 7:37:03 AM >

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 11:28:48 AM

Whale

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Most definitely go to Calakmul. It is a long way from Bacalar but you should be able to do it in a day. It is currently my favorite ruin of about 30 we have visited so far. Watch for the monkeys in the trees and the jaguars on the road. Something you seldom see at the other ruins in the area. It is a huge, very remote and very important site with not very many people. Only a few cars in the parking lot when we were there. Calakmul is probably the most remote major site you will visit in the Yucatan area, so once you have been there all the other sites will seem easy, it's about 60 kilos South of the highway down a dead end road and only 19 miles from the Guatemalan border. But you can't get to Guatemala from there unless you want to bushwhack through the roadless jungle.

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< Message edited by Whale -- 1/20/2013 11:37:06 AM >

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 11:30:29 AM

PJPhillips

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Going to Calakmul and the ruins around there was hands down the best trip of my life. We went summer of 2011, spent 2 days exploring the area. Went to Calakmul for the day and returned to a hotel nearby. My advice is get a good map of the ruins and understand them before you go in. We searched high and low for the "big" pyramid and were confused by all the different descriptions of exactly where it is. Also, bring food for ashen you are done. We were exhausted and hungry. I can't wait to go back.

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 11:42:57 AM

Whale

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Here's a map at the site which gives you an idea of the size.

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< Message edited by Whale -- 1/20/2013 11:44:43 AM >

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"Don't listen to what they say. Go see." ~ Chinese proverb
"When you see, you will know" ~ Jim Thurman proverb
"I cannot change other people's behavior, only m

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 11:55:20 AM

Whale

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If you can't see the scale line at the bottom left of the pic above the total length of the scale is 200 meters or about the length of two football fields.

Here is one of the the large pyramids. It is hard to get it all in one shot but there is more at the top that you can't see here. The kids are from a school bus that pulled up not long before we left. They swarmed onto the pyramid like a bunch of ants.

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< Message edited by Whale -- 1/20/2013 11:56:00 AM >

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"Don't listen to what they say. Go see." ~ Chinese proverb
"When you see, you will know" ~ Jim Thurman proverb
"I cannot change other people's behavior, only m

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 11:58:37 AM

Whale

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Another view. You still can't see all the way to the top. It's behind the kids as far as you can see.

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< Message edited by Whale -- 1/20/2013 11:59:08 AM >

_____________________________

"Don't listen to what they say. Go see." ~ Chinese proverb
"When you see, you will know" ~ Jim Thurman proverb
"I cannot change other people's behavior, only m

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 6:13:26 PM

Mike

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From: Colorado Springs, CO
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Found it on the map and it is out there. We will be staying in Akumal for a couple months this summer and we thinking of putting it on the bucket list. Any suggestions on where to stay if you take a couple days to visit the ruins?

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 6:57:36 PM

bunrab

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Thanks so much for the info and photos!! !We knew it was going to be a long day but hoping it will be worth the trip. Can anyone suggest a good guide book and/or map? We have the Kelly book but there was only a little blurb about Calakmul--guessing because the excavation was started in the 90's and her book was published about 93. Water and snacks are on the list and hoping to leave about 5 am to get there early! I am feeling like the little engine that could....I think I can, I think I can, I think I can make it to the top : )

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 7:49:52 PM

Steve O

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Calakmul is great. You will be one of the few people there. Wild life is abundant. It's a lot of walking as the site is so large. It also contains the largest and tallest pyramid in the Yucatan. It takes about an hour from the highway to get to the ruins on a small 2 lane curvy road that turns into a one lane road. You will will see lots of turkeys and coatimundi's on the road along with many monkeys and beautiful birds when you get to the ruins. It's definately one of the best sites in Mexico. There are a few live in caretakers on the site. There are quite a few other ruins around the area and my favorite is Becan. It's the only ruin with a moat around it. It's a small site and doesn't take long to see. You will have a great time. I don't remember the road to Calakmul being more than 45 minutes from Bacalar. I have been to Bacalar aroud 6 times and have stayed at a few small places but the Hotel Laguna Bacalar seems to be my favorite choice. Make sure to wake up early and see the sunrise.

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 9:22:22 PM

panesh

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We went for a few days last Feb. Fantastic. We climbed the big pyramid. We spent over six hours on the grounds. Be sure and take whatever you need with you (water, fruit, snacks) as there are no services. The last place you can get most things is in Xpujil (Esh Poo Heel). The drive from Calakmul is a couple of hours from Chetumal (took us 2 1/2 but we stopped in Xpujil for about 20 minutes) and then another hour to the site, From Bacalar it will be well over three hours to the road going in. We stopped in Chetumal at 11:30 and got to Calakmul near 3 pm.
The day after we were there big changes were happening. Nobody at the entrance gate and no shuttle. You could drive in but the museum and everything was being closed. I think they were changing who was running the place. It is a huge site.
I strongly suggest you hire a guide. The same is true here as everywhere, if you don't have a guide it's like watching silent movie without the subtitles.
We could have easily spent two more days and maybe three. We stayed at the hotel at the entrance. After seeing Calakmul, Belampan and Becan
we decide to go to Tikal this year. We leave in a few months. Can't wait.

This is the second pyramid from the top of the first.

There are hundreds of stella here

This is the big pyramid from one of the smaller one near the main square

A fantastic place

< Message edited by panesh -- 1/20/2013 9:30:41 PM >

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RE: Calakmul - 1/20/2013 10:38:53 PM

Whale

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They have also discovered a mural inside one of the pyramids which is in excellent condition and is the only mural in the known Mayan world that depicts the everyday life of common Mayans, not royalty. Don't know if is open to the public yet but if you go make sure to ask about it. I was told that when they do open it to the public it will be something amazing unlike anything anywhere else. I want to go back just to see it when they open it. There was a film crew from National Geographic and the Mexican television network there making a documentary of it when we were there so I know where the entrance is. Hopefully it will be open for you to see.

Here's the story and photos. http://www.pnas.org/content/106/46/19245.full

Another article I enjoyed. http://www.airtranmagazine.com/features/2012/02/lost-in-the-jungle/1

And a Google search with all kinds of information and images. https://www.google.com/search?q=mural+in+calakmul&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

< Message edited by Whale -- 1/20/2013 11:35:47 PM >

_____________________________

"Don't listen to what they say. Go see." ~ Chinese proverb
"When you see, you will know" ~ Jim Thurman proverb
"I cannot change other people's behavior, only m

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 7:07:43 AM

bunrab

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OMG! OMG! OMG!

We thought it would be a long day sorta like when we went to Chichen Itza from Akumal. But I am so looking forward to this more than that.

So does anyone know where to hire a guide? And if we hire a guide then does that limit my time there?

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 10:12:26 AM

panesh

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We hired our guide through Hotel Puerta Calakmul. You can probably call them and they will arrange it for you.
We were fortunate to get a young man for a guide that had been studying for four years. I have his name around here somewhere, I'll see if I can find it. He showed us stuff we wouldn't have known was there. He was very well versed on the birds, insects, animals and all of the ruins. We only left because we had been walking for many hours and weren't as prepared as we should have been. We ran out of water in the early afternoon and headed back around 2 pm. We started at 8 am. Like I said we had to coordiante with the shuttle since they didn't allow private vehicles past the museum gate. Things have probably changed since then. after the long drive to the museum (25-30 minutes) you took a shuttle to the entrance of the park, another 45 minutes.
We found out how well known our guide was when we went to the bat cave on the highway towards Xpujil. It was dusk and there were a few people there. We started talking and one of the people was a guide who had come from Oxkutzcab. He knew right away who we were talking about and told us we were lucky to get the best guide in the area. Good references coming from a guide himself.
If you are in the area at dusk and can find the cave it's insane. Right on cue millions (close to 5 million) of bats come flyiing out of this cavern and it continues until you can't see any more. If you stand on the edge of the cave they whiz by you and a few will smack into you. They are harmless to humans but eat an estimated 5 tons of mosquitos every night. It looked like they were trying to develop the site to make it nore accessible.
The other pictures are from Balamku and Becan. You will pass them on your way to Calakmul.. It is the freise they found behind a wall and have made it available to view. It was remarkable. We were the only people at the site.
Sorry to hijack your post but I thought you might like to see some of this
I'm putting a website together with all of our adventures.
This was our guide

Here is another view from the top of the large pyramid.

Balamku

This is from Becan

Bat cave sign

The cave

The bats

< Message edited by panesh -- 1/21/2013 10:14:59 AM >

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 10:55:35 AM

panesh

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Be sure and pack some leather gloves. They will keep you from shredding your hands while you climb. You can give them to someone there when you are done and they will appreciate it.

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 11:08:17 AM

Whale

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I'm sure they will have guides on site and they will find you, just make sure to get one inside the park to make sure he is official.

It looks like they may have changed the setup since we were there in 2009. There now is a new museum part of the way down the long road to the ruins and it appears that you drive to there and then take a tram or shuttle the rest of the way down. That was all under construction when we were there. I am guessing here, but my guess would be that your guide will stay with you as long as you want to pay him but will probably have a set fee for a certain number of hours. After that time he will probably leave you to explore on your own and your only time limitation will probably be when the last tram returns to the museum. All of the guides at INAH (archeological) sites in Mexico are required by the government to get training, pass a test and then get licensed to be guides, so any guide you get inside the entrance should be good.

< Message edited by Whale -- 1/21/2013 11:09:19 AM >

_____________________________

"Don't listen to what they say. Go see." ~ Chinese proverb
"When you see, you will know" ~ Jim Thurman proverb
"I cannot change other people's behavior, only m

Post #: 15

RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 11:17:40 AM

SnorkelNfools

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Thanks so much for all the information and pictures. We will be in the area in a month and plan to see this site. Panesh, if you can find the guide's name and are willing to share, we would appreciate it.

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 11:19:17 AM

Whale

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Looks like panesh and I were posting at the same time and he confirmed my guess about the shuttle.

Panesh where is that bat cave? We missed that and would love to see it when we get down there again. Also did you get to go inside the pyramid to see the actual mural? They told us it would be opening to the public any day. That was in 2009 and in Mexico time, any day could mean 2013.

_____________________________

"Don't listen to what they say. Go see." ~ Chinese proverb
"When you see, you will know" ~ Jim Thurman proverb
"I cannot change other people's behavior, only m

Post #: 17

RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 11:38:52 AM

bunrab

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Gosh, I love this forum and all of you wonderful people. Your pics are amazing and suggestions are helpful.

If you have the name of a specific guide, I would love to have it and to know where the bat cave is.

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 2:14:21 PM

panesh

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As of Feb last year they were still working on the murals. They are in a separate building that was fenced off. We got to walk around it but no luck getting in. The bats start coming out at dusk and continue for most of the evening. There are literally millions of them.
We met a couople that has a dive shop in Coz and they told us about the cave. The bat cave is not marked anywhere on the highway but they told us which km marker it was near. It was off of Mex 186. I think it was km 170 but I'll look through my notes. There is just a turnoff that comes to a locked gate. We just walked around it and about 1/2 mile in was the cavern. It looked like they were trying to make improvements to open it to the public.
If you are heading towards Calakmul from Xpujil it is on the right soon after the bat warning sign on the highway.

< Message edited by panesh -- 1/21/2013 2:17:38 PM >

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RE: Calakmul - 1/21/2013 2:39:51 PM

Steve O

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Wow, I guess a lot of things have changed since 2004 when I was there. They have a tram and a museum there now? When I was there a couple of families stayed on the property and did general maintenance keeping the paths free of weeds and cutting vegetation back. There were maybe two car loads of people a day visiting the site. I guess I will have to stop by again as I am in that area quite often.

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