Yaxchilan

How to get there:

Chiapas is a state that is located in the southeast of the Mexican republic, bordered by Tabasco, Oaxaca, Veracruz, the Pacific Ocean, and the republic of Guatemala. From Frontera Corozal, the place you arrive at after the trip on the Southern Border Highway, starting from Palenque, you must take a boat trip lasting approximately one hour, plowing through the waters of the sacred Usumacinta, the most voluminous river in Mexico and the longest in Central America, en route to Yaxchilan. It is possible to get to this site by air, renting private planes that leave from Tuxtla Gutierrez, Palenque, Ocosingo and Comitan.




Yaxchilan is the prototype of a lost city in the jungle, located on the left bank of a willful meander of the Usumacinta. It is found elevated more than 10 meters above the level of the river, occupying a central position in the Lacandonian Rainforest. Its origin arose some 2000 years ago, when a group of men established a town, through passing of the centuries, transformed into one of the most beautiful and powerful cities of the Usumacinta Basin and that had its maximum splendor between the years of 550 and 900 A.D., corresponding to the Late Classic Period.

The extension of the city is very great, but its visit is restricted to part of the great square, La Gran Acropolis, la Acropolis pequena and the Acropolis sur (Grand, small, and South Acropolis). You arrive at the Grand Plaza through building 19, also known as the labyrinth, due to the complex distributions of its rooms. On the grounds of the square is the ball court and several small compounds of buildings, which in some cases, seem to have had the function of palaces. In several of the constructions, you can find the lintels that narrate the dynastic history of the city. Buildings 12 and 22, have the best. Emotion accompanies the ascent up the stairway that communicates the square with the great Acropolis presided by building 33, the most superb of the city. The crests, its stairway with hieroglyphic scenes of Pajaro Jaguar IV playing ball, the lintels, the decapitated sculpture of Pajaro Jaguar IV in its interior, are its most outstanding characteristics. A Lacandon legend says that when the head of Pajaro Jaguar IV returns to its place, the world will be devastated by the celestial jaguars. Through trails cut in the jungle, we arrive at Acropolis sur and the small one. Ub the interior of building 40, there are remains of mural paintings. Two squares integrate the small Acropolis or west and around these, the buildings are distributed. Buildings 42 and 44 have inscriptions.