Showing 1-6 of 6 results
-
Charmed by the Snake Kingdom – Calakmul, Campeche State, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 10 January 2011
Calakmul, one of the largest, most powerful and most important Mayan cities ever discovered, had sophisticated infrastructure (including the largest Mayan reservoir ever found) and a massive amount of land and buildings. The so-called Snake Kingdom even had a logo–an emblematic snake head has been found all over the place. Calakmul reached the height of power during the Classic Period (250 to 900 AD) and the city/kingdom once had 50,000 inhabitants and ruled the land up to 150 kilometers away.
-
Río Bec Style Mayan Sites – Becan, Hormiguero, Chicanná & Xpujil, Campeche State, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 27 December 2010
After visiting more than 20 Mayan archaeological sites throughout Southern Mexico it can be tempting to lump them all together as amazing but largely similar piles of rocks. That would be a mistake. We’re no experts (in Mayan archaeology, or much else for that matter) but if you read up a bit and look closely even untrained eyes can begin to see distinct differences from region to region and era to era.
-
A Winning Town – Campeche, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 21 December 2010
It happens. You plan to stay in a city for a few days and end up staying for a week. That’s what happened to us in Campeche, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and beautifully restored formerly fortified colonial city now making its way as a modern port town. Over recent years federal and local governments have pumped millions of pesos into a beautification project designed to restore and maintain most of the downtown area. Hundreds of colonial era buildings have been brought back to life and they’re spruced up regularly with subsidized painting programs.
-
Chenes Style Mayan Sites – Edzná, Tabasqueño, Hochob & Dzibilnocac, Campeche State, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 20 December 2010
Edzná The Mayan city of Edzná, which died a mysterious death following a prolonged period of prosperity and progress, is a remarkable example of late Chenes-style Mayan architecture and ingenuity. The city was inhabited into the 15th century and what remains of it includes multi-tiered buildings, elaborate roof structures called roof combs, elegant columns and even an irrigation system of canals and reservoirs.
-
Hacienda Has-Beens – Yucatan and Campeche States, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 15 September 2010
Our previous post was all about five haciendas which were built during Mexico’s sisal boom in Yucatan and Campeche and have been restored and turned into luxury hotels known as The Haciendas, part of the Starwood Luxury Collection. But for every hacienda that gets rescued and resurrected there are scores that remain abandoned and in ruins.
-
Hacienda High Life -Yucatan and Campeche States, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 14 September 2010
Starwood Hotels owns or operates more than 1,000 hotels in more than 100 countries. Fewer than 90 of those are part of the hotel giant’s elite Luxury Collection and only five of those are part of The Haciendas group in southern Mexico (read our full profile of The Haciendas for iTraveliShop). These hotels are housed in what were once the grand homes of the owners of sisal farms and factories which supplied natural plant fibers to the rope and twine making industry in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Showing 1-6 of 6 results
