Escárcega to Xpujil

Introducing Escárcega to Xpujil

Highway 186 stretches due east across southern-central Campeche state, from grubby Escárcega through jungle to Xpujil and on to Chetumal – in Quintana Roo – a 273km ride. It passes several fascinating Maya sites and goes through the ecologically diverse and archaeologically rich Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul. The largest settlement between Escárcega and Chetumal is Xpujil – a great place to stage your exploration of the region – on Hwy 186 about 20km west of the Campeche–Quintana Roo border. The only gas station in the same stretch is about 5km east of Xpujil.

The predominant architectural styles of the region’s archaeological sites are Río Bec and Chenes. The former is characterized by long, low buildings that look like they’re divided into sections, each with a huge serpent or monster-mouth door. The facades are decorated with smaller masks, geometric designs (with many X forms) and columns. At the corners of the buildings are tall, solid towers with extremely small, steep, nonfunctional steps, topped by small false temples. Many of these towers have roofcombs. The Chenes architectural style shares most of these characteristics, except for the towers.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009