San Francisco de Campeche – Day 3: The Ruins of Edzná
SAN FRANCISCO DE CAMPECHE
Day 3: The Ruins of Edzná
August 23, 2022
Having just one day left, I tried to make the most of my time by visiting as many places as I could, dragging Xavier along with me. He had been living in Campeche for six months but, being so enrapt with his work, had no time to explore anywhere outside the city limits.
Our first stop was the ruins of Edzna. There, we found one of the most impressive guides I’d ever met. Esteban, a very knowledgeable guy in his fifties, seemed to know everything about the ruins and Mayan history. Edzna, he told us, means “House of the Itzaes” – the Mayans living in the Petén region of Guatemala. The site is located in a valley and was constructed around 300 BC, and inhabited until 1500 AD.
Throughout its history, the city of Edzna had extensive contact with surrounding cities such as Calakmul and Tikal, being so close to the Usumacinta River – an important trading route used by the Mayans. Other cities would often try either to gain favour with Edzna or go to war with it. This is supported by several stelae found onsite, including one showing an important queen from Calakmul who was sent to Edzna to marry their king in order to consolidate their alliance.
Ancient Wisdom
The tour started off in a museum at the entrance. There, Esteban took his time to show us a couple of stelae and explain what they represented. One of them features a Mayan king sporting a feathered crown, a beaded necklace and a jaguar skin skirt, holding a sceptre in one hand and standing on top of a slave – possibly a king from another kingdom.
His elongated head, he added, was a type of body modification performed by the Mayans to distinguish the elite from the lower classes. This was done by tying a piece of flat wood to the sides of the baby’s head, resulting in a process called plagiocephaly, which reshaped the baby’s head thanks to the young skull’s malleability. Other forms of body modification included attaching a stick to the nasal bridge so kids would grow up cross-eyed, boring holes in teeth to attach jade or other jewels, and other common contemporary practices such as piercings and tattoos – all signs of superiority and beauty.
On the edge of the stelae are hieroglyphs representing the date when this event occurred. The Mayans, he explained, had a complex calendar system which they developed over the years, based on earlier calendars used by other Mesoamerican civilisations dating back to 500 BC. They commonly used three calendars: the Haab, the Tzolkin, and the Long Count:
- Haab: A 365-day solar calendar based around the Earth’s rotation around the sun, much like the Gregorian calendar we’re used to. It consists of 18 months, each lasting 20 days. The last 5 days of the year, known as Wayeb, were considered dangerous, as the Mayans believed that the portals to Xibalba dissolved, allowing the gods of the underworld to wreak havoc on our world. In fact, when a child was born on these five days, the father would usually pay the priest a hefty sum to change their official birth date!
- Tzolkin: A 260-day sacred calendar consisting of 20 months, each lasting 13 days. It was used to keep track of religious or ceremonial events and could be combined with the Haab to form the Calendar Round. In this system, any combination of two dates from each calendar would repeat only after 52 years, meaning a full calendar round cycle lasts 18,980 days. For this reason, people who reached the age of 52 were considered to be imbued with special wisdom.
- Long Count: A universal cycle that counts days from the mythological date of creation: August 11, 3114 BC. The Mayans believed that at the end of an era – consisting of 13 b’ak’tuns, each lasting 394 years – the world is destroyed and then created anew by the gods. This is why the apocalypse was thought to occur on December 21, 2012 – the literal end of an era.
Exploring the City
After the long-sought explanation, we proceeded into the complex via the long sacbe; a white stone road. The main structures to be admired are found around the Grand Plaza, with the Nohoch Ná on the west; a large platform used for administrative functions on one side, and the Great Acropolis on the east; a huge platform with the main temple on the other. The plaza is flanked by the House of the Knives on the north; where a group of flint knives were found, and a pelote court on south.
After this long-awaited explanation, we proceeded into the complex via the long sacbe – a white stone road. The main structures to admire are found around the Grand Plaza: the Nohoch Ná on the west – a large platform used for administrative functions; and the Great Acropolis on the east – a huge platform with the main temple. The plaza is flanked by the House of the Knives on the north – where a group of flint knives was found – and a pelote court on the south.
The Great Acropolis is a large square with buildings on every side, featuring a solar platform used for astronomical purposes at its centre, and the imposing Temple of Five Storeys on the east side. This temple consists of a five-tiered pyramid topped with a comb-shaped roof and contains 22 rooms inside. A giant stairway leads from the square to the top of the pyramid, at the base of which are intricately carved hieroglyphic blocks dedicated to the Mayan gods.
Just outside the Grand Plaza to the south is the Temple of the Masks, which houses two marvellous, well-preserved stucco masks of the sun god Kinich Ahau: one depicting a youthful face representing the sun at dawn, and the other showing an older version with a single tooth, symbolising the sun at dusk.
With such a knowledgeable guide, I finally felt like I was piecing together much of what I’d learned about Mayan mythology so far. With every set of ruins I visited, my appreciation for their history continued to grow and deepen.
Fuerte San Jose
After the tour of Edzna, we headed back to Campeche to visit Fuerte San José, one of the two main forts in the city. The fort is square-shaped, with four watchtowers on each corner between the battlements. A winding passage leads to a drawbridge suspended over a moat, which, in turn, opens into the castle’s central courtyard where powder kegs and cannons are displayed. What makes the fort so charming is the yellow-painted battlements and passageway, providing a striking contrast with the grey stone walls and the forest green of the surrounding hill
Strategically located on a hilltop, the fort was built by the Spanish in 1792 to fend off pirates ransacking Campeche. With the decline of piracy, the fort was eventually abandoned and later turned into a subaquatic museum, featuring various ships, weapons used over the years, and items found on the Gulf and Caribbean seafloor. Cool, cool.
After visiting the fort, we had a few hours to kill before my time in Campeche was up. Xavier and I wandered around the city’s streets until it was finally time to bid each other adios. At the end of my stay, I kind of felt sorry to be leaving Campeche. Little did I know I’d ever feel this way back on my first day there. Being so similar to what I’m used to back home; the very same thing I wanted to escape from, I found it hard to get my head around it at first. Then I met Xavier and that quickly changed. He breathed into me a new perspective, one that was very much needed.
After visiting the fort, we had a few hours to kill before my time in Campeche was up. Xavier and I wandered the city’s streets until it was finally time to bid each other adios. By the end of my stay, I kind of felt sorry to be leaving Campeche. Little did I know I’d ever feel this way on my first day there. I guess it was just a matter of bad weather and bad mood. Then, of course, I met Xavier, and everything quickly changed. He breathed into me a new perspective, one I very much needed. And so, goodbye Campeche, and goodbye Xavier!
Stay wild,
Marius
Post Scriptum
Whilst I usually journal in real time, I like to take my time writing about ruins so I don’t miss anything important – or rather, anything I’ll want to remember in a few years when I reread my journal. It also gives me the chance to verify my sources and supplement what I learned with information from websites, books, and even the information boards at the sites themselves.
Back when I was visiting these places, I didn’t know much beyond what the guides explained. But after doing my own research, I realised that Calakmul – one of the most impressive and important Mayan cities – is actually quite close to Campeche. I’d heard of it in passing by then, but it never occurred to me how close I was or how much I would have loved to visit. Oh well, maybe next time!