Xpujil, Mexico
KM 23 Suroeste de
N/A
+529818168179
Small areal but totally worth it. The pyramide and the monster head door are amazing. Also you go not only for the ruins to here but also for the wild life. The black spider monkeys love this place for picking the sweet honey fruit in the trees and they are indeed real delicous, not the monkeys, the fruit ;)
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Very well kept archaeological site. It's out of the way and the road could be improved but it's well worth a visit. Also a great site for bird watching!
Getting to this site is not the easiest. While it is only 12 miles south of Xpujil the last mile of the 'road' is pretty rough. It is actually a two track road. If you are able to get down it there is a nice large parking lot for use. There is staff that lives on-site and is helpful. I lost track of the time zones and I ended up getting there an hour before opening but the nice men let me in anyhow. There is a restoration underway (Dec 2019) so it was fascinating to me to see the process and the amount of effort into rebuilding these ruins.
According to the guy running the site, Hormiguero only gets 60 visitors a year! So obviously when we went we were the only visitors there. The road there is bumpy and full of pot holes (watch out as we popped a tyre on our first attempt to get there) but it's worth it. The site is dilapidated and in need of some more funding to spruce it up, but that does take away from the ruins. There are only a couple of structures but they have some amazing carvings that are worth the trip. We also tagged on a trip to see the howler monkeys which was a 20 minute walk, which added to the magic of the site. There are also numerous lines of leaf cutter ants crawling across the pathways and roads which are incredible to see too.
Mediocre compared to becan. If time pushed you could totally skip this one. Otherwise enjoy the 35 min rough ride. Ps google will end you at a lot where you could park and hike 1.2km one way to the ruin site. Again a just so so hike. Or you could drive to the end. This part of road is totally unpaved so be careful.
Excellent location to spend real time examining the past without the crowd.
These small ruins off the beaten path feature one of my favorite decorated buildings in the area. If you visited Chicanná and liked the Serpent's Mouth you will love structure II in Hormiguero. This building is also the most excavated of the site. This monstrous mouth is three times bigger than Chicanná and according to Wikipedia one of the most wildly theatrical buildings of all Rio Bec. We truly loved it and it was worth the 30min detour. The road is bumps and full of potholes. Google Maps tells you to stop at the campsite and walk but keep going despite the rough, unpaved road. If you feel like, this can't be the correct, you are on the right track. Keep going for about 1 kilometer on this really bumpy road and you will arrive at a large parking lot. You'll find all of the usual INAH amenities there as well as a very friendly attendant. He is a great guide if you need one or explore alone if you rather prefer that. A hidden gem for me so stay away to keep it as quiet as it is now. :)
The temple wasn't that exciting but of is located in the Jungle which makes it a very adventurous place to go. We parked our car where the ashfelt stopped but there is a parking further down the road. We saw monkeys and a tucan, and many other creatures!
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