Below is the covered walkway into the site from the entrance gate. The palm thatch is typical of palapa roofs today, although this is an exceptionally fine one.
We weren't allow to use cameras inside the very nice museum, even without flash, so I have to photograph the sculpture when I can.
A fairly typical Mayan house. This is a reproduction on the grounds of Dzibilchaltun, but people still use such houses today in the villages on the Yucatan peninsula. Often they will be plastered and sometimes have a roof other than thatch.
Below is inside the above.
The other side of the room. These houses are oval and the center of the one-roomed building will be occupied by the family's hammocks at night. You see one looped over the rafter in the picture below.
Another type of thatching. These were over rest areas on the path through the site and I'd never seen this type of roof before. It seems to be a kind of grass rather than palm leaves.
The opening at the top of this temple frames the sun perfectly at the equinox. The pictures on the postcards are spectacular. Alas, we will not be here then.
The photo below is looking back along the road, which runs the length of the site, from the top of the temple seen above.
Inside the little temple on top of the pyramid. This is the corbeled arch for which the Maya are famous.
A woman, even older than I, stepping slowly down the steep incline of the pyramid.
There is a derelict Christian church, built by the Spanish in the 16th century, in the midst of the pyramids. Note the Mayan carving on one of the stones near the lower right of the church. I suspect that the church was originally plastered and so the carving wouldn't be seen.
Dzibilchaltun (perhaps I'll get the sound of this word if I repeat it enough) has a beautiful cenote. (Note to Shirley--swimming is allowed, so bring your suit.) The water looked as clean as any I've ever seen any place.
Here are only two of the many plants near the museum. The landscaping, as always, was lovely. They left the areas around the ruins alone, although perhaps the roads would have been paved in Classic Mayan times. The plant below, whose name I don't know, glowed in a bit of sun coming through the jungle canopy.
