Chicana Maya site 1981
Stopping at Maya sites while crossing the lower Yucatan Peninsula along Carretera Federal 186 in 1981.
Some of the sites were unknown until they started plowing the highway through the jungle a dozen years earlier. The area was still little developed in '81. The town of Escarcega was the last substantial community before the 300 km stretch to Chetumal on the Caribbean coast, and they turned the electricity off in Escarcega an hour after dark. The anthropologist I was traveling with neglected to gas up her car in Escarcega, underestimating how few amenities there would be on the rest of the route. But we had luck - a crop-dusting plane landed on the highway, a truck came up to refuel the plane, and we were able to get some gas from the truck and thus continue on our way without major delay.
Chicanna ruins. Our guide was a 6 year old girl, I think the daughter of the site's caretaker.
Chicana Maya site 1981
Stopping at Maya sites while crossing the lower Yucatan Peninsula along Carretera Federal 186 in 1981.
Some of the sites were unknown until they started plowing the highway through the jungle a dozen years earlier. The area was still little developed in '81. The town of Escarcega was the last substantial community before the 300 km stretch to Chetumal on the Caribbean coast, and they turned the electricity off in Escarcega an hour after dark. The anthropologist I was traveling with neglected to gas up her car in Escarcega, underestimating how few amenities there would be on the rest of the route. But we had luck - a crop-dusting plane landed on the highway, a truck came up to refuel the plane, and we were able to get some gas from the truck and thus continue on our way without major delay.
Chicanna ruins. Our guide was a 6 year old girl, I think the daughter of the site's caretaker.