what's up people it's your dude who's in love with ancient civilizations and in
this video we're gonna explore the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal
Uxmal is considered one of the most important Mayan archaeological sites along with
the likes of Chichen Itza and Tikal and is unsurprisingly designated as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. it's located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula only 60
kilometers away from the city of Merida where I did the last video if you're
coming to Uxmal from Merida I highly recommend catching the 6 a.m. bus
that will get you here 30 minutes before it opens and that will help you get in
here before the big crowds come in because if you take the 9 a.m. one it's
gonna be pretty crowded by the time you get in here. and it looks like we could
have snuck in if we wanted to because there was no security there when we got
here at 7:30. just a few steps into the park you'll see the Pyramid of the
magician, the central structure of Uxmal towering at around 35 meters or 115
feet, it's hard to miss. it's also referred to as the pyramid of the
soothsayer or the house of the magician the name actually comes from a legend
that the pyramid was built in a single night by a dwarf that was born in an egg
the pyramid was actually built by several governors along 400 years. if you
pay attention to the architecture you'll notice that the pyramid has some rounded
edges which makes it quite unique (Kat: do you think you can get a fine if you climb that?)
To answer my friend, no you were not allowed to climb those steps. you would
either get a big fine or fall and hurt yourself or die
the occupation of Uxmal dates all the way back to 500 BC but the city
flourished from 600 to 1000 AD, all of which falls in what's recognized today
as MesoAmerica's classic period. Uxmal's buildings are noted for their size
and decoration which is typical of the puuc style. now if you go past the
pyramid coming in from the entrance and then go left you eventually get to this
place called the house of turtles, named so because of turtle statues curved on
all sides of building. the Mayans believed that turtles also suffered with
men during droughts and would also pray for rain with men. Right next to it is
Uxmal's governor's palace, a massive 320 feet or 96 meter long building which
is one of the longest pre-columbian buildings in Mesoamerica and while
you're up there make sure you take a look back and check out the Pyramid of
the magician that you saw earlier the views from here were my favorite
the buildings in Uxmal are connected to each other by these raised pathways
called Sacbes the Mayans created these same Sacbes used to connect
Uxmal to other big cities in the region like chichen itza or even cities as far
away as in modern-day Belize or in modern-day guatemala like the city of
Tikal if you've seen my video on that. now if you go past the palace of the
governor on one of the sacbes you'll eventually get to the Great Pyramid. this
pyramid was originally nine levels high and has only been partially restored and
yes you can actually climb to the top of this one.(this climb is treacherous). if you
do decide to climb the pyramid please be careful. it's very easy to slip and die
if you didn't know a lot of the big pyramids that you cannot climb today
like the one in chichen itza or the pyramids of giza where actually once
climbable or people were allowed to climb them but they stopped doing that
mainly because it was so dangerous and people died climbing them
if you do make it to the top though you can probably enjoy some incredible
paranomic views of the entire city of Uxmal
so we finally made it to the top of a pyramid and I'm ready to sacrifice Kat
over here down the stairs. say hi. (Kat: hi) no, this is not gonna be a snuff film but I think
we and those people are the only people in the park right now. oh there's more
people, okay we're not the only people in the park still but we are the only
people on top of this pyramid and my favorite thing that I found in this
pyramid so far is that there's a little chimney at the top and I think that's
where Mayan Santa (comes in) and there's some nice little lights over here too so when he
comes in at dark, it doesn't get too scary for him right next to the pyramid is
this other structure called the Temple of the Doves which has nothing to do with
doves of course that's just what the Spaniards decided to call them when they
found it the structure was part of another quadrangle that was destroyed
and found during the excavation of the site now if you're going back north
towards the entrance make sure to stop and check out the court for the Mayan
ball game. This was part of a sport that was played for over thousands of years
by the Mayans mainly as part of religious ceremonies. the winning team's
captain often got sacrificed to the gods because that was considered to be a big
honor. interesting I know. and now for our last stop. right across the pyramid of
the magician where we started is this structure called the nunnery quadrangle
once again this is nothing to do with nuns and was just a misnomer that was
assigned to it by the Spaniards during their colonization
some historians believe that the nunnery quadrangle was the meeting place of the
court of Uxmal. Each of its wings was dedicated to one of the four estates
directing its governance. the King to the north, the priestly or noble council to
the west, the military to the east, and the secondary client subject to or
allied with Uxmal to the south
and with that we've covered a brief intro to the
main structures of the ancient city of Uxmal
now obviously if you want to do iy justice
you need to go and see it yourself now if I missed anything important that you
think is worth mentioning or especially if you find up any mistakes in what I
said please let me know that in the comments all right that's it for Uxmal
LIKE, comment and subscribe for more I'll see you guys the next video in
Palenque
So if you're coming to Uxmal from Merida I highly recommend catching
the 6 a.m. bus which means we had to wake up at 5 a.m. and walk to
the bus to make sure we had enough time to stand in line and buy the tickets and
then catch the bus