being there

by beth kohn

In ruins

If a pyramid soars in the rainforest but no one ever sees it, does it really exist? Although they're a thundering archaeological marvel, the ruins of Calakmul are probably the largest, most breathtaking Mayan site you've never heard of. And you're not alone. Well, unless you set foot in the wilds of this rarely visited Mexican preserve, which you're almost certain to experience all by yourself. Bursting through centuries of claustrophobic, overgrown foliage, the haunting peaks of two pyramids emerge from endless green canopy. The only sounds: the unidentifiable chirps and cries of unseen animals.

When travelers speak of the Yucatán Peninsula, they're usually referring to the beachy resort towns – Cancún, Playa del Carmen – of Quintana Roo. The state of Campeche, where Calakmul lies nestled in the 1.8-million-acre Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, tends to get overshadowed, like a Yucatecan Cinderella. But in the Río Bec jungle region bordering Guatemala, there are more than enough Mayan ruins – Becán, Chicanná, Xpujil, Balamkú, and Hormiguero, among others – to fill your dance card with a week's worth of temple climbing and wildlife watching. And Calakmul is the area's crown jewel – though it offers no laser light shows or hyped package tours like Chichén Itzá. Because of its relatively late discovery and remote location, the site is deliciously untamed, with overgrown trees shooting up from towering temples and unusual animals and insects coursing through uncleared jungle.

Before Calakmul was (re)discovered in 1931, archeologists had been scratching their heads over the identity of a place known as the Snake Kingdom. Predating graffiti taggers by centuries, Calakmul's glyph name (a snake) had been found all over the Mayan world, alerting Mayanists to the existence of a kingdom that rivaled Guatemala's Tikal. At its peak of influence, between 500 and 695 AD, Calakmul was the capital of a sprawling 30-square-mile city-state, and from the top of Calakmul's Structure II, the tallest Mayan pyramid in Mexico, that prominence is palpable. A bird's-eye view of unobstructed woodland sweeps for miles, broken only by the white mounds of huge temples erupting over the treetops. Gazing down from this lofty limestone skyscraper, its rulers must have felt truly omnipotent.

Calakmul is a half-buried treasure slowly being unearthed. The whine of a generator anywhere else might be considered annoying, but here it means pay dirt: live excavation sites. With more than 6,000 mapped structures, the place is an archeologist's Disneyland. Throughout the grounds, scores of low green hills are actually the shrouds of enigmatic stone mounds. And in 1999 archeologists probing inside the main pyramid discovered an intact plaza with incredibly preserved stucco friezes and buildings dating from 300 to 400 BC – now tantalizingly close to its public debut.

Presumably concerned that visitors might be dazzled to distraction by the combination of wildlife and rough-cut Petén architecture, the proprietors have placed a sign at the entrance warning people to stay on the paths or risk getting hopelessly lost. When I saw a wave of tiny black ants suddenly swarm a sizeable lime-green caterpillar, I imagined the gruesome fate of careless wanderers. A column of beefy leaf-cutter ants marched across the stone trail before me, transporting rough chunks of shrubbery many times their size, and I respectfully stepped aside. An artist's palette of living color, fist-sized blue morpho butterflies wafted on the breeze; ocellated turkeys with splendid peacock plumage foraged on the main plaza between scarred chicle, or chewing-gum trees. I kept my eyes and ears open for dangling spider monkeys, thinking I might be in luck when I heard a raucous chachalaca bird crashing through the ceiba trees.

With such natural and architectural splendor to offer, why is Calakmul such a solitary place? Location, location, location. With no major cities nearby, it's an hour's drive from the closest highway on a narrow, rambling lane buffered by high brush. Up until 10 years ago, the 40-mile road was an unpaved track – bumpy during the dry season, an impassable trough of muck when it rained. Even now, the ruins are a good five hours from the state capital, so no one stumbles here by chance. Finding your own private kingdom, you may want to keep the secret too.

Beth Kohn is a klutzy freelance writer who clings to ropes when descending pyramids.

E-mail her at fiercesf@igc.org.

Next up: Chiapas.

Trip planner

Getting there There's no easy public transportation to Calakmul ($4 admission, paid at turnoff tollgate). You can drive or organize a day or overnight tour from the city of Campeche. Aeroméxico (www.aeromexico.com) has three daily flights from Mexico City to Campeche's small, modern airport. For more information, contact the Campeche state tourist office (www.campechetravel.com). For more information about the biosphere reserve, go to www.calakmul.org.

Staying there At the Calakmul turnoff, Puerta Calakmul Hotel (www.puertacalakmul.com.mx) has rooms from $90, plus a pool. Closer to Chicanná and Becán, Río Bec Dreams (www.riobecdreams.com) has "jungalow" cabins for $40 and cabanas for $80.