Among the very big ancient Mayan city sites is Calakmul, one of the largest in its day and a major rival to Tikal across the current national border in Guatemala. Despite being in Mexico, the architecture and history of Calakmul is closer to that of Tikal and other sites in northern Guatemala and is considered part of the Peten Mayan cultural region. Calakmul is also renowned for having the largest pyramid in the Mayan world in terms of total volume. What's called Structure II is also the tallest pyramid in Mexico, although several of the narrow pyramids at Tikal in Guatemala are greater in absolute height.

Calakmul is set deep in an biosphere reserve which preserves the ecology of the region and is the largest expanse of intact rainforest in Mexico . It arguably qualifies as "virgin" forest since it has existed intact for nearly a thousand years since Mayan civilization declined and largely abandoned the region, although it was likely largely cut and cultivated during the civilization’s heyday. Together the archaeological site and the ecological reserve constitute a mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Part of the fun of Calakmul is just getting there. From the first entrance station just off the main east-west highway, it’s 63 kilometers (38 miles) to the ruins on a paved but bumpy and badly potholed road. Ina confusing system, you’re first charged to enter by the local community association, then pay again 20 kms down the road for entrance to the biosphere preserve, and then a third time at the entrance to the ruins. I was warned to bring all the food and water I’d need for the day since there’s nothing to buy at Calakmul, not even a vendor with a cooler selling cold drinks. Nothing!

It didn’t seem to me as though I got a particularly early start, but I was nevertheless only the third car in the parking lot at the ruins . From the ticket booth it’s still another mile and a half hike in through the forest on a paved trail before you get to the site, one widely spread out over a large area in the forest.

You are allowed to climb up Calakmul’s pyramids. Visitation is so low in such a remote spot that people aren’t likely to do much damage to the ruins, I suppose. And once you get to the top of the pyramids that poke out of the forest canopy, it’s unbroken forest as far as the eye can see in every direction. One bad feature of having each pyramid top all to myself is that I don’t have any pictures of myself on top of them at Calakmul. My attempts at camera selfies usually show little other than my face. In fact, I actually crossed paths with other visitors only a few times around the site, one that’s so big and spread out my visit lasted over three hours, longer than any of the other Mayan sites.

In some respects Calakmul ranks high on my list of the Mayan sites I’ve seen because of its remoteness and setting deep in the jungle . When you go there you can still feel like an explorer, a Mayanist discovering new features of the civilization. Some of the buildings are barely visible between the trees which cover the entire site. There are no large manicured grassy areas here like at Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Calakmul is what I expected of visiting the Mayan World, El Mundo Maya!

After finishing up around noon, I decided to make a beeline for Tulum for the evening, a drive of around 200 miles. There are many other Mayan archaeological sites that are part of the Rio Bec Mayan archaeological region not far from the highway to the east of the entrance to Calakmul, but they’re considered less impressive. By this point I was starting to feel all Mayaned out. As much as I like archaeological sites, I don’t feel the need to see every last one of them since I’m not a hardcore Mayanist. I have by now been to all the main ones with the exception of Tulum, my next stop.

At Bacalar I hit the north-south highway I traveled on by bus from Belize two weeks ago but saw only at night. The highway through the eastern part of Quintana Roo runs some distance inland through a very tropical environment. Most of what Lies between it and the coast is actually a huge biosphere reserve named Sian Ka’an that constitutes another UNESCO World Heritage site. I arrived at Tulum just after sunset and felt ready for a few days of beach vacation before I head to Cuba.