México - Fantastic Remnants of Ancient Civilizations

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In November 2019 I visited Central America with trips to Guatemala, México, and Belize. The trip concentrated on Ancient Civilizations and bird watching. This is the description of the México part of the trip

The México part of the trip was organized by Mexcellence Travel. Everything worked out well.

In México I saw remnants of Olmecs, Teotihuacán, Maya, Aztec, and Tlaltepec civilizations.

Bird watching was great as well. For two days I had a bird expert as guide. He was amazing in spotting birds. He concentrated on the many endemic species in México.

Itinerary

I arrived late at night and spent the first night in a hotel in the historic district in México City.

The first full day was dedicated to visits of Teotihuacán, Tlatelolco, and Tenochtitlán.

The next day the bird expert picked me up and we drove into the mountains for two days of intensive bird watching. On the second of these days I also visited a small but interesting Maya site, Xochicalco with a very nicely decorated temple. In the evening of the second day we drove back to México City.

The next day I flew to Villahermosa. I visited the La Venta Museum Park that has several of the Colossal Heads of the Olmec culture.

The next day I visited a chocolate ranch. Cacao is the most important agriculture in the state of Tabasco. I saw how the cacao beans are processed.

Then we drove to the Maya site of Comalcalco. This site is the only Maya city that used bricks as construction material. All other Maya sites used either limestone or volcanic rock.

The next day we drove to La Venta, an Olmec site. None of the buildings there are excavated, so there is not much to see.

The next day we drove to Palenque. This is a great example of a Maya city. The palace has some great friezes and stucco sculptures.

The next day I started the trip back home with a flight to México City for an overnight stay before my flight back home.

Observations

The major part of my México visit was to see remains of pre-Columbian civilizations. I have put together a pre-Columbian Timeline that ties in the various sites. It was fantastic to see so many of the sites during my visit to México as well as to Belize and Guatemala.

Following are links to various pages with pictures:

All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.