Yaxha Archaeological Focus Day Tour with Monkeys Spotting

We start when we pick you up at your hotel or Airport, when booking, please choose the time according to your pickup location. In case you don't know the location of your hotel yet, just book the cheapest tour option, later you let us know your pickup location and if there is a price difference, you can pay it to our guide.

The walking tour begins at Gate 2 of Yaxha Mayan Site.

DURATION OF EACH WAY OF TRANSFER BY LOCATION WHERE WE PICK YOU UP

a. Melchor de Mencos, the Belize Border: 01h: 00m

b. El Remate: 01h: 30m

c. Tikal, San Jose Peten, San Benito, Santa Elena Flores or Flores Island or Airport: 02h: 00m

d. San Ignacio Town, Belize: 02h: 00m

e. San Andres Peten and San Ignacio Out of Town, Belize: 02h: 30m

Yaxha is a different archaeological site because it is located between two lakes, Lake Yaxha and Lake Sacnab, this site started in the Pre-Classic period (3000 BC to 300 AD), during its peak in the Classic period (300 AD to 900 AD) worked as an important lake port.

We'll visit the Minor Astronomical Observatory, this was built by the ancient Mayans to commemorate the equinoxes and solstices, there is an observation building and three reference buildings, the reference buildings are to see the sunrise behind them and this way, mark the change of the seasons, which was relevant for agriculture, as this was the city's source of food.

We'll walk on the Causway of the Quarry, so called because it is a Mayan road built next to a quarry, from that quarry came a large part of the material used to build the buildings of the city.

We'll also visit the North Acropolis, it's the center of this city, it is a plaza with a triadic pattern, a particular style of the oldest Mayan cities, it's a group of three temples forming a triangle, one temple to the East, another to the West, they represent the twin brothers who, according to Mayan mythology, were the creators of humanity. To the North is the temple representing the god of corn, the father of the twins.

A thousand years later after Yaxha was abandoned, a German explorer named Teobert Malher exploring the area, managed to find the lost city in 1904, the Malher Group was the first complex of buildings discovered by Malher.

The Malher group has a building with hybrid Mayan-Teotihuacan architecture, the first platforms are Mayan-style and the last platform has Teotihuacan architecture, which shows the intense cultural exchange that existed between the Mayans and the cultures of Central Mexico.

To get to this group of buildings, we walk along the causeway of the reservoirs, which is a 100 feet wide road, used by the Mayans to receive rainwater and store it in reservoirs for later use to supply the city with water, in addition the causways were used as sacred paths to make processions from one temple to another.

Along the tour we will have the opportunity to closely observe various groups of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and/or howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra).

Yaxhá, along with its neighbors Nakum and Naranjo and after much management, were declared the Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo National Park in 2006, just after being the setting for the Reality Show called "Survivor" filmed in Guatemala in 2006.

We'll visit the Major Astronomical Observatory, it is a pyramid with a flat top but still covered with trees. We will climb and from above we'll be in the middle of the treetops, it is a viewpoint over the forest, the lake and the other structures. In front of the observatory there is a palace, which possibly functioned as the residence of the main astronomer of the city.

We will pass by the causeway of the lake, which functioned as the main access to the city, most of the trade reached the city by lake, since the city functioned as a lake port.

We will explore the residential palace of the Yaxha royalty, which consists of five courtyards, one of which is restored. Inside the palaces, archaeologists found pre-Hispanic graffiti.

Yaxha has a ball game court, a game called Pok Ta Poc, very popular in ancient Mesoamerica, as a ball they used rubber that they got from the resin of a tree, we will explore this building surrounded by structures that served for the inhabitants of the city to observe sporting events.

We'll walk on the Square of the Birds, probably used as the market squere of the city.

We will walk on the causway of the residential area, next to thisone, the archaeologists found a housing complex possibly for the middle class of the city.

As this is a very young National Park, it is little known, like few archaeological sites, in Yaxhá the visitor feels completely in the middle of a Mayan city, because when it was not yet a national park, it was allowed to cut a lot of weeds that covered the palaces, temples, ball courts, pyramids, roads and squares, so the viewer can see more than 300 yards around. Many visitors, after visiting several Mayan sites, conclude that their favorite place is Yaxhá.

We'll walk on rectangular platforms, which once had many wooden structures but only the stone bases prevail.

In the year 900 AD Approximately when the Mayan collapse occurred, for still inexplicable reasons, this city was abandoned and the jungle was responsible for burying it with earth, a product of the dry leaves of the vegetation over time.

We will explore the complex of twin pyramids, Tikal's own architectural style, however due to the constant diplomatic relationship with this city, in Yaxha they built a complex of twin pyramids in commemoration of Tikal.

The Square of the Columns was one of many public squares in the city, used for religious and government meetings, the Mayan cities had a theocratic government system, the government was in charge of the religious institution and the government was involved in all the activities of the city ​​including astronomical activities.

Public squares like this one were the ideal places to place the political propaganda monuments of the rulers, placed in the form of stelae, which consist of stone monuments with sculpture. In this square there is a stele with the portrait of the Teotihuacan general who came to the Mayan world in the year 378 AD. with plans to militarily conquer the Mayans.

In front of this square is the East Acropolis, where the tallest structure in Yaxha is located, it is the temple of the Red Hands, which we will climb at the end of the tour to get the best panoramic view of the Mayan world.

The activity ends when we drop you off at the location we picked you up, or it can be to a different location, but for this, you need to let us know in advance, if it's cheaper, we refund you some money or if it's more expensive, you pay us the difference when you're here.