Becán, Mexico

On our last night in Mexico we stayed at a hotel in Xpujil (pronounced like ish-poo-hill) that was unfortunately surrounded by barking dogs and a rooster that started crowing at 11:30 pm and never stopped. It was not a great night's sleep for any of us, but after a yummy breakfast of juevos Mexicanos, we decided to check out one last Mayan archaeological site before returning our car in Chetumal and taking the transfer to Corozal for the flight back home to San Pedro.

We were originally going to check out the Xpujil site, and we thought we'd found the entrance, but the police had pulled some guys over right in front of it and the whole thing looked a bit sketchy, so we continued heading west another 6 km or so until we saw the sign for Becán. We followed some dirt roads just a short way off the main highway, parked in a completely empty parking lot, and paid the 96 pesos entry fee.

After a very short hike through some woods and across a bridge over the moat surrounding the site, we came to a surprisingly impressive collection of temples and dwellings. They are not as large as Tikal or Calakmul, but very well preserved and excavated. These buildings also have many features of the Rio Bec style of Mayan architecture, which we had not yet seen. All of the structures are easily recognizable as Mayan, but there were enough differences that even our novice eyes could spot them.

Standing on the bridge over the moat

Entering the site and seeing the first structures

An interesting detail on one of the temples

It's hard to imagine, but at one point the entire structure was covered with intricate carvings

We explored many rooms within the dwellings

Not all of the roofs/ceilings were intact

The boys exploring a narrow staircase

A view of a temple, from the top of a temple

Lochlan ascending the steep steps

This checkerboard pattern is particularly indicative of the Rio Bec style

Amy and the boys atop one of the temples

It's hard to get a sense of scale, but this structure is absolutely massive, the size of several city blocks

We climbed three of the structures and saw loads of parrots, at least three different species. After descending from the second structure, Amy and I saw a flash of very bright blue feathers as a bird we'd never seen before landed on the steps of a temple on the other side of the central courtyard from us. We walked quickly towards it and it flew into a tree. It was a blue-crowned motmot! These birds have truly spectacular plumage--blue primaries, light blue secondaries, a yellowish-green breast and throat, green back, a black mask topped by almost neon blue feathers, and a pair of very long tail feathers. Fortunately the bird hung around long enough for all four of us to get a really good look, and I also managed to get a couple of decent photos.

Blue-crowned motmot

After a couple of hours exploring the site, we regretfully headed back to the car--we enjoyed Becán just as much if not more than Calakmul, and there were still several really interesting looking structures to explore, but it was time for us to gas up the car and drive back to Chetumal.

We got back on the main road and pulled into a brand new Pemex and filled the tank with 300 pesos of gas. I handed the attendant my credit card (I had been spending down our pesos in anticipation of leaving the country) and he said "lo siento, sólo en efectivo"--sorry, cash only! Apparently the station is so new they did not yet have the credit card readers installed. I apologized, explained I did not have enough cash, and asked for the nearest ATM (cajero). He said it was in town, about 1 km away. I told him Amy and the boys would wait in the little store while I drove into town to get the cash.

It took some doing, but I found the ATM in a tiny little grocery store in a busy intersection in the middle of town. The ATM was only in Spanish, but as far as I could tell, I pressed all the right buttons yet did not get any cash. I tried this twice, and a line was beginning to form behind me. I was starting to panic. So I walked away from the ATM, had a bit of a think, and it occurred to me that perhaps the bank had put a hold on my debit card since I had been making withdrawals in unusual places the past couple of days. I decided to try my Belize bank card, so I got back in line. I noticed everyone in front of me was walking away from the machine with a look of either consternation or confusion, but none of them had any cash. I carefully watched the older couple in front of me work the machine, and they received the same error message I got--and no cash. Unfortunately for them, the machine also ate their card! I asked them if there was another cajero in town, and they said there was, then proceeded to have a heated argument in front of me about it's exact location. The only thing they agreed on is that I had to go to "El Palacio".

I drove off in search of El Palacio, expecting to find a bank or grocery store by that name. Instead, all I found was a technical school and city hall. I asked for directions to El Palacio, and the woman directed me back to city hall, which as it turns out, is called El Palacio. I quickly located the ATM, pulled out the pesos with no trouble, and drove back to the Pemex.

When I walked into the little store to rescue my family from the temporary hostage situation, Liam said "Dad, what took so long?!" and I busted out the sentence I'd been working on during the drive back to the gas station:  "El primero cajero no tiene dinero!"

We paid the attendant and hauled butt back to Chetumal, making it to the drop off with five minutes to spare. The border crossing went smoothly, but unfortunately one of the airlines was booked and the other only had 3 seats available for our desired departure time. Amy and I talked it over and decided to send her and the boys on the first flight and I'd wait an hour and a half for the next flight.

I waved at Amy and the boys as they sped down the runway and spent the time reading and drawing in my sketch book. When it was my turn to board the plane, the pilot put me in the co-pilot seat, which I thought was pretty cool. About 10 minutes after takeoff, he looked at me, said "Take the stick", then proceeded to let go of the controls and enter information into a log book. I stared at him in utter disbelief for a moment, he looked up from the log book, pointed out over the open water in front of us, and said "San Pedro is that way. " I took the stick AND FLEW THE PLANE for a few minutes while he finished up whatever he was doing. This experience was most definitely near the top of my list of "only in Central America" moments, and made for a memorable ending to a memorable trip.

Piece of cake