Ek Balam understand · Ek Balam tourist information
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Ek Balam tourist information
Ek Balam tourist information
Ek Balam, also spelled Ek' Balam or Ek' B'alam, is an important archaeological site of the late classic Maya culture. Ek' B'alam means Black Jaguar or Star Jaguar in the Yucatec Maya language, but inscriptions indicate that the original name of the site was probably Talol. Rare and original stucco sculptures are protected by modern thatched roofs on the remains of the Acropolis. Such stucco sculptures generally do not survive because they are just plaster and weather rapidly. As Chichen Itza became more powerful, eclipsing Ek Balam, the Maya themselves buried the Acropolis at Ek Balam, preserving the stucco sculptures and many painted hieroglyphic inscriptions. This gives us an illustration of what many other Maya sites must once have looked like.
There is no museum on site. The small visitors' center charges for entry and has restrooms. Hotels and restaurants can be found in any nearby town, including Mérida and Valladolid. This site is becoming more popular with tourists, but is still (July 2007) much less visited than the much larger Chichen Itza.
An hour and a half is plenty of time to see the site, unless you are an archaeologist. Ek Balam can easily be combined with visits to other sites.
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Ek Balam Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.