Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wait should cost about $50. The hour-long ride from Sayaxché is a pleasant journey down
the Río La Pasión. A short walk up a hill from the river brings you to the site.
Ceibal is only 17 kilometers by road from Sayaxchá and any transport heading south out
oftowncandropyouoffattheturnofffortheruins.Fromthereit'saneight-kilometerwalk
to the site, but you may get lucky and hitch a ride from someone heading that way. Or you
canbookataxiridefromSayaxchá.Pickuptruckscarryingseveralpeoplemightbemaking
the run on any given day and you can inquire at one of the local recommended restaurants
or hotels about this possibility.
Several of the Flores tour operators offer Ceibal on their list of itineraries.
Explore
(4a
Calle and 7a Avenida Zona 1 in Santa Elena, tel. 7926-2375,
www.exploreguate.com
) of-
fers guaranteed daily trips.
This protected area is set beside the placid waters of Petexbatún Lagoon and harbors the
remains of several small Mayan cities along with some nice stretches of forest. Wildlife
is abundant and includes several species of fish, freshwater turtles, howler monkeys, cro-
codiles, and several kinds of birds, including egrets, kingfishers, and herons.
History
The history of this region is fascinating, as it portrays violent struggles between neigh-
boring states concurrent with the widespread abandonment of Petén's Classic Mayan sites,
giving us a glimpse into the local state of affairs in various Mayan city-states before the
Classic Mayan collapse. The area's largest site, Dos Pilas, was founded sometime around
A.D. 640 by a renegade prince from Tikal who fled after Tikal's defeat by Calakmul. Later
DosPilasdefeatedTikalintwowarsculminatinginthecaptureofTikal'srulerShieldSkull
in A.D. 679. The event was duly recorded in the stelae at Dos Pilas and launched a recon-
struction of the site's plaza.
Subsequentrulerswouldcarryoutbuildingprograms,includingtheconstructionofthree
hieroglyphic staircases, and wage wars of conquest. Ceibal was defeated in A.D. 735 and
several lords from other Mayan cities were captured. Dos Pilas eventually came to domin-
ate most of the lands between the Chixoy and Pasión Rivers.
The same Putún Mayans who came to dominate Ceibal eventually made their way over
toDosPilas,andinA.D.761,alliedwiththevassalstateofTamarindito,theycapturedand
killed the site's fourth ruler. The remaining nobility fled to Aguateca, naturally fortified on
a bluff, which had already begun functioning as a second capital. Some of the peasantry
stayed behind and continued to farm the area around Dos Pilas, attempting to fortify it
against their enemies, but it succumbed to the continuing onslaught of these invaders from
the north and was completely abandoned by the 9th century.
