What do Machu Picchu, L’Anse aux Meadows, Hadrian’s Wall, Lady Liberty, Victoria Falls, Mesa Verde, Brugge’s old heart, Macquarie Island, the Ming and Qing Imperial Tombs, Timbuktu, and the Grand Canyon have in common?
They’re all on the UNESCO World Heritage List, that’s what. In all, the List includes 830 unique sites.
Which have you explored?
I’ve only been to one, Everglades National Park. Amazing trip. I expected a swamp and found instead crystal-clear marshes, cranes, and of course alligators.
After scanning the List, I discovered how many places I’ve never been. So sad!
Uxmal would be one of my favorite places. I felt I had traveled to a different world, in a different epoch. I can understand how overwhelmed people might have been by this incredible site. In the middle of the jungle, there’s this gigantic stone structure. A narrow road leads to it. Surrounded by thick jungle, there’s a stone skyscraper. From the top of the pyramid, you can see the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean to one side, about 2 miles south, and the Gulf of Mexico about 3 miles east.
Without our modern technology, I just can’t think of how the Mayas were able to build such a magnificent structure in thick jungle.
Palenque, not far from Uxmal, seemed very different, perhaps because the modern city has grown so much, and the pyramids were built on a wider plain. In contrast, there is no plain in Uxmal, just a very thick jungle! Because this jungle keeps up with itself, no one has been able to determine which trails the Mayas used to bring in the stones.
Forgive my ignorance, but I think the theory that the limestone used to build the Pyramids inEgypt came from its own location all along, that this theory would apply to Uxmal as well. Somehow the materials used for building and construction come from the site itself.