Mesoamerica: the ranking First of all, say that the thing comes down to Mexico (and yes, indeed, in Guatemala and below are the ruins even better, but it can not be all, quite 25 days I have been dancing around the country.) And I have not been to El Tajin in Veracruz, which, as I said a Mexican, "is so cute." Neither Cempoala Tula, and many other places. But there you have them: they are not all they are, but they are all that are sorted, in my humble opinion aztecamaníaco of 10 to 1.
10) Mitla
Mitla small thing. It is a visit which is usually arranged from Oaxaca because it falls around and because, after seeing Monte Alban, is most interesting about the area in terms of Mesoamerican anthropology. But there are several things that I think you less attractive. First, much of which could be plugged by the people of San Pablo de Mitla. Second, they are much more recent ruins than others, they are already Postclassic. Third, perhaps because of that, do not have that look so exotic that you usually wait Mayan ruins, but they seem to ruin most any European, whether Greek or Roman.
9) Bonampak Bonampak is cool because it is in the middle of the jungle (with a warmth and moisture to die, but that's the fun of being an adventurer, right? ) and as a ruin in itself is not much, but worth seeing these cool Maya anywhere else you can see, and to take it over 1200 years and practically outdoors, are well preserved.
8) Toniná First they found a temple on top of a mountain, and began to dig. But much more had to dig because the temple was not on top of the mountain, but it was all over the mountain. ERA whole city built into the sky, which the centuries had covered with dirt and vegetation. Today, Toniná remains well covered by a very green grass and an occasional tree, but maybe that's what makes it cool.
7) The Temple The Temple is the only thing left of the Mexica (commonly called Aztec) and the original buried Tenochtitlán in Mexico City. If you have no idea what they were prior to the Mesoamerican civilizations, soon you'll be interested, because only you will be able to see stone wall stone wall under a huge sinkhole just off the Zocalo in Mexico City . But if you are minimally started, it's worth, especially to see how the Aztecs had time to build one on another successive seven temples in little more than 100 years before the English arrived. The cross section of the ruin lets you view each of the stages, and everything turns to vertigo. As a curiosity, to say that for a long time it was thought that this temple could never be discovered because it was assumed that the English had planted just above the Christian cathedral. Until 1978 was not discovered that in fact the temple was never under the cathedral, but beneath the streets Guatemala and Argentina, less than 50 meters!
6) Teotihuacán Teotihuacán is great, the impressive Pyramid of the Sun and the moon no less so. What happens is that the environment is the worst. You throw the entire visit chunda chunda listening to the surrounding restaurants put full throttle, and so crowded it is, it seems that instead of an ancient place of worship and pilgrimage (as it was for the Aztecs) 're at a rave.
5) Tulum Tulum ruins is a complex and ultrachachi beach, full of fashionistas
Italian-style Ibiza (Ibiza I do not know, but I find it to be a bit like that, yuck ...). Well, although this sounds a little beginning I did not like, really ruins the combination beach has its point. Because as you see the Mayan ruins, you realize the aesthetic experience goes far beyond the cultural. This is not to see the best preserved ruins, or to elucidate more about the Mayan civilization, but to enjoy the ruins and the environment, and of that nature after centuries gradually eats the stones, causing debris and vegetation from entering into a mystical symbiosis. This is especially Yaxchilan, but in the case of Tulum also has a point, albeit with a touch of Ibiza / new age
than talking about earlier.
4) Monte Alban What is special about Monte Alban is energy. So up to number four. And as this energy is very subjective, I take responsibility if any of you going there and not feel it. Yes I felt it, I can not tell otherwise. I loved it. Or maybe it was explained to us very well, with stories like that one of the buildings, the structure called J-shaped arrowhead, has with respect to other buildings the same slope as the Earth's axis . In other words, the Zapotec (the inhabitants of the mountain in question) by the V century BC knew more about astronomy than Western almost two thousand years later. Only this, it is to stay stoned.
3) Chichén-Itzá Chichen Itza is one of the new wonders of the world. Palenque and Yaxchilan no. But I liked more. That's why Chichen is at number three. And that the pyramid is spectacular. And what of
the appearance of the serpent Kukulkan at equinox leaves you speechless (if only for what you have, because it should be filly to go there and that is just the equinox, and also not cloudy). Ell ball game is also amazing, as a kind of Macaranas or Bernabéu at the time. Or the sound of
: another pass. But there are other factors working against, as the mass tourism (and also the type of tourism, the Riviera Maya: all newlyweds American gordopilos undocumented or who do not know if what they are seeing was built in the 60's or 80's!) or the environment: in Chichen miss that jungle that eats everything, Yucatan, Chichen Itza where , is mostly flat and much less tropical, with a landscape more use and less exotic than expected.
2) Palenque 
Log in Palenque, running into the Temple of Inscriptions and cortársete breath, all is one. I can not explain why, but I felt this temple and the ruins generally exceeded all my expectations. Ni the sweltering heat of the jungle, or dehydration, or the amount of tourists who crowded the place prevented Palenque was one of the most beautiful historical sites I've seen in my life, comparable only perhaps with Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Remember the
Stendhal syndrome? Well I had it in Florence, but in Palenque. Or at least something very similar. As you enter and see the Temple of the Inscriptions on the right, I forgot to friends, guides and others, and I had to sit for ten minutes in front of the staircase, to contemplate the wonder enthralled. And if we add that after I could sneak into the sector C, which was closed to público, y que pude ver yo sólo esas ruinas infestadas de hojas y lianas; o que después de recorrer las ruinas nos adentramos por nuestra cuenta en la jungla hasta llegar a una cascada y perdernos, para salir una hora después por la zona de los aparcamientos (lo cual es prueba de que, si conoces el territorio, colarte sin pagar en Palenque no debe ser muy difícil); si a Palenque, como decía, le añades todo eso, la cosa ya no tiene parangón, y sólo Yaxchilán le puede hacer sombra.
1) Yaxchilán 
Primero hay que dejar claro que el valor testimonial e histórico de Yaxchilán is much lower than Chichen Itza and Palenque. Yaxchilan is in the deepest jungle (on the border with Guatemala) and wild nature has invaded everything. There are trees on the steps and on the buildings, the roots, vines and grasses have swept away the stones, to the point that the buildings seem to crumble. But that is the grace of Yaxchilan, there is so nice. A Yaxchilan is reached only after an hour's boat on the Usumacinta River (which separates Mexico from Guatemala). I do not remember what day we were exactly, but apart from us, toucans and howler monkeys that did not stop yelling, no one else. Did not is that the dream of every tourist? To feel you're not a tourist but an adventurer? As well we are at Yaxchilan: the only Maya site of all we saw where we recover the romance of adventure film of the year 30 (or Indiana Jones, which is the same), when we thought that was impossible. The labyrinth, bats, giant spiders, the vines, the turkeys, the trees
tourists, the sweltering heat and more rain storm and below I've been in my life, made this one of the most fun days I've been on every trip I've done in my life.
