Xunantunich III

The main pyramid is worth a post all by itself.  It’s the only one I climbed.  I didn’t realize how bad the sunburn on the back of my legs was until I reached the top then tried to come back down.  Ouch!  That’s why I didn’t climb the rest.

 
From the top you can see the entire complex.  See the white line at the bottom of the picture?  That’s what I’m standing on.

From the top of the pyramid you can see all the way to Guatemala.  The very highest point of the pyramid was where they would light signal fires to communicate with other communities in the area.  The guide called Xunantunich a city, but only a few hundred people of the thousands associated with it actually lived there.  Those who were not of the royalty or nobility lived in outlying arias.

This facade is actually a plaster cast of the real thing, which is apparently safe from the elements in among the stones. 

This was the view after having climbed back down, one painful step at a time.  I thought it was impressive.

Alice