The ruins of Xpuhil are a striking example of the Río Bec style. The three towers (rather than the usual two) of Estructura I rise above a dozen vaulted rooms. The 53m central tower is the best preserved. Its banded tiers and impractically steep stairways leading up to a temple that displays traces of a zoomorphic mask, give you a good idea of what the other two towers must have looked like in Xpuhil’s 8th-century heyday.

Go around back to see a fierce jaguar mask embedded in the wall below the temple. The ruins are located on the western edge of Xpujil town; it's about a 1km walk from the entrance to the ruins, which are in a pretty setting.


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