After our tour the Loltun Cave, it was approximately 3 PM. I knew that Mayapan was open until 5 PM, and that it was about an hour drive away. So we decided to make a dash up to Mayapan and take advantage of our relative proximity to it. Otherwise, we would have to drive back tomorrow on our way Merida. We reached the entrance at 4 PM, so we had one hour to visit the site.

Mayapan is a compact site, temples and a big pyramid packed into a small area. The pyramid can still be climbed by tourists. We did not see any other visitors during our hour long visit, which is too bad because Mayapan has some marvelous buildings that shouldn't be missed. It may be better preserved than some of the other nearby Mayan cities because it was occupied much later than some of the other cities. Indeed Mayapan wasn't even founded until roughly 1000 A.D., much later than other Mayan cities. Mayapan was started by the powerful Cocom dynasty, which moved out of Chitzen Itza to establish a new capital here. As late as the mid-15th century, Mayapan was still ruled by the Cocom's - in other words, it lasted until just before the Spanish conquistadors arrived. When the Spanish asked the natives where they were from, they told the Spanish that they were ruled by Mayapan, which is why the native people were called Mayans.

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Mayapan video

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