Getting to Uxmal is half the pleasure. Highway 261 leaves Mérida and runs south for about eighty kilometres through flat, green scrub, past haciendas that once grew henequen and small Maya villages with oval thatched houses and painted churches. The land is a limestone shelf, with a thin red soil, and then the Puuc hills appear, low ridges that seem tall after the plain. The road is good, straight and fast, with occasional topes at village entrances.
The name Uxmal is said to mean thrice-built, a reference to the repeated phases of construction at the site. Old stories from the Maya books of Chilam Balam mention the Xiu family, who ruled here, and tell of a lord who defeated a rival through trials with the help of a magical dwarf. Whatever the truth, the city's builders had talent, and the geometry of the buildings, set carefully in relation to the sun and Venus, shows deep astronomical knowledge.
Around the ruins the forest is dry, low and thorny, full of birds. Motmots, with their racket-tailed shape, flycatchers and small lizards dart across the paths, and iguanas sun themselves on the walls. In the dry season the trees drop their leaves, giving clearer views, while the rainy months from June to October bring green and sudden downpours. Mornings are best for birds and cool air.
For a rider the season matters. Between March and May the heat is fierce, with temperatures near forty degrees, and the sun can burn quickly, so ride early and take shade breaks. Fill up in Mérida or Muna, where fuel is easy, and carry water. Many hotels and haciendas along the route offer lunches and swimming pools, and some have been restored as boutique lodgings. A simple meal of tortilla soup or cochinita is the right reward after a morning among the stones.