Uxmal Ruins Yucatán Peninsula, México  The photographs are thumbnails. Uxmal is magnificent. Buildings grouped together, the uneven land terraced. The ruins sit in the midst of jungle, couched in foliage. There is an enormous amount of architectural detail and much variation, even in a single building. More beautiful than most other sites and very little Toltec influence. This is late Classical Period, high Puuc (pure Yucatán Mayan) architecture. I sat up on the Grand Pyramid looking toward the Temple of the Magician pyramid. One level down and a short distance away is the House of the Turtles. Beyond that is the Juego de Pelota (Ball Game) court and the Nunnery Quadrangle. And green, green tropical trees and shrubbery in between. There are flat-topped mounds of earth and jungle on the periphery of the complex that contain undiscovered treasures. No doubt this was an intricate and solid civilization - the buildings have been here many hundreds of years and some, I'm told, took scores of years to erect. It is sacred ground and anyone visiting would feel the electricity in the air. The architectural style is magical, the whole site extremely mystical. The gods are breathing through the very cracks in the rocks.