Zona Arqueológica El Meco

El Meco is the least visited of Cancún's three Maya sites, and that is much of its appeal. It sits on the mainland north of the city, 2.7 kilometres along the road from Puerto Juárez towards Punta Sam, close to the ferry terminals for Isla Mujeres. INAH manages it, and while the ruins at El Rey are boxed in by hotels, El Meco keeps a greener, more open setting.

The site was probably first settled in the third century as a small fishing community, then abandoned and reoccupied in the eleventh century. In the Postclassic period it grew into a prosperous town, and INAH links its economic and possibly religious importance to rituals on nearby Isla Mujeres. Studies of skeletal remains by Allan Ortega found a local population of a single ethnic group that was well fed and healthy, which researchers put down to the abundance of food from the sea. The name has nothing to do with the Maya: it comes from the nickname of a nineteenth-century local man, referring to a malformation of his legs.

The focus of a visit is El Castillo, at 12.5 metres the tallest building in the zone, which dominates the civic and ceremonial plaza and gives views towards Cancún. Two smaller, later structures flank it and may have been altars or minor temples. Around the plaza are flat-roofed buildings with columns, probably administrative, some with small temples for everyday worship beside them. The temple that closes the north side of the plaza is the one most visitors remember, because a large copo fig tree grows out of it. A small shrine in the middle of the plaza was used for offerings during ceremonies and dances.

Not all of the ancient town can be seen. A highway built in the 1970s cut through the site and separated the civic area from the beach sector, where a jetty and houses remain unexcavated. Hurricane Wilma in 2005 brought down many trees, and INAH has since replanted to restore the setting.

Allow an hour to an hour and a half. INAH lists the site as open daily from 8:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30, and an admission fee applies. The site was closed for a period during work linked to the Tren Maya railway, so confirm that it is open before making a special trip. It pairs well with a morning ferry to Isla Mujeres from the nearby terminals, or with lunch in downtown Cancún on the way back.