Why Ek Balam Remains One of the Yucatán's Hidden Gems
Off the beaten track
Hola Amigos! We were day-tripping during our Christmas vacation before we made the move to Mexico and heard about Ek Balam, a unique pyramid site not far from Valladolid, a colonial city east of Merida. It was not widely known, and as things often happened back then, we found ourselves the only tourists on site. Along with my quick trip down memory lane, recent discoveries at the site are giving it renewed status in the Maya world. Please read on.
On the paid highway enroute to the pyramids at Ek Balam just outside of Valladolid, we stopped at the toll booth to pay the fee. All around us the monotonous landscape of the eastern Yucatán prevailed. Flat and dry with the occasional crecopia tree, ranch or small hacienda, there was little else. In five minutes we were at the city’s outskirts, driving on a narrow one-way street past tidy cement block homes. An ochre-colored stone wall hugged the road all the way into el Centro.
Our rental car bolted towards the square where wrought iron benches with wooden slats overflowed with locals and tourists. I gazed at an ancient stone church with two tall spires as we rounded the wide traffic circle, looking for a sign that would direct us to Ek Balam
Although its past history was ominous, present day Valladolid is that pleasant contradiction one so commonly finds in Mexico—a busy city with one foot in the past and one in the future. Commerce prevailed and the streets were lined with shoppers and vendors taking care of daily chores and business.
One more time around the traffic circle and we spotted the sign directing us to the pyramid site, only 15 kilometers away. Another one-way street led out of town and we followed it past small pharmacies, neat houses and the occasional tienda.
Once on the city’s outskirts the road narrowed considerably but was smooth and newly paved. Several kimometers later another sign pointed to the right and we took a turn that dipped and led down to an empty creek bed, then back up the other side into a forgotten pueblo.
Packed dirt streets no more than 12 feet wide were bordered by rock walls dividing the street from tiny yards with ancient stone houses coated with rough plaster. Some yards had twig huts with palapa roofs. At one crossroads, two squealing pink piglets ran dangerously close to our tires, chased by a squawking red rooster. A hunched old woman eyed our late model rent-a-car as we inched our way through this time warp in history.
Finally out of town, we welcomed the freedom of the open countryside. In the distance I saw a pyramid temple peeking above the low shrub landscape. A simple green sign with an arrow and picture of a pyramid pointed down a side road to the north. We turned onto the sacbe, an ancient Maya pathway, and drove slowly towards what we hoped was the site entrance.
The pyramids await
At a primitive palapa a caretaker appeared. He greeted us and explained there was a ten peso donation and asked if we wanted a guide. We said yes and he pointed to a raven-haired boy of ten.
“Mi hijo, Jorge.” His son would assist us. We dropped the pesos into a handmade wooden box and followed the boy down the road.
Except for his size, Jorge had all the attributes of a serious 40-year old. He was reflective and deliberate in his speech, and as we walked, he began telling us the history of Ek Balam. Construction started around 100 BCE. The site was named for Maya ruler Ek Balam, Bright Star Jaguar. Ek to the Maya is the brightest star in the heavens; balam is the word for jaguar.
The first excavations of the site were carried out by Frenchman Désiré Charnay in 1886, and more recent work had begun in 1987 when INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) funding was granted. Although the city was compact, there was still much to be done though progress had been made. He explained that the number of buildings on the site suggested Ek Balam had been rich and powerful at the same time, possibly holding the position of agriculture center of the northwestern Yucatán.
We walked through an impressive four-sided gateway arch that connected to a sacbe that had joined numerous Maya kingdoms. Ek Balam had a multitude of sacbes, he explained, to all major sites in northern Yucatán and beyond. The views from the arch landing were breathtaking.
“Paul, this is fantastic.”
A three-sided wall, either ceremonial or defensive, surrounded the city, similar to the wall at Tulum. Even in this early stage of excavation, Ek Balam was known to contain an astronomical observatory, palace, tower, a ball court, two cenotes and a building archeologists named the Acropolis, most likely due to the sculptures found inside—full figure statues that looked more Greek than Maya.
A different look
From the 10-foot high stairway at the gateway arch, Jorge directed us through the ball court and onward to the remarkable Acropolis. He told us the Acropolis was twice the size of El Castillo at Chichen Itza, with tunnels inside leading to tombs. A unique stucco fresco had life-size statues intricately carved into it. These were definitely rare in the Maya world. They appeared Asian, closer in appearance to Angkor Wat than Chichen Itza. I’d not seen anything like it before in Mexico.
We climbed two-thirds of the way up the edifice to get a closer look at the statues. Burnished by time to a golden hue, it was almost impossible to believe we were here in Ek Balam.
Paul stood before the stucco fresco. “They seem Grecian, or Indian. Look at the lotus position,” he said as he pointed to a character with a Shiva-like headdress.
Through a hallway leading to the tomb of the ruler, Ukit Kan Le’k Tok, who coined Ek Balam, was a 12-foot high stucco mouth with teeth, representing the gateway to the underworld, the Maya version of the River Styx. At the time, archeologists theorized most of the Acropolis was built around 800 CE by Ukit Kan Le’k Tok.
The Maya so well preserved the stucco in the Acropolis tomb that no modern restoration was required. After the ruler was buried, the tomb was filled with powdered limestone and rocks, and the entire facade was covered with the same material for preservation.
Future archeologist
Jorge was a perfect guide, very absorbed in the details of the site and its history. He confided that his dream was to become an archeologist. We paid him for his guide work and he followed us out to the car, not wanting to end the conversation.
Within minutes he became a ten-year old again, excitedly asking where we were from and where we were going. He gallantly opened my car door and in so doing, spotted my Maya Ruins Guide in the back seat.
Noting his look of longing I asked if he’d like it.
“Si, si!” he said, a smile breaking out.
I told him it was in English, but I was sure that since he was going to be an archeologist, he would learn that language.
He agreed wholeheartedly and the last image I have of Jorge was his holding the book and waving as we pulled onto the ancient sacbe leading us away from Ek Balam.
From December 2022 to January 2024, a meticulous study and consolidation of work regarding the Acropolis at Ek Balam (see photo) discovered a new chapter in understanding what this ancient Maya city stood for.
It was well known the ruler Ukit Kan Le’k Tok was a central figure during the city’s Late Classic period, 770-890 CE. But locating an inscription and a model effigy of the god K’awill during the new INAH excavation (National Institute of Anthropology and History) likened that deity to lightning, divine power, abundance, and royalty.
Epigrapher and famed Mayanist David Stuart deciphered the calendrical sequence, determining that the inscription aligns with the closure of the chamber, an event recorded for posterity on September 18, 782 CE. This exact date allows researchers to synchronize construction and history of the site with the bio of its most prominent ruler.
Just a note, archeological dates and disclosures may seem abstract, even trivial, but things that seem small to we lay people can have huge consequences to an archeologist. As in the case with Ek Balam, the exact timing and date of a ruler’s death is now evidence to better understand the importance of religion (apparently huge at the site and previously not considered) and how that coincided with other Maya settlements in that time period.
According to Maya cosmology, the terrifying mask with only the lower part remaining of a projected jaw symbolizes the entrance to the underworld. To archaeologists, this reinforced the idea Ek Balam was not only a great agricultural center, as Jorge had explained decades earlier, but it was also deeply imbued with religious symbolism.
The recurring appearance of K’awill, lightning god, is directly associated with the legitimacy of ruling lineages and underscores that this was the exclusive domain of the elite—likely the residence of Ukit Kan Le’k Tok and his court.
With fresh research and another look at the site, specialists reached the decision that the structure symbolized the importance religion played at the twilight of the Maya’s Late Classic period and of the ideological and personal preferences of the ruler Ukit Kan Le’k Tok.
Even though Ek Balam is only 15 minutes by combi from Valladolid’s Maya train station, it doesn’t command the tourist numbers found at more famous sites. No matter when we’ve been there, we usually find it tranquil with few other visitors.
Thank you all for reading along!
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Resources
Eric Seale. A Photographer’s Guide to Ek’ Balam. Seldom Scene Photography, Inc. November, 2011.
Darren Orf. “Archeologists find a 1,200 year old inscription that may bring new life to the Maya civilization.” Popular Mechanics. November 2025.
Guillermo Carvajal. “An inscription found on a vault cap confirms the residence of the Maya ruler Ukit Kan Lek Took’ in Ek’ Balam. La Bruja Verde. October 30, 2025
MY BACKSTORY—Puerto Morelos sits 100 miles from four major pyramid sites: Chichen Itza, Coba, Tulum and Ek Balam. Living in close proximity to this Maya wonderland made it easy to pyramid hop on our days off from Alma Libre Libros, the bookstore we founded in 1997. Owning a bookstore made it easy to order every possible book I could find on the Maya and their culture, the pyramids and the archeologists who dug at these sites and the scholars who wrote about them. I became a self-taught Mayaphile and eventually website publishers, Mexican newspapers and magazines, even guidebooks asked me to write for them about the Maya and Mexico. I’m still enthralled by the culture and history and glad there’s always new news emerging for me to report on right here on Mexico Soul.
Thanks for restack Cunning Farmer.
Great article! And it looks like an incredible place. We’re leaving for the Yucatan in the wee hours tomorrow and should be in Valladolid by mid-day. It’s really cool to think we could be visiting Ek Balam as early as tomorrow or Sunday! Thanks for sharing your insights and encouraging me to add this to our list :)