I write this from the Explorean Kohunlich, a fancy hotel I was invited to by my generous partner in crime, also known as the Better Half on the LawsonsYucatan (no tourism there) website.
This morning we took the 2 km drive from the hotel to the ruins of the same name (Kohunlich), skirting some nasty potholes on the way and driving into some of the most Jurassic jungle I have yet seen in the area. Very similar to a visit a few years back to the Lamanai Mayan site in Belize.
Giant cohune (or cohoon) palms are everywhere; from these is extracted cohune oil. Along with other products derived from this plant, cohune oil is believed to have been used by the Maya since pre-Columbian times as a lubricant, for cooking and soap making as well as lamp oil.
Not being a Mayan scholar, what I found fascinating - along with the actual site of course - is its strange name. It turns out that there once was a logging camp nearby by the name of Clarksville. Belize is just a few miles away, so I suppose some Engish speaking loggers set up camp to cut down what they could. One of them popped into what was the ancient Mayan city and seeing all the cohune palms, called the area Cohoon Ridge. This became what I believe is one of the first Mayanized English place names - Kohunlich!
Exploring the site during a pandemic, with not a single tourist about, and early enough in the morning that the man in charge of ticket sales hasn’t arrived yet, the experience is breath-taking. The imposing palms, the moss-covered Mayan stones, and the stillness of the forest with the occasional squawking of bright green parrots overhead make you feel truly an explorer.
KOHUNLICH is best visited from a base in the comfortable Explorean Kohunlich, where a stunning and refreshing pool await along with a nicely chilled cerveza. I would recommend two days here, so you could also visit Dzibanche and Kinichna. Then, another couple of days in Xpujil from where you will visit the mother of all Mayan sites: the majestic and once all-powerful city of Calakmul. That site I will write about next time.
