Cantona Olmec ruins in Mexico photo essay

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One of the highlights of a recent trip to Puebla, Mexico was exploring the Cantona Olmec ruins. The combination of scenic desert mountains, beautiful clouds, and ancient pyramids would make anyone want to visit this incredible place.

Cantona Olmec Ruins only 10% uncovered

What is amazing is that only 10% of the city has been uncovered. Even this small percentage illustrates how vast this complex was. Walking down the aisles among pyramids, causeways, courtyards, and ball courts you can almost close your eyes and feel the buzz of what life must have been like back in 1000 A.D. when this desolate stretch of mountain desert was once a thriving city. At its peak, the population here reached over 80,000.

This is the best part about visiting ancient ruins during your travels. It helps to know the history of the areas you are visiting, but in a way ignorance can be bliss. The more you know the more accurate your visions are; on the other hand, the less you know, the more imaginative your visions are. If the ruins perk your interest, you can always bone up on the history later.

Beautiful stark landscape

The surrounding landscape at Cantona was just as interesting as the ruins themselves. It kind of reminded me of the Big Bend Area in Texas or Death Valley in California as the flora consisted of desert type shrubs, but mountains loomed in the distance. Interspersed among the site was also a few stands of hardwood trees. Despite looking desert like, the climate was mild when we were there in June with a cool breeze and temperatures in the 70s.

Access through Puebla or Mexico City

The best way to access the site is through Puebla, Mexico. There are no tours set up, but one could easily be arranged in Puebla. You would need to secure a taxi for the ride out there, which will run about 500 pesos (about $38.00 usd), so it would be advisable to find another tourist or two to share the costs.

This trip was sponsored by the Mexico Tourism Board, but this post, opinion, and photographs are purely my own.

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