The next day we accompany Rancho's extremely knowledgeable guide, Luis Tillez, and three other guests to Dzibanchi and Kinichna, about an hour's drive from Bacalar. Luis explains that these major sites of the Classic Period (300-900 AD) have been open to the public only since 1994. When two cars pull into Dzibanchi just ahead of us, Luis turns the van around. "We will see Kinichna first," he says, "It is better to visit with no other people."

Moments later, as we scramble up a slope made slick by unseasonable rains, Kinichna's massive "House of the Sun" towers above us. Our daughters shriek as they swing from the guide rope and slide in the mud, but the grownups climb silently to the several-story stone pyramid that regally surveys the jungle. Returning to Dzibanchi, we tread noiselessly into a thick grove, which clears to reveal an even more mammoth pyramid. Just over a small bluff, in two plazas like old New England town squares, several more buildings rise partially excavated from huge dirt mounds. As Luis describes each structure, I find myself comparing these elaborate ancient buildings with the region's simple present-day homes.

We have lunch at a local Mayan family's farm on the Dzibanchi road. For the past two years, Juanita and her husband Rafael have provided lunches for Rancho Encantado guests touring Dzibanchi. Luis tells us that, at first, Juanita was reluctant to host foreign visitors, fearing her home was too modest. Yet she proudly shares her overflowing guest book and asks about our lives in the snowy north.

The two palm-roofed huts, which Juanita and Rafael share with a daughter, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law, measure about 8 by 10 feet, with dirt floors and walls of loosely bound branches. One, a cooking hut, has a stone hearth and well-used enameled pots hanging from the rafters. The adjacent sleeping hut is furnished only with colorful hammocks. Since the farm has no plumbing, the family collects rainwater for washing. We eat Juanita's savory chicken-and-rice stew, black beans, and tortillas in the "dining room," a lean-to half-filled with corn cobs that fuel the cooking fire and feed the wandering chickens.

Move on to Excursion to Lamanai

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