As we drive through this leafy tunnel, nothing is visible but a straight line of asphalt ahead and a stripe of blue sky above. We pass a large family on bicycles jet black hair framing broad copper faces. They ride three to a bike. Although we see no other vehicles for miles, entrepreneurial women and children are waiting each time we slow to cross these hurdles. They politely approach our car, offering bags of oranges, mangoes, or tortillas.
Several cottages feature brightly colored murals depicting ancient Mayan life.
The evening we arrive, several people are joking with Arturo, the convivial bartender, and raving about exotic carvings they had seen at Hormiguero, a site hidden in the jungle about three hours west of Bacalar. Rancho guests typically turn in well before 10 PM, waking at dawn to listen to the birds, watch the sun rise over the lake, or sip good strong coffee on the dock under the palapa, a palm-roofed shelter that is ubiquitous throughout the Yucatan. We begin our Mayan explorations at the unexpectedly high-tech Museum of Mayan Culture in nearby Chetumal, the languid tropical capital of Quintana Roo state. Another exhibit explains that to achieve sloping foreheads and elongated skulls Mayan ideals of beauty the Mayas bound their newborn children's heads in a wooden-board sandwich. We leave the museum, blinking as we cross the sun-baked plaza to Chetumal's bustling market, where we stop for chicken mole, fried fish, and quesadillas at a market lunch counter.