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| Up the stairway and to the right is a short dead-end
trail that will give you an opportunity to look at one of the two
pyramids on Plaza Rosa (named for the common rose). The main pyramid
of this plaza has an immense looters' trench
in it, but is still an impressive 4.15 meters (14 feet) high. The
trench makes it possible to see the abundant larger rounded chert
or flint nodules that, like the winged platform, made up the bulk
of the construction material. The inhabitants of other ancient Maya
sites were probably jealous of the abundance of this toolmaking resource
at El Pilar. Do not enter this unstable trench. The exposed
construction fill can be loose and treacherous! |
| Returning to the head of the steps and
continuing west, you will cross the El Pilar Road at the large, carved
El Pilar sign. To the right and south is a large specimen of a Ceiba
tree, the Wakah Chan, or sacred tree of the Maya. |
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| The path to the left of the El Pilar sign will take
you to a map of the entire site as well as another fork--left to the
Nohol Trail, straight
to the Chikin Trail,
and right to the Xaman Trail. |
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