Rising slightly out of Plaza Lec, the Xaman Trail heads back to the south. Walking around the base of Kinhunkal, you enter Plaza Quelite. Quelite is the Spanish word for amaranth, one of the first plant domesticates of the New World and used extensively throughout the Americas. Plaza Quelite is 40 x 30 meters (or 131 x 98 feet).
In 1994, we discovered a sculpture that we have come to use as a project icon, the H'mena Cabeza (cabeza is Spanish for head). This stone carving, suggestive of the Maya sun god Kinich Ahau, was once a decorative architectural element placed into the upper wall of Kinhunkal. It was discovered when a group of Belizean school children on Easter break helped to fill a looters' trench at the top of the pyramid. The entire crew--staff, students, volunteers, and workers--labored together passing the large stones hand-to-hand up to the open trench high above. A schoolboy from Bullet Tree Falls remarked that this particular stone looked like a face. Everyone was surprised when, on close examination, it was indeed a face carved in stone! The Maya sun god, Kinich Ahau, would be perfectly positioned on top of this impressive temple on the H'mena, facing west, in full view of the setting sun.
H'mena Cabeza

Off to the west of Plaza Quelite and over the range building on your right, is the Tri-Plaza area, connected to Plaza Lec via a narrow walkway. We are uncertain how these plazas relate to other plazas in Xaman Pilar, as access is not clearly defined. They were cleared for mapping but have since grown over. The three plazas are:

Nabacuc (Mayan for allspice)
35 x 13 meters or 115 x 45 feet

Okpich (Mayan for maidenhair fern)
22 x 22 meters or 72 x 72 feet

Pom (Mayan for copal)
25 x 35 meters or 82 x 115 feet
Tri Plazas
The trail drops off the southern edge of Plaza Quelite and into a depression. The back of Plazas Ixim and Gumbolimbo are to the east, on your left. Just before you reenter Plaza Faisan, you will notice a chute off to your right. Water, collected from the plazas of Xaman Pilar, flows down into the depression and exits west into the aguada or reservoir.
Beyond the aguada you reach another fork in the path. On your left are restroom facilities and to your right a sign marked "Chert Site" and Chikin. Here you can take a break at the comfort station or continue on choosing left, right, or center trails.
Leaving Plaza Faisan, take the right-hand trail to the south and return to the site core or continue straight ahead to El Pilar Road. To return to the parking area, go south past the restrooms, up to Plaza Duende and the picnic area, then across Plaza Copal, taking the lefthand path of Nohol through the ball court to the exit marked "To Parking Lot."