Tonina

Tonina built vertically what its rivals spread wide. The city's acropolis climbs a hillside in seven terraces of temples, palaces and stairways to a summit some 74 metres above the plaza - by structure-height reckonings among the tallest pyramidal complexes in Mesoamerica - and visitors still ascend the whole war-machine, terrace by terrace, to a view over the Ocosingo valley's green cattle country. War was the city's business: Tonina styled itself the "place of celestial captives," its rulers dueled Palenque for centuries - capturing king K'an Joy Chitam II, an event carved with relish - and its texts record one of the last Long Count dates of the Classic collapse, 909 AD, as if it meant to turn out the lights. The stucco survives vividly: the Mural of the Four Suns' cosmic frieze with its skeletal lord swinging a severed head, bound-captive sculptures, and the labyrinthine passages of the lower palaces that visitors thread by daylight shafts. The site museum holds the thrones and the fine-carved sandstone portraits. Crowds are a rumor here.

What you actually see

• The seven terraces - the 74-metre climb through the acropolis.
• The Mural of the Four Suns - the stucco cosmos with its grim lord.
• The captive sculptures - war commemorated in the round.
• The valley summit - green ranch country from the top.

When to go

Dry-season mornings for the climb's sake; light rakes the stucco best early. Ocosingo's market town makes the fuel-and-lunch stop.

Honest expectations

The ascent is steep, tall and mostly unrailed - honest footwear and honest pacing. Services are site-basic.

Nearby

The Agua Azul and Misol-Ha falls lie down the Palenque road; San Cristobal's highlands climb the other way.