Xpujil () is a town in the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Campeche Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...

. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya civilization, Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul w ...

. As of 2010, Xpujil had a population of 3,984. Xpujil is located in the south-east of the state, close to the border with

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 administrative divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into municipalities of ...

to the east and Peten,

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, to the south. With Escárcega, Campeche to the west and Chetumal, Quintana Roo to the east it is a useful midway point on Federal Highway 186. Close to the town are the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

ruins of Xpuhil () and

Becan Becan ( Spanish: Becán) is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Becan is located near the center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the present-day Mexican state of Campeche, about 150 km (93.2 m ...

(),

Chicanná Chicanná was a Maya city that was built during the Classic period (600 A.D. to 830 A.D.). The site was named after its most famous building, Structure II, which means "House of the Serpent Mouth" in Maya. In the Maya language ''chi'' means "mout ...

, Balamcan, Hormiguero. Further to the south-west is the major Maya site of

, in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Highway 186 was, as of February 2009, undergoing a major refurbishment to a multilane highway that will improve access to the zone. In addition to providing services for the local community, Xpujil has a paved runway and serves as the gateway for tourists visiting those areas, with restaurants, transportation services, modest hotels, etc. Currently many tourists travel by road from Cancun to Palenque, and stop to visit the many Mayan sites in the region. There are plans to increase room availability and other services for eco-tourism and other activities within the Calakmul Ecological reserve. XEPUJ, a government-run

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

that broadcasts in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Yucatec Maya Yucatec Maya ( ; referred to by its speakers as or ) is a Mayan languages, Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, including part of northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Fra ...

and Ch'ol, is based in Xpujil.

Valeriana

In October 2024 it was announced that a huge city, including pyramids, sports fields, causeways connecting districts and amphitheatres, had been discovered underground near Xpujil, using

lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...

. The discoverer named it "Valeriana", after a nearby lake, "Laguna La Valeriana", the dry bed of which had been used by drug smugglers as an airstrip.

Transportation

Xpujil is served by a station of the

Tren Maya Tren Maya (Yucatec Maya: , sometimes also Mayan Train or Maya Train) is a inter-city railway in Mexico that traverses the Yucatán Peninsula. Construction began in June 2020 and the Campeche–Cancún section began operation on December 15, 202 ...

, which opened on December 15, 2024

References

External links

* {{Campeche Populated places in Campeche Municipality seats in Campeche