Tonina is near Ocosingo in the state of Chiapas. It is located halfway between Palenque and San Cristobal and hosts a more isolated ruin site. Tonina was only officially opened after we visited the site. It is the most remote of the sites that we visited, consequently there were few other tourists flocking to see the ruins. We voted this our second favourite ruin site. This was partly due to its isolation and lack of tourists, but also due to its unusual architecture, bizarre stucco frescos and its hidden tunnels.

We visited the site late in the afternoon, watched the sun go down from the highest peak of ruin, and explored one of its tunnels in darkness.

Tonina has many underground passageways that may be accessed. The one  which we journeyed into  seemed to form a maze and therefore rather than getting lost after dark when no-one else knew where we were, we decided not to go any further. We did however find a fantastic sarcophagus cover along the way which was unattended.

The God of Death holding the severed head

Our Discovery : the Sarcophagus cover.

What we found most interesting, and probably what Tonina is most famous for is its stucco relief of the Four Suns from Tonina, which depicts the God of Death holding the severed head of a prisoner. Unfortunately we have omitted the severed head in our own photo.