In November/December 2018 I took my third trip to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. I’d first gone there back in 2014. I had decided to go after hearing stories a friend had told me about the ruins of 19th-century haciendas and old, half-abandoned churches damaged in the Caste War (1847–1901).  After giving me tips on books to read in order to find these sites, he put me in touch with a local photographer named Baltasar (Balta) Castro Cocom.  Balta and I became friends online.  Even though I was planning to spend the bulk of my time visiting the haciendas and churches, Balta offered to take me to see some remote Mayan ruins.  We went out for a weekend to the Puuc area south of Mérida and I was stunned by what he showed me.  Though I did photograph some haciendas and even produced a small photo series on Caste War churches, it was the ancient Mayan ruins that fascinated me.