A group of young girls in bright gowns and with hennaed hands welcomed the president to the restored house made, according to Gulf tradition, of coral covered in lime and plaster.
And perhaps most importantly, the unadorned walls no paint, no plaster, no curtains unless by special request put the pattern of light at the center of the adornment for the house.
Traders ferried in flint and obsidian from Guatemala and " artisans were able to model stucco in a very advanced stylistic manner, " says archaeologist Carlos Miguel Varela Sherrer, field chief of the site.
The mausoleum consisting of several rooms is noted for the stucco detail work on its walls, a popular art form at the time of its construction in the second century AD.
You would have almost thought they were pulling down the cursed Bastille, such wild cries they raised, as the now useless brick and mortar were being hurled into the sea.