The Astonishing Mayan Palenque Ruins. Only 3% of these ruins have actually been uncovered from the jungle mass under which they are buried.
Our Mexico plan at the moment is to head north to Palenque, San Cristobal for a month, Oaxaca for two weeks and then DF, from where our flights heads back home.
Palenque is a long 8 hr bus ride. But we are now used to them, no one grumbles (though I never cease to be amazed). I brave the conversation, expecting a riot, to my amazement Jemima says ” oh goodie I love bus journeys…” The buses are fantastically comfy, particularly as we invest in those round your neck beany bag things (should have got them before, but they are so cheap here in Tulum). As we will be doing a few long distance bus rides here in Mexico, they will be worth it.
Fortunately again, the bus arrives late and the children are shattered and fall straight to sleep, their new pillows clinging to their necks.I am relieved that they are asleep so soon, even before the TVs are turned on. What horrible traumatising completely inappropriate-for -kids -film will they be showing tonight? I would struggle to hide all three pairs of eyes from the screen. Our seats are tilted full back and the air conditioning is on. It’s cool, a little too cold, and of course everything is packed in the hold of the bus. My scarf get stretched to cover little bodies and our macs serve as blankets. The buses are fantastic here. There are two drivers for every journey, dressed smartly in white shirts and ties, the drivers take it in turns to sleep, whilst the other drives. They leave bang on time and arrive when they promise to, greeting us passengers like pilots as we embark on our flight. It feels like a long journey , particularly when I just can’t get comfy and I resign myself to a sleepless night.
There are numerous check points along the way. I am the only one awake, everyone else is oblivious to the bus stopping, Army guards board the bus, scrutinising the passengers and checking the luggage compartments above…. I am intrigued. Who? What are they looking for? Nobody surely would store Kalashnikovs, bombs or drugs blatantly openly in the above lockers. We are now in Chiapas and we have been warned that the army have placed a lot of topes or sleeping policemen, across the road to slow the traffic down, in this famously autonomous of states. They wave the bus on, nothing suspicious on our bus.
We arrive at 6 am in Palenque bus station. It’s immaculate and air conditioned – you could eat off the floors they are so shiny and clean. Mexico is almost unrecognisable, then again, this is a must see Mayan temple for many tourists travelling to Mexico. The humid heat hits us as we step outside to await a taxi to take us to our hotel. Palenque is a half way stop to San Cristobal.
The last time I was here was in 1976, when after eight years of living in Mexico we did a driving tour of the South. It was somewhere along these teeming jungle roads, that Dad stopped the car, got out the binoculars and told us to all shhh…. we waited silently with baited breath. “If you look very carefully there’s a jaguar up there in the trees”. He was of course pulling our legs – “Yes I can see it” said Marcus…..
Memories come flooding back., Mexico had / has an enormous influence on my life. My taste buds and the food I create, and the sense of colour in my life are all a direct influence of living in this incredibly colourful and lively culture. I am excited to be here. I just hope that the other four Dickinsons will be as impressed!
Palenque is hot and humid , so a hotel with a pool is vital; we are just down the road from the ruins. There are howler monkeys all round us, their roars like lions, wake us ominously in the morning. We set off early to see the ruins before the sun gets too hot.
It is extraordinary to think that only 3 % of these ruins have actually been uncovered and that most of the ruins lie under this mass of vines and vast tree trunks of this jungle mass. The Mayans went to extraordinary lengths in constructing these temples, as personal mausoleums , so that on a very particular day at a particular time, the sun would radiate through the windows casting golden light. It’s no wonder that the people were convinced that these Kings must be Sun Gods. Considering all these vast stones were brought up from the coast, no elephants here, or wheels of any kind to drag them, I hate to think of the fatalities it must have cost in constructing these temples.
The Palenque ruins are exactly as I remember them, only more neat, as though someone had hoovered them up. The children are of course bored, bored, bored.
And onwards to San Cristobal …our luggage seems to be growing
Five Go Round The World 