We left behind the colourful, colonial buildings as well as the flat terrain of the Yucatan area as well as ventured to the mountainous, rugged, southernmost specify in all of Mexico, Chiapas. Although we were still backpacking Mexico, it felt like we were in a different country. With 12 federally acknowledged ethnicities, Chiapas specify has one of the largest group of indigenous people in Mexico, in addition to the greatest hardship level in the country.
Mountainous Chiapas State
This part of our trip ended up being convoluted as well as we backtracked rather a bit…all in the name of safety. The simplest path would have been to take an overnight bus from Merida directly to San Cristobal de las Casas. However, there have been late night robberies as well as banditry on the part of the highway between Palenque as well as San Cristobal.
In fact, the owner of Casa Hamaca Guesthouse, Denis, had a good friend held at gunpoint as well as robbed on that highway. This didn’t charm to us so we opted to take the bus part way, during daytime hours, breaking up the journey at the city of Palenque.
Photo By: Craig Boyce
Our guidebook explained the actual town of Palenque as “a sweaty, humdrum location without much appeal”, however as usual, we didn’t agree with the guidebook! The primary road right here is a bit dirty as well as boring, however we discovered an satisfying tree-lined street full of shade, cool bars as well as restaurants. Oddly sufficient this was called the Canada area. The city was fine to spend a couple of days, however we were there to see the popular ruins out in the close-by jungle.
We hopped on a shared minibus (10 pesos each) as well as made our method to the ruins, passing some lovely scenery along the way. The Mayan Ruins of Palenque date back from 226 B.C. to 799 AD. after this city’s decline, the design right here was swallowed up by the jungle. By 2005, the found area of this site was 2.5 km², however, it is estimated that there are still over 1000 buildings left undiscovered!
The very first thing we observed when we got off of the bus was the intense, thick humidity of the jungle. instantaneously we were sweating with our clothes staying with our bodies as well as our sun glasses slowly moving down our noses. Wandering down the paths as well as into the dense jungle to see the abandoned ruins only made the experience a lot more exciting. There were times when it was just the two of us sitting on a stone staircase listening to Howler Monkeys as well as other wildlife screeching from the treetops.
Wandering off into the damp jungle to discover some ruins!
The temples as well as structures right here are fascinating. Although there are similarities to other Mayan sites, there are lots of aspects right here that set this site besides others in the area. The temple of Inscriptions homes the second longest hieroglyphic text from the Mayan World, as well as in 1952, the tomb of the popular ruler Pacal The excellent was found here. This was a excellent discover for archeologists as it was the very first time a Mayan building was seen as being versatile, with the usage as both a temple as well as as a funerary structure.
We slowly sauntered with the site, imagining what life need to have been like countless years ago. After walking though the expansive area, we took a breather atop the temple Of The cross as well as took pleasure in the amazing views over the ancient city.
Views from the temple of the Cross
A few hours of sweating as well as checking out went by as well as we made a decision it was time to head back to Palenque town. instead of leaving the exact same method we came in, we made a decision to comply with one more path that we really hoped would take us back to the primary road. We walked with the jungle for a few minutes as well as unexpectedly we were greeted by a charming 2-tiered waterfall! As we continued on, we discovered yet one more cascading fall. Such a excellent discover as well as a best method to end our sight-seeing day.
When we were on our very first trip with Southeast Asia as well as India in our younger days, we weren’t as thinking about design as well as history as we are today. As our style of travel progresses, we’re discovering we genuinely like discovering about the past as well as checking out age-old sites such as this one. This was the last Mayan spoil site we would see on this trip with Mexico, making it lucky number 7! One day, we hope to see a few of the larger sites in central America, which I’m sure are similarly impressive.
☞ See Also:
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