On the Road with Brent & Erika

After San Cristobal de las Casas, we traveled into the jungle to see many cool sets of Mayan ruins. We stayed just outside of the main ruins of Palenque where there were only rustic jungle cabanas. This time there was running water so it was a step up! And we had charming little geckos running around chirping loudly as well as the sounds of howler monkeys making their distinctive low howl. It was cool!

--Erika


The jungle view out of our cabana window


Erika getting ready

The first day we visited two sets of ruins--Yaxchilan and Bonampak. I absolutely loved Yaxchilan! It was all set in the jungle like Tikal in Guatemala (it's practically in Guatemala it's so close to the border), and we had to take an hour speed boat (with sun cover this time, thank goodness) to get there. There were two interesting couples in our group that we enjoyed talking with throughout the day. One was an American biologist studying invasive fish species in the river, and her husband. They had served two years in Honduras in the Peace Corps so that was cool to hear about. The other couple was Austrian and were wrapping up a 7 month world tour, so we had to get all the details on that too.

--Erika


Very early morning journaling session while we waited for our van


Ladies checking out the tourists on the drive to Yaxchilan


Local family near the Usumacinta River which separates Mexico from Guatemala


Speedboat ride to Yaxchilan


Us in the boat

What I really liked about Yaxchilan was this one building called the Labrynth. We got to explore its many passages and turnoffs with a flash light. Very Indiana Jones. There was this one species of scorpion in there that the biologist pointed out and lots of bats big and small. There were also more howler monkeys crawling in the trees around the ruins.
Basically I loved it and recommend it.

--Erika


Brent peeking out of the entrance to the Labrynth


Howler monkeys in full swing


The most impressive set of roof combs

Bonampak was cool but not as cool as Yaxchilan, comparing the two in one day. We saw some frescoes with the original color still present, and that was the main attraction along with some cool stelae. It was a smaller complex. We also saw some of the Lacandon people in their robes and long hair.

--Erika


These murals are considered the finest known in pre-Hispanic America


Mural depicting people begging for the lives


The Lacandon people, the only natives never conquered by the Spanish, lived untouched by Western influence in small pockets of dense jungle wearing these white tunics until the 1940s.

The next day we got up early to visit Palenque (major Maya ruins), and it did not disappoint! We started out by following someone's advice and trying to walk there from our cabana. Mistake. After 40 minutes we still weren't there and had started following a tour group of Germans into the jungle thinking that they knew something we didn't about the location of the entrance. After some twists and turns and stream jumps listening to the German chatter, we decided to abort that plan. Back on the road we flagged down a colectivo and made it to the obvious, souvenir stalls and coolers of water, entrance.

--Brent


The distinctive bell tower of Palenque


Erika has always been impressed with the women carrying various objects on their heads. This is her attempt to match their skill. She actually really did successfully carry that book on her head for awhile.


Courtyard outside of bell tower

In the morning section of the day we explored the main buildings and did a LOT of climbing. There were some really nice carvings, and the buildings were tall and impressive. Lots of tour groups though. We left the ruins for a relaxing lunch and came back in the afternoon to the go to the further away groups. These were not as impressive but the crowds were smaller and each had its own little charm.

--Brent


I had this structure all to myself.


I caught this poor lady taking a rather uncomfortable looking veiled nap on rocks.


Erika resting on a tree root before hiking up more stairs


Brent nestled within the trunk of a mighty Banyan tree

Since there were not many people at these, Erika and I crawled around inside them pretending like we were going to uncover bejeweled burial chambers. We did discover one pretty creepy pitch-black room with bats on the ceiling and what looked like a hole leading underneath. We're pretty sure we discovered a tomb. I thought I had also found a false wall at one point, and there was lots of speculation about what might be hidden behind. We'll be alerting the Discovery channel soon.

--Brent


Exploring for lost treasure


Erika braving the bat cave

In the main plaza at the end of the day, tour groups were replaced with exhausted people and families strewn about the ground on blankets and hidden in pockets of shadow. Except for this one guy who was laying out directly in the blazing sun with his shirt off and in swim trunks. He was obviously trying to come back home tan for the ladies.

--Brent


Lame-o dude tanning it up

Anyway, we enjoyed our last amazing pizza at Don Mucho's (the only restaurant near our cabana) plus another fantastic banana and chocolate milkshake. We caught the night bus to Mexico City where we spent our last two days before flying back home.


Honestly some of the best pizza we've ever had. And in the middle of the jungle!


Full moon on our last night in Palenque

We will next share our final post of this trip about our last two days in Mexico City because they were quite interesting...