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Palenque Ruins
We were up with the dawn today ready for an early start at the ruins after a slightly disturbed night due to a group of howler monkeys making a racket at 2 in the morning (it sounded like a group of ferocious beasts fighting around us) and were relieved that it was cool and fresh after the heat of yesterday. After a quick wash we were off, walking the 2km along the road to the ruins, the occasional collectivo or taxi honking as they went past and the road gradually getting steeper the further we went. Soon enough we arrived at a car park where it seemed the inhabitants of the surrounding towns had landed to sell their wares, it was a Saturday after all, and were busily setting up their myriad of stalls, all of which sold pretty much the same tat, I mean stuff...! It was 7.40 and the gates didn't open until 8 so we hung around watching more and more locals arrive until at 8 on the dot the little booth opened and we were able to buy our tickets and proceed to the gate. We were stopped on the way by shouts of 'free maps' coming from a nearby stand and went over to investigate as of course your entrance fee does not include a map of the site. A nice gentleman who spoke very good English gave us a photocopied map and spent a few minutes pointing out the important places, telling us what they were and what we could find in different buildings as well as showing us a large map of the area on which was circled the ruins. What we hadn't realised however and that this map showed through some kind of data imaging process, was that the ruins you pay to go and see are only about 5% of what was once a vast city, the other 95% is still buried within the jungle where archaeologists are making interesting finds and discoveries on a regular basis. Thanking the man for the map and his information we continued on to the entrance and I think were the first tourists in that day, this didnt mean we had the place to ourselves however, there were probably a hundred or more locals already in there either sweeping paths, pruning hedges or setting up more useless tat stalls along the main tourist walkways. Slightly disappointed in the Mexican government for allowing this (we had been delighted in Peru not to find a single stall within Machu Pichu and so take away from the ambiance of the place) we did our best to pretend they weren't there and went off to explore the ruins. The first building we came to was called the Temple of the Skull as supposedly there is a relief of an animal skull embedded into the wall, so we dutifully climbed the steps to the top, all the buildings here are built on top of mounds and therefore have varying amounts of steps to climb to reach them, but search as we may we could not find the skull. Instead we got our first look out over part of the sight and realised why people say this is a better place to visit than Chitchen Itza, the setting is spectacular! Nestled in amongst the surrounding hills, deep within lush jungle and amidst the sound of insects, birds and monkeys you can hardly imagine how anyone could possibly have discovered it! After taking in the view we made our way back down to ground level and walked along the well kept lawns a little way until we came to the Temple of the Inscriptions where a few decades ago archaeologists discovered a hidden chamber underneath, inside of which was found an enormous stone sarcophagus that must have weighed several tonnes. Inside this sarcophagus was entombed an ancient Mayan king along with all the accoutrements of a royal burial including a jade mask and weapons etc. We were able to see this sarcophagus later on at the site museum where it is kept in a special temperature controlled room, the pictures and many hieroglyphs adorning it were fascinating and in exceptional condition, making it the singular most impressive item in the whole museum! As for the temple itself, which is the most photographed and the one you see whenever Palenque is mentioned, we could only gaze upon it from the ground as you are not allowed to climb this one for preservation reasons. To me it looked a bit Roman, a wide angled staircase leading up to a platform, upon which was the pillared temple itself complete with reliefs bearing inscriptions, hence the name, about the ruler of the empire. Turning now to our left we gazed upon the largest building in the ruins complex, El Palacio, where all ceremonial and sacred duties would have been performed. This was also the administrative centre and home to the various rulers and their families, making it an interesting, if slightly maze like building to explore. We came across various carvings of ascensions, births, deaths, marriages, gods and innumerous hieroglyphs as well as various pieces of original plaster still with drawings visible in different colours, the red being the best preserved. Palenque being the only site in the Mayan empire that has water running through it, we were able to see how they had used this to their advantage for sewerage purposes making this an advanced civilisation for its time and probably contributing to its initial success, its downfall being like so many others in that it got too big for its resources and eventually there was nothing left to sustain the inhabitants and was abandoned. After the Palace we continued along the neatly kept paths to some more pyramidal temples where unfortunately we had been overtaken by several groups of eager, noisy, obnoxious tourists who obviously thought the point of coming to these ruins was to get to the top, shout down to their mates below to take a picture, make stupid noises and not even bother to look at the structure they had just climbed before heading back down again to repeat it all over again with the next building! You can probably see we dont hold many other tourists in particularly high regard and when they behave like this you can see why! We waited at the bottom in the shade of some trees until the loudest of them had moved on and then climbed up ourselves, taking the advice of someone we had overheard and going up the steps on the diagonal, switching back in the other direction when we came to the edge and finding that in fact it was a lot less hard on the calves this way and easier on the knees going back down too rather than just going in a straight line...something I will definitely remember in the future! After climbing and exploring the remaining few structures the day was starting to get uncomfortably hot and humid and we were glad we had gotten up early before the heat of the day could slow us down even more, having enjoyed the ruins fully we started making for the exit which led you on to the site museum. The route out was very scenic, running past several more housing complexes as well following the course of a large stream that dropped in a series of waterfalls into cool, clear pools which we were dying to jump into but which were roped off and forbidden entry to. Eventually we came out onto the road and made our way into the museum hoping to escape the heat but finding it almost as hot as outside except with the benefit of shade meaning we wouldn't burn! Everything in the museum comes from the site and there are fascinating artefacts on display such as the many 'censars' found there which are like clay totem poles used for burning incense at ceremonies. They come in various shapes and sizes consisting of different faces of kings or gods, many types of crowns and sceptres all with specific meanings, some are adorned with animals or birds or serpents and each one would have been used for only 20 years before being replaced, hence the large number which have been found so far and are still being discovered regularly. Other than these, the most magnificent article was as I mentioned before, the huge sarcophagus in its blissfully cool room where we spent some time studying it in detail as well as the two beautiful jade masks in there as well, one of which had been discovered in hundreds of pieces and had been painstakingly put together like a jigsaw puzzle. Leaving the museum and its protection from the sun behind we made our way along the last 1/2km back to the camp site and almost literally fell into the swimming pool with relief, basking in the delicious water until we were significantly refreshed enough to head into town and buy some bits for dinner. We returned once again hot and exhausted and had another swim before enjoying a cold beer by the pool side. Even though it said not to take food by the pool some people were actually eating whilst IN the pool so we didn't feel guilty eating our dinner of tortillas at one of the little tables and once we were dry we headed back to the tent as it was getting dark to go to bed.
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