Popping in to see some Mayans
Trip Start
Feb 26, 2008
1
47
50
Trip End
Ongoing
Palenque, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Friday, June 6, 2008
Early morning start and we were on the road from San Cristobal to Palaneque at 7.15 for the 5 & half hour journey. Got into Palenque and we were happy to discover that they had left luggage at the bus station so dumped our bags and headed out to the ruins.
And the ruins were pretty cool, all set in and around the jungle its a bit like going to an Indiana Jones movie part (if he was searching for lost Mayan Treasures or something) and we wandered through the buildings and walked up some of the temples and Palaces etc. It was very very humid and a bit hot but fortunately the 99% chance of expected precipitation didnt arrive when we were there so it was dry (apart from the humidity sweating up a storm). Anyhow, cool ruins, couple of nice waterfalls and well worth the 3 hour visit to see the impressive ruins in a great jungle setting.
Had a few hours to kill in Palenque town, which has nothing to write about and then a 1130pm overnight bus to Merida.
Becs 6/6:
After a week of relaxing in the beach towns of the Oaxacan Coast it was about time we did something cultural (excluding food & drink)!. Palenque was great, although on first glipse I mentioned to Mark that I was a bit disappointed as the temples weren't as big as they looked in the pictures, but it seems that I had gotten Palenque and Chichen Itza mixed up, so on second glance, they were quite impressive. We are lucky enough to be travelling out of peak season so it was fantastic being able to wonder among the ruins without hords of tourists and get some good pics (although we did interupt a couple of Americans and "Charlie" behind the Temple of the Cross)! Headed back into town after about 3hrs out at the ruins to fill in the rest of the day before another overnight bus to Merida. Palenque town itself didn't really have much going for it and we were glad that we decided not to overnight it here and instead we took up Ili's advice and headed out to Merida.
