Heeeeer's Pakal

Pakal was the MAN in these parts and ruled from his teens to his death at 81 years. He was a major builder and many of the exposed structures at Palenque were created during his reign. There is a very good museum dedicated to him and his era at the ruins visitor center. There are many likenesses of the man and quite a lot of written work about his life, in maya glyphs of coarse. It was only a few years ago, less than ten, that the the Maya written code was finally translated and there are many large steale or plaques covered with the history of this man. One other note, his likeness here is accurate and not stylized. Royal male children of the nobels had their heads deformed during the first months of their lives to identify them as royal. Sometimes the deformation worked without significant physical or mental problems - many more other times, well.....

Palenque - Kingdom of Pakal

The Palenque ruins are about 300 feet up the side of the mountains and look north across jungle lowlands - the relm of King Pakal around 700 AD thought to be the main man here. The area was surveyed extensively about a decade ago from the air with earth penetrating radar. It is a massive site with less than two percent explored. There is a a series of larger pyramids further up the mountain right behind and to the left of my pictures here. Our campsite was at the bottom of the ruins and about a 3 kilometers away and still within the city site. Water was plentiful and the temples and palaces had running potable water as well as a sewage system throughout. The stream that we followed through the jungle actually supplied water to a series of bath and stream houses via an aquaduct. Who knows what other kings and heros rest at Palenque - purhaps one even greater than Pakal.

The Wet Jungle

Deb and I love this environment! It is hot, humid, lush and rich smelling, almost funky with a cross between decay and floral aromas. The light is quite different here a varies a lot between under the canopy and exposed to the sun. There are quite a few trails around the jungle ruin sites. Here a few photos of a walk following down a small stream. The air is quite silent save the far off voices of the howler monkeys - and our hair stands on end.

Yaxchilan and Bonampak Ruins on the Guatamalan Boarder

We arrived in the Palenque area on our way to Cozumel in Mid January so this series of posts are slightly out of order. This is jungle land and everything is big and dramatic. The ruins at Yaxchilan are right on the river and face Guatamala. They are large a very spread out and frankly difficult to photograph as the jungle still over-runs most of the site. They are still relatively inaccesable as one has to take a fast boat downriver for about an hour to get to them from the nearest road. Bonampak was only discovered about 60 years ago and until about ten years ago you had to fly in to view the most complete and undamaged frescos in the Mayan world. Consider these wall works are 1300 years old. The colours would be typical of the decore all over the Mayan world - it blew us away. If you are really interested ask us about the video of these frescos, we would be happy to show you them when we meet.