Palenque

I wish I could say something poetic about Palenque and its history but I struggle to get my head around the significance of the Mayan people who lived there during its day. A cursory glance at their society reveals a seemingly barbaric time with little by way of creature comforts but a closer look exposes a society that in ways rivals our own.

A stay in San Cristobal makes a visit to Palenque compulsory in my view so I planned an overnight trip to the ruins. Getting there is half the fun since the road is ~135 miles of tight twisties and descends ~6,000 feet. The journey takes 5 hours by bus, which is 3 hours in Superenduro time. The day started out rainy, chilly, and littered with road construction but as I approached Palenque the air became warm and quite humid.

I hired a guide for the ruins, which I recommend and they are negotiable. He’s Mayan and his Ingles name is Joseph (I recall his Mayan name but misplaced where I wrote it and don’t want to butcher the spelling) and he lives an hour and a half walk through the jungle from the ruins. It’s worth noting the primary site for the ruins represents only 5% of Palenque. The remaining 95% are in the jungle and not excavated. We spent 1.5 hours on the main ruins and 2 hours in the jungle (I preferred this part of the tour). I stayed in El Pachan at Magarita’s and Ed’s Cabanas and recommend them to anyone visiting Palenque.

I have 1.5 hours of video footage from the ride most of which was obscured by rain and mud on the lens, still learning the ropes with video. In spite of the poor quality I salvaged 7.5 minutes of material and put it to music.