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Background: The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the opposition defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1 December 2000 as the first chief executive elected in free and fair elections.

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By aroundtheworldin240days
December 10th 2005

Day 6 - Palenque

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Palenque main street

At 8am the bus arrived in Palenque, a small touristy town located in the jungle area of Chiapas in the south east of the country. After such a long 14 hour journey we were feeling a bit crap and in need of rest, but thanks to the 'totally useless' Rough Guide to Mexico which is full of inaccuracies and downright lies we couldn't find the hostel we were going to stay at, indeed, we couldn't find anything using this useless loo roll of a book. Don't get me wrong, I like the Rough Guide series and have used them successfully elsewhere [View Full Entry]

By Mark and Lorna
December 9th 2005

Palenque

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Palenque ruins

Our last Mexican stop off was in Palenque which was not as nice as the previous towns, although our view may have been tainted by the fact that the weather had turned to rain. On the way into town we had seen vans adorned with religious images with people running alongside them on a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe. When we got there the pilgrims were sleeping rough around the main square. To make sure we took in our quota of Mayan ruins we went to visit the Palenque temples. These were in a much more 'jungle-like' setting with howler [View Full Entry]

By lush
November 5th 2005

Palenque

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Ruins
Some of the ruins as seen from the highest temple, beatiful day in a beautiful place.

Well our last day in Mexico and a great one at that. We visited the Mayan ruin site of Pelenque and spent hours wandering around, reinacting invasions, trying to figure out what ballcourt was, and imagining the "queens bath" with the nude mayan queen bathing in it. There was lots of walking up and down and all around the site, plus the museum. It was an odd day because we all had bizzare budgets. We wanted to spend all the rest of our pesos, so for Ryan and I it meant we couldnt eat, and for Jord it meant he had [View Full Entry]

By lush
November 4th 2005

Agua Clara

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Waterfall
This is the waterfall that Arny jumped off in Predator, or so we are told... Awesome swimming hole regardless!

Well we arrived in Pelenque yesterday evening, but we spent about a whole 5 minutes at the bus station there. As it turned out we headed out of town to this jungle area where there are cheap cabanas and food. Found a little hut thing with three beds for 50 pesos a night, works out great because I have a snore zone downstairs and Jord/Ry have the upstairs. Jord lost his sleeping bag cover, hes down two items already, I dont know why Im bringing this up but Im hoping people will laugh at him because I did already. At least [View Full Entry]

By matthijn
October 26th 2005

Ruta Maya in Mexico en Guate

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Tulum
Costa Maya in mexico....hagel witte stranden en erg mooi om te snorkelen

Na de ruines van Chizen Itza en Palenque ging ik op weg naar San Christobal de las Casas. Een erg mooie koloniale stad in de Highlands van Mexico. Na 3 dagen daar verliet ik dit leuke stadje met als doel om in 1 dag Guatemala te bereiken. Na 9 uur in verschillende bussen en een prive boot om een half uur vanuit Mexico naar het dichtstbijzijnde dorpje in Guate te varen was ik dan eindelijk in Guate. Bij de grens bleek in nog 3 uur te moeten wachten tot dat de enige bus die middag zou vertrekken naar de ´bewoonde wereld´. [View Full Entry]

By dinbean
July 31st 2005

whirlwind

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

garbage!
ugh!

Well, thanks for the support all of you who commented on my blog. Glad to know the last one was such a hit, not sure that this one will compete, but at least you´ll know what´s going on with me. I see that there has been a request to add photos, I will attempt to bring some up from snapfish, or maybe, if I can find an internet cafe with a usb port (sometimes supprisingly hard to find), then I will bring some up right off my camera. As it is I need to upload them before cuba, cuz I´m running [View Full Entry]

By Hitchin and Beyond
June 11th 2005

Palenque - Water Magic

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Owen, Deb and Rory brave the river

Saturday 11th June 2005 : Misol-Ha and Agua Azul After another unsettled night we had another reasonable breakfast followed by a lazy morning. PM we took a trip to Misol-Ha and Agua Azul. Misol-Ha is a waterfall with an unbroken drop of 35m. We’re told it was the setting for a scene in the film Predator but I have not seen it. Behind the bottom is a walkway and cave complete with stream, pool, fish and bats.I went in with the boys. We had difficulty getting out as there was a coachload of Mexicans trying to get in up the slippery [View Full Entry]

By Hitchin and Beyond
June 10th 2005

Palenque - Mayan Ruins

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

The Intrepid Party

Friday 10th June 2005 : Palenque Ruins After an unsettled night we had a reasonable breakfast. The camp site is the closest to the ruins. Even so it turned into a walk of around 2K to the main entrance. There are many buildings on the site which appears oddly landscaped, a little like English parkland. We climbed up and down quite a few of them but I was not as impressed as I had been by the Inca sites we had visited. Perhaps because many of the buildings were stucco-faced which is now faded, crumbling and dirty they do not have [View Full Entry]

By Hitchin and Beyond
June 9th 2005

Palenque - accommodation or bust

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Happy Hammock-Heads
You should be able to distinguish Rory, Owen and Deb among the threads

Thursday 9th June 2005 : Off to Palenque - but how do you sleep in a hammock ? We had tried to book space in two places close to Palenque but had had no response. We caught the bus OK. Arriving at Palenque I could get no answer by telephone so we caught a taxi to the Mayabell Hotel and campsite. Yes they had a room, at 650 pesos a night. That’s around £32, whereas we had been paying 15 or 16 in hostels in Mexico elsewhere. What they also had were palapas (wooden, thatched shelters without sides) under which we [View Full Entry]

By Ali
August 10th 2002

Palenque, ruins in the Jungle

North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque

Palenque

Over the course of history these Mayan ruins have been lost and found several times. In 1773 Father Ordenez Aguilar led an expedition to the ruins and wrote a book about. In 1782 Captain Antonio del Rio explored Palenque, his report was filed away in Guatemalan archives until 1822. An English translation was made and a number of expeditions were made. In his sixties Count de Waldeck lived in one of the pyramids for two years, and wrote highly exaggerated reports of his findings. Now bus loads of tourists file into the entrance of Palenque everyday. Still the magic of the [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » North America » Mexico » Chiapas » Palenque