Setting for Predator, and fatal Mayan ball games

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Queue Palenque, much hyped Mayan city in the jungle. Unlike Calakmul, Palenque has an extensive tourist network set up around it, together with the hordes of coach trips, hawkers and touting tour guides. Getting past all the hype and hullabaloo to try to enjoy the ruins can prove a bit tricky.

We had arrived, courtesy of the only bus out of Xpujil serving Palenque at 3-30am more or less. Despite our best efforts we had not managed to penetrate the Mexican long distance telephone calling system to reserve accomodation (just like Xpujil we comprised Keith, Anna and me). So we were arriving unexpected and not knowing which hostel or hostel or cabañas had a 24hr reception. We tried the much touted El Panchan, but there was no one on recpetion at Maragarita & Ed Cabañas. We had luck at the nearby - and closer to the ruins - Mayabell. They had a room for three with double height ceiling - one bed upstairs - for $50(US). We checked in around 4-30am and the following day they insisted we had already paid for the following night - sweet!

Mayabell had some strange characters including a man in a tree house who played Beethoven recordings all day and an itinerant italian who lived out of a hammock and sold his own handmade jewelery. The site had upmarket bungalows (sometimes known as jungalows), a pool, the aforementioned tree house, rooms, camping and a number hammock shelters. Quite a range. The on site restaurant was excellent, together with the live music.

As far as the ruins go, I would advise against going first thing. This is when the guide advises you to go and when all the coach parties pile in. This is when the hawkers and guides are on their game. We started late-ish at 10-45 but the circus was still in full swing. I´d leave it untill 11-30. It´ll be hot and humid, but there little hope of avoiding it altogether, and the hawkers will have started packing up. We didn´t get a guide, but I probably would if we went again.

In a nutshell, the Mayan leaders managed to stay in charge by enslaving the lower classes into endentured labour and handing power down through marriage through families claimed to be descended from the gods. A form of ball game was played. This game was taken even more seriously than football in that the looser was ritually sacrificed. Sacrifice was quite a big thing for the Mayan´s. Private sacrifice amongst the ruling classes included getting your tougue cut out. Public sacrifices usually involved a vanquished soldier, his sacrifice lost him more than his tongue! Apparently the civilisation collapsed due to over-crowding - the population density had reached something like 2 person per square meter!

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Photos

Palenque reliefs
Oversized reliefs believed to have been brought from elsewhere

Ball court
Where they took Shankly's view of the game seriously

Anna at the foot of the steps
Again in Palenque's Northern Group of buildings

Another building
Again in Palenque's Northern Group

Crazy tree root
Over in the Eastern Section of Palenque

Mayan relief with glyphs
How the Palenque rulers like to see themselves

Comments

[Laurie/Mum]

Hints
I'll remember to leave my visit to the ruins till about noon, OK!!!