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Published: August 7th 2007
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I’ve been really interested in seeing the ruins at Palenque for a long time now, abandoned by the Maya about 800AD and shrouded in deep jungle for centuries before being re-discovered at the beginning of the 1900’s. I think this is basically because of books like The Mayan Prophecies & Graham Hancock’s book ‘Fingerprints Of The Gods’ which give you the impression that these ancient folk had a lot more knowledge than we give them credit for. The most famous discovery here was in the 1940’s when King Pacal’s tomb was uncovered - which had an exquisitely carved sarcophagus lid (which was used as the basic premise for interpretation in The Mayan Prophecies) and the famous jade mask of King Pacal (innumerable number of copies will be held up in front of you to purchase everywhere in Mexico by local craftsmen and street hawkers). One thing that has been said many times in all the writings I had read is that it is mysterious and poetically beautiful due to the fact that the jungle has reclaimed the man made city for itself and it is often shrouded in mist due to the sub-tropical climate here which adds to the atmosphere of
the place.
So we arrived by bus (there are no trains in Mexico by the way) on a Saturday morning and grabbed a cab for ‘El Panchan’ described online with tidy rooms, air con, satellite T.V and a delightful pool all set amid the tranquil settings of the jungle just 1km from the ruins - I thought we were in for a real treat. Well the pool was empty and looked like it had been for some time and the cabanas or rooms were just little shacks with dirty old mattress and no private showering/washing area, no T.V or A/c to mention. So after re-reading the address back to ourselves and asking if we were at the right place, we realised that it definitely was the right place and it certainly was not as described online - on the positive side though it was very cheap, if you don’t mind posh camping then you will surely be delighted - but it was definitely not for us. Anyways that lesson learned we got a taxi into Palenque town itself to a find a proper hotel.
Claire had been feeling ill on the bus, due to all the twists and
turns in the road coming through the mountains to our present destination. We had a spot of dinner and I thought everything had settled down. Next day I awoke to find Claire in a bad way - apparently she had been up all night praying to the porcelain bowl and I had managed to sleep through it all (as usual!) All of Sunday Claire was in and out of consciousness, so I journeyed into the small town for supplies of food, fruit, medicine and drinks anything to hopefully make her feel better. The only reason anyone comes to Palenque is for the ruins, the town itself is a pretty scruffy affair compared to the beautifully planned towns we have been to so far so nothing really of interest to report from town.
Monday morning and Claire was alive again, thankfully things had settled down during the night and although a bit drained and weary my better half was up and around again - yay! So after a bit of breakfast we got a cab to the famous ruins. The weather was a bit overcast and grey but it was still hot and humidity was through the roof, so before
long sweat was pouring off my brow. Claire, still not 100% managed to get around but she was telling me that she had a ‘funny feeling’ about the place. Although she is no psychic medium I have learnt to trust her womanly insights into the other realms over the years as they are normally uncannily near the mark. I however felt nothing but excitement racing up and down the ruins taking pictures willy nilly (as you do). The setting is one of absolute awe striking beauty - massive temples set amidst the backdrop of the jungle has to be seen to really get the sense of scale and wonder at the architecture of these ancient peoples. Only 38 buildings have been fully excavated out of a believed 500 that make up the 6km square city site, most of which is still awaiting to be prised for the jungles humid grip. Nobody is really sure why the Mayan civilisation collapsed so completely and the massive city complex’s they built were abandoned so abruptly as they were. Many scholars point to, amongst others things disease, civil war, famine, drought or a combination of all as the main candidates for their demise. So
when coming down from the steps of one of the temple structures, Claire informs me she has the feeling of a massive battle having taken place here…. I can only look around at the imposing stone structures and wonder to myself.
Palenque really has a mysterious air about it, something you cannot quite put your finger on, something happened here back in some distant epoch that has left an indelible trace in time, if only they could get a grant and uncover the rest of this site and find out it would truly rank as one of the most magical places in the world, or is the fact that it has still to be discovered the allure? I don’t know myself; I certainly fell under it’s spell and it left me wanting to see more - so archaeologists pull your thumbs and your trowels out please!
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