Ruins and waterfalls in Chiapas

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Palenque is a small town in the Southern Mexican state of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala. It´s more Central American than Mexican as its surrounded by thick green jungle and humidity you almost have to swim through. The main draw here is a set of ruins built by the Mayans that have been absorbed into the jungle and untouched for a very long time. They were good to wander around for a few hours in the morning when the sun wasn't fully overhead.


I caught the nightbus out of Mexico city in order to save a bit of time and a nights accomodation, we arrived in the town of Palenque bright and early at seven in the morning. I met a Kiwi named Darryl on the bus and we wandered around town looking for a cheap room and stumbled into a big green place about five stories high that turned their roof into a dorm. For five bucks we couldn't say no and lugged our packs up the stairs. This is where we met Mike from Australia, I'm starting to think there must not be anyone left back home in Aus as they seem to be littered all around the globe!


Mike was just heading out the door to visit the ruins so we agreed to hang out for the day. The ruins were something else, burried in the green jungle their white limestone blocks soar above the thick canopy. Many of the ruins sit there under dirt as they haven´t been excavated yet. From what I picked up by listening to a guide the Aztecs found these ruins after they had been abandoned by the Mayans for two hundred years. The Aztecs weren't nearly as advanced and figured the temples had been built by the Gods. By noon the temperature was getting hot and it seemed like the air was actualy steaming so we took off to a set of nearby waterfalls.


Agua Azul is a proper series of cascading waterfalls and pools formed by limestone with a perfect swimming hole at the top. It was nice place to spend the afternoon, there was a jungle swing off a big tree root and the water is a weird turquoise color. The locals seemed to realy enjoy their time out there and it got pretty busy during siesta time. We snapped a bunch of photos before the sun went down then caught the bus home.


Once back we went out to a small restaraunt across from the park for some tacos and beans. The night before I had a dish of guacamole with my tacos but this night the green sauce turned out to be extra hot green chili sauce and I burnt the crap out of my mouth after loading up on it. At least everyone got a good laugh out of it, thanks Darryl and Mike and all the locals for that. Seeing the inland portion of Mexico is realy different than the coast and I rekon it's realy worth the trip.

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Comments

[Landon]

Hey Brandon Looks like your having a wicked trip so far, shit man i should have come with you, love the waterfall pics. Have fun buddy.