Blogs from Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, North America

After nearly a day in the airports and flying we eventually get to Palenque. We had to take a flight back to Mexico City and then transfer to a plane to take us to Val…., from which we had a minibus to Palenque. It seemed a bit odd flying back to Mexico City but I can imagine that if the tour started anywhere other than Mexico City it would be difficult to fill, so understandable. We are up early again, but not as early as the day before setting off to Monte Alban, but this time we are having a tour of a Mayan settlement, another archeological site - my grandson would love this holiday as he is only just 7 but already wants to be an archeologist and of course a gamer (designing games but ... read more

I'm not going to go into too much detail here because, as you can see from the title, I visited more ruins and there's not much I can say which I haven't already. The ruins at Palenque (Palen-kay) are unique due to their artwork and carvings. Their location, situated on the side of a mountain also seems to be unique. The jungle scenery surrounding the former Mayan city was just as impressive as the structures, with some beautiful trees around 30M high. Coupled together with the former Mayan city this made for a very eerie atmosphere. Whilst walking around the central palace area, which seemed like a maze of different rooms and courtyards I managed to get lost. I'm not joking, it took me around ten minutes of walking down different passageways and ending up in ... read more

Today is the ‘Day of the Revolution’. I guess we should have known that this would be an important day since every town and city we have visited so far has had a very important street named ‘20 November’! We set off towards the town square. We can hear a brass band playing just beyond. There is a long procession of school kids marching in the road, a brass band and finally some people in traditional Mexican dress on horseback, in fact, the first we have seen wearing sombreros! After the parade has finished, we make our way to the colectivo station. We get into a mini bus bound for the ruins but get off at the EcoPark. It’s a bit of a mini zoo but it takes in animals and, where possible, reintroduces them to ... read more

This morning we are a bit late getting going. We were very tired after yesterday’s journey and then there was a lot of noise in the hotel making for a disturbed nights sleep. We drop our laundry off and buy provisions for a picnic lunch at the waterfalls. The area we are visiting today is called Roberto Barrios - a jungle area with waterfalls and swimming holes. We are told that the waterfall area is recently developed and that there will be no vendors there for food or drink, so we need to go prepared. We set off in search of picnic food, and then a colectivo to take us there. After a bit of searching we find the right place. There are several colectivo places in town but different roads serve their own particular destinations. ... read more

Sat 3-Sun 4 Nov - Day 8 to 9 - Palenque Next we took a scenic and lengthy bus journey to Palenque. We passed through beautiful views as we travel for nine hours to the town and ruins of Palenque, famous for the tombs found filled with riches in honour of the renowned Lord Pakal and the Red Queen. We stopped several times, n one occasion buying a whole pineapple cut up. It was so sweet. Arriving around 6.30pm we immediately noticed that the town was very small, and the main road was lined with hotels and restaurant, so very touristy. This town was mainly for the ruins. After dropped our bags into a lovely Hotel Xibalba which was a large a/c room with a sizeable bathroom, we all met across the road for a Mexican ... read more