Palenque

Today we journeyed back to Mexico City airport (3 hour drive with traffic) for onward travel to Palenque via Villahermosa airport, in the middle of the jungle and a change of climate from dry and fresh to hot and humid. Our accommodation was a little bungalow surrounded by the flora and fauna you’d expect in the jungle. We could hear the calls of howler monkeys in the distance, parrots overhead in the trees, geckos and iguanas as well as some big spiders! We arrived late in the afternoon during a tropical downpour, whilst we were checking in Bert and Elana danced in the rain ending up soaking wet-though but happy! Our hotel was located right next to Palenque archaeological site, historic Mayan ruins in the middle of the jungle, on our first full-day we spent the morning exploring the site. We’ve found that there is limited knowledge surrounding exactly how these cultures operated as, unlike the Egyptians, few scriptures have been found. The ruins were again much the same in nature as the other sites we visited, however it felt a lot more atmospheric being surrounded by the jungle with many of the ruins absorbed into the jungle. They also looked more untouched, however this is only due to the effect of the location and plants that quickly take a grip of the structures. This is the first time we were able to go inside one of the main pyramids to view the chamber that the ‘red queen’ was found with two further chambers that two of her servants were discovered (a lady and child), Elana found this fascinating. It is thought they were sacrificed and buried with her when she died. The site was built on a hill, we were able to get a great view of the site (and across the jungle) when we climbed one of the pyramids.

On our second day we headed to the Agua Azul waterfalls about an hour from Palenque. The waterfalls cascade down the hillside and there are several pools that you can float about in. It was a really hot day so we took the opportunity to snap some photos and take a dip in the refreshing waters. You have to pay for entry to the waterfalls twice as one of the communities that the river flows through cut the supply off as they saw it as unfair that they didn’t see any of the revenue. Bizarrely rather than working together you have to stop at two different checkpoints about half a mile apart to pay the fees! The drive to the waterfalls gave us a really good insight into a different landscape in Mexico. The fields surrounding the road were predominantly planted with corn in between rainforest vegetation and the communities looked a lot poorer. We had however noted a lot of new construction projects ongoing, the Mayan Train (a 966 mile intercity railway in Mexico that traverses the Yucatán Peninsula) is under construction here with a new station, new highways projects and there was a lot of activity around a new airfield in preparation for a presidential visit that day. Apparently the new president lives in Palenque and is making efforts to invest in the poorer southern states in Mexico. The new train line would certainly have made our journey around Mexico a lot more accessible and perhaps a nicer way to travel rather than road.

Anyway back to the waterfalls, they were pleasing, not the most dramatic or sizeable but the colour and clarity were amazing. It was nice to see and experience something different for the morning and the children really enjoyed paddling around the pools of clear water.Read more