When the jungle takes over

Palenque is one of Mexico's most celebrated archiological sites, located amidst the jungles of Chiapas. 1400 temples and other stone ruins lie beneath the forest floor, with only a handful completely excevated and another 20 or so visible to visitors.

We started with a jungle tour, where a local guide showed us some of the hidden temples beneath giant trees (pictures 4 and 5 are in temples below the forest), today home of thousands of bats (pic 4 has 4 in it) and snakes (luckily, no pictures here ;) ). We also swam in a small waterfall and swang from vines, you know, the things expected of foreigners in the jungle ;)

Our little jungle trip was followed by a historic tour of the fully excevate temples and a royal Mayan palace. We learnt that the Mayans had flowing water systems, lots and lots of kings, who liked to be buried in fancy tombs with jewelry, jade stones and masks and to sacrifice people to the gods. But never rabbits, they were sacred and not to be killed.

The most fascinating thing to me is the fact that the jungle has claimed back this place, overgrowing the old city with tens of meters of plants, dirt and giant trees. Makes me feel quite small and humbled, in a perfectly good way.Read more