palenque

agua azul waterfalls

xylophone concerto in palenque
templo de las inscriptiones in palenque




hyeroglyphs -------------------------palacio



archeologists at work ---------------------------queen´s waterfall



car problems -------------------the infamous nissan turu being repaired



chief mechanic at work ----------------------duarte and the quadruple cheese burger



laguna bacalar ---------------------------------taxi service


after an extemely long and exhausting drive, we made it to agua azul. we were lucky to see the water blue, as often it becomes muddy due to the rainy season. it was exactly what we needed (especially after an evening of chilean wine), dipping into the water before heading to the palenque ruins.

palenque was first occupied in 100BC and flourished from 630 - 740AD, thanks to mister pakal (who was in power for much of that time). there are sooo many temples to see (500 buildings spread over 15 square kms), although unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?) could not be visited as they are closed to the public. some of the most interesting were the templo XIII with the tomb of the red queen (coloured red due to treatment with cinnabar), two smaller ones almost lost in the jungle and the palace, which had four main courtyards with a maize of corridors and rooms. some of the stucco reliefs are still evident. mind blowing.
seeing all those temples, makes it difficult to imagine that they were all built without tools, animals or wheels. clever and innovative folk they were!

just when we thought the fun had ended, a pipe in duarte´s rent-a-car broke (how? who knows?) causing the car to overheat. imagine the scene; a long, straight road with not a soul and a smoking car. indeed, that was us until a taxi driver came and saved-ish the day. to the crossroads we went to find a mechanic...there were two at work and one in a hammock lying with one eye open, around him many, many open beers. i´m guessing that it was a good thing that he was out of action!

Ce sont 8 heures de routes montagneuses qui nous emmènent sur Palenque. Heureusement, on interromp le calvaire ( la route tourne beaucoup et les relans de vins rouges se font de plus en plus inquiétants..) à Agua Azul, site de cascades naturelles au milieu de la jungle. On arrive de nuit sur Palenque et on loue une cabaña aux portes du site. Il fait humide et les moustiques sont omniprésents.

Palenque a connu son apogée aux alentours de 700 AC sous le règne du roi Pakal. Les ruines y sont bien conservées et les hyéroglyphes sont encore visibles sur les facades des temples, notament le temple des inscriptions, tombeau funéraire de Pakal. Quelques temples au nord du site sont assez funky puisqu´ils auraient été pensés sous l´influence de champignons hallucinogènes, assez répandus dans la jungle alentour.