26 th March Palenque

Breakfast out on the veranda today and it was already warm. We all slept well last night. Hotel Chablis is very well appointed. Quiet aircon, ceiling fan and comfy beds. All were revived. Our trip today is not far out of town. The Palenque Maya Ruins are set in the jungle and fairly recently explored. Rather Indiana Jones! Only 5% of the area has been excavated and the restrictions on preserving the flora will make it difficult to progress in the traditional way. The archeologist who discovered Pakal’s tomb took 3 years to dig down into it. We saw the actual death mask in Mexico City. There are quite a few buildings and we were fortunate to see a new one that has only just been revealed.

Francisco our guide was passionate about the Mayan history and we learned so much. Pakal ruled for 68 years!

Howler monkey –

Endangered species

We saw these in the trees near our hotel. They sure leave a huge plop of faeces!

Francisco used the Mayan calendar to identify our astrological sign characteristics. I was a Mol:Mayan for Jaguar , power, colour red, pampered and centre of the planets. Peter was a musician and craftsman. Anne was the Kankin tree of life, and grounded.

We returned to the hotel all just grease spots and somewhat dehydrated. It was 39C and cooler in the shade, but nonetheless quite drained. We tried the local Pineapple and chaya (tree spinach) which was very reviving. Up to our room to cool down wash our sweaty clothes and change into our swimsuits for an afternoon cool down!