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Palenque
We park our camper in a camping site, just 500 m away from the archeological site of Palenque, right in the jungle.
We spend the afternoon resting and preparing our next day visit…In fact, it’s difficult to rest as some of our neigbours, renting a palapa, use an extra powerfull amplifier to listen to their music until 11 P.M. ( the manager asked them to move the next day !!!)
Palenque was first occupied around 100 BC, and flourished from around AD 630 to around 740.
The city rose to prominence under the ruler PAKAL who reigned from AD 618 to 683.
During Pakal’s reign, many plazas and buildings, including the superlative Templo de las Inscripciones, were constructed in Palenque.
Pakal’s son Kan B’alam II continued Palenque’s expansion and artistic development.
The archeological site and the National Park have been registered as a World heritage site since 1987.
The site beeing built on top of a hill, we take a « collectivo » to reach the ruins, 1.5km away from the entrance.
An incredible crowd is awaiting us. Welcome to the heart of tourists tours…
And as in most touristic sites, vendors are , once again, spoiling the site.
* El Templo de las Inscripciones : That’s the tallest building. On the interior wall are three panels with long Maya inscription, recounting the history of Palenque and this building for which the archeologist Alberto Ruiz Lhuillier named the temple.
* El Palacio : Built and modified over 400 years, it probably was the residence of Palenque’s rulers. Archeologists believe the tower was constructed for astronomic purposes.
We walk miles within the archeological site, discovering little temples hidden in the jungle.
The high temperature and humidity killed us.
We end by visiting the museum . Quite disapointing as only the ground floor rooms are open today.
We spend our third day in Palenque at the camping enjoying the swimming pool and listening to the howling monkeys.
The brakes of the camper have been quite noisy for a couple of day. The road we drive on are in such a bad condition that we use the brake permanently.
We go to a car workshop recommended on our Ioverlander web site for a checking.
Javier and his team are incredibly nice and advise us to adjust the brake discs.
The break pads, after 30 000 km are still in good shape.
Nothing serious, but we spent most of the day in the workshop.
The bill is incredibly low…
Agua Azul
Since we entered Chiapas, we saw people selling gas in containers all along the road.
Our first thought was that petrol station were very scarce or rarely supplied in this rebel region.
So we aked the question in a gas station and were told that this gas sold on the road came from Guatemala and was sold 20% cheaper than the mexican one…
Absolutely illegal, but no one cares.
We head to Agua Azul Waterfalls which counts more than 500 cascades and emerald green basins.
Very famous site for swimming, it’s crowded on week-ends with mexican families spending the whode day there.
It’s true, the waterfalls are gorgeous and a little path takes you from the bottom to the top of the waterfalls. Unfortunately, hundreds of souvenirs vendors spoil this beautiful site.
And, of course, today is Sunday and it’s overcrowded . (more than 30 buses !)
ROAD BOOK 056
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