Leaving the city of San Cristóbal and their indigenous people behind, we headed over the mountains into a completely new atmosphere. The curvy bus ride took us into the state Chiapas with its well known city Palenque. Palenque is famous for its ancient Maya city which lies in the Mexican rainforest. It was time for more culture, history and of course nature!
But at first we were really looking forward to our Airbnb Loft. These long bus rides always makes us feel really whacked afterwards. We decided to book quite a big apartment just for ourselves. It was a few minutes outside the main city and big was an understatement. We had around 50 m² just for us with jungle noises all around! Great atmosphere for some relaxed evenings!
National Park of Palenque
After some well deserved rest we were quite excited to head to the ruins early in the morning. A quick wave to a passing collectivo on the main road and around 20 minutes later we were in the middle of the jungle.
With a personal guide and two other tourists we started to walk until the first sight of the main temples hit us. After Teotihuacan in Mexico City and Monte Alban in Oaxaca these were the first temples we saw after quite some time. It was very different, as the temples were surrounded by a lot of trees and the whole scenery had more of a Tomb Raider flair.
The Mayan city of Palenque was occupied as early as 500 B.C. It reached its peak in the 7th century under the rule of K’inich Janaab Pakal, also known as “Pakal the Great.” Pakal’s reign lasted for 68 years. In the “Temple of Inscriptions” his tomb was discovered in 1952. It contained remains of Pakal alongside with five or six human sacrifices. His jade funerary mask and his sarcophagus are two of the astounding artefacts that were found. The sarcophagus shows the king’s rebirth and depictions of his ancestors in the form of plants. We got the opportunity to see a stunning replica in the museum nearby. Besides the many temples the biggest building is the palace. With its four-story high observation tower it can be seen from mostly everywhere.
Temple after temple we walked up the deep steps which was quite a challenge in the tropical climate. But the view over the many different buildings surrounded by the forest was worth the effort. After our guided tour we decided to walk around a bit more and discover the other small buildings. There was also a little walk through the jungle which led us to the museum.
After this first Maya city we were excited for more but also quite tired. So we were happy when we got back to our loft and enjoyed a relaxed evening with some “cervezitas” in our hammock…
