Palenque

From Tonina we headed a mere 65 miles further northeast to the town of Palenque, the site of some fantastic Mayan ruins.  The height of Palenque’s power was from roughly 600 to 800 AD when much of the building took place.  It is thought that around 750 AD the city was home to about 8000 people in an area of 2 square kilometers.  Thats about 4 people per square meter!

While Tonina was impressive with regard to the sheers the size of the main structure and the labyrinth below, Palenque is unreal in the architecture and sheer number of stuctures, most of which have not been excavated.

Here is a little overview of the main area which has been excavated.

Wendy wanted to get a guide.  So we did.  It cost us about 30 bucks for 3 hours, but it was well worth it I think.  This dude’s name is Gilberto.  Everyone we passed called him “professor.”  He knew a lot of stuff.  Whether it was true or not, I have no idea, but he was a wealth of information, and he spoke pretty good English.

The very first thing you notice walking into the park is the Temple of Inscriptions.  Its impressive.  In the labyrinth below is where the tomb of King Pacal was found in 1952 by Mexican archeologist Alberto Ruz.

Pacal ruled Palenque for 68 years and died at the ripe old age of 80.  I had no idea that people lived that long over a thousand years ago….

Some other views of the Temple of Inscriptions………

The sarcophogus of Pacal. Seeing it up close its surprising how massive it is.  The pics dont quite convey this though.

Across from the Temple of Inscriptions is the Palace.

Of course the Palace is huge.  But what I found so fascinating were a couple of things.  Now bear in mind that this was built around 650 to 700 AD.  Take a look at this tower.  Now I’m not a student of Mayan architecture, but to me this looks like it might have a little Chinese influence….

I’m sure the experts would be quick to tell me how wrong I am, but then not far away I saw this…..

I kind of thought that dragons were pretty unique to Chinese culture, but of course I’m probably wrong.  This looks quite like a dragon to me though.  It is interesting to ponder.  After all, the Chinese were known to be a sea faring people with the capability to travel some long distances by boat.  If you ascribe to the theory that the Americas were populated by Asians who walked across the frozen Bearing Straights, Chinese influence in Mayan structures and art would’nt be all that much of a stretch right?

A typical Mayan bed in one of the structures.  I’m sure it had some padding at one time though.  Notice how stalagtites have formed along the wall from all the moisture.  While this was inhabited the stone walls were coated with a plaster to keep things dry inside but of course the plaster had eroded centuries ago.

They even had toilets with running water, once again, Chinese style.  Any of you folks ever see a modern Chinese toilet?  You dont sit on it, you squat over it and go in the hole.  In this toilet, there is a trough underneath that water is constantly flowing through to take the waste away.  Very interesting in my opinion.

Here is the modern Chinese version………

There were also steam rooms in the palace as well.  Here is one of the seats where you could steam yourself.  I’m not sure why the hell they needed steam rooms though.  Just sitting outside in a chair is steamy enough in this jungle.

Another temple in the main area.  I beleive that this is called the Temple of the Sun.  I really wanted to see a Mayan observatory, but the observatory at Palenque has not yet been found.  Some of the experts think that it is on the very high hill not far behind the Temple of Inscriptions as that place would have very nice views of the horzion in all directions.

Now this wouldnt be a complete Mayan ruins post without a ball court…………

This was a pretty cool carving on the top of one of the temples.  Supposedly it signifies the circle of life and death.

I’ll shut my trap now and leave you with some pics of some artifacts found on the site.

Palenque is a fantastic site.  I would recommend staying at a hotel that is close to the park entrance or actually inside the park, getting up early and going in right when the site opens in the morning so you can avoid the crowds and have a more tranquilo experience.

Hasta luego amigos.