We caught an overnight bus to San Cristobal de las Casas, which is a nice colonial town in the highlands of Mexico. We´ve seen heaps of colonial towns by now though, so we were more impressed by the nearby Mayan village of San Juan Chamula... With its pagan church with pineneedles spread across the floor, people lighting candles, chanting and waving eggs around in the hope of curing sickness. We met kids who couldn`t speak a word of Spanish, only the local mayan dialect of Tzotzil.... and yet we met a Mayan guy who knew the Cazador de Cocodrillos (Crocodile Hunter) because he watches him every Saturday at 6:30. We also went a bit mad at the markets... our bags are pretty full again!
Palenque.The single most touristed Mayan ruins we`ve visited yet. Oh, my god. There were more orange-hat wearing dutch, bad spanish-speaking Americans and Germans... it was the biggest population this side of some big German city somewhere in Germany.
The ruins however, were in pretty good nick, and highly impressive. The number of carvings was impressive, and our guide managed to furnish us with explanations of the inherent egyptian, greek and chinese influences all readily seen within the artwork, apparently. He was a guide with 40 years experience, so we`d hoped he had some tales to tell, turns out they were tall tales.
Xpujil and Ruins
In the middle of the Yucatan Peninsula. We visited four sites in the middle of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. This is one hard to get to region.... required hiring a taxi for the day and have him wait for us while we walked around.
1. CalakmulIncredible views. One of the tallest pyramids in Mexico. Quite a big complex overall and a historic rival of the Society in Tikal, Guatemala across the border.
2. BalamkuWe were surprised when we were invited to enter one of the pyramids and saw an amazing stone/stucco frieze still with some of its original colour that was buried under an outer layer of pyramid, when remodelled by a later dynasty... this frieze was discovered only in 1993. And with the 3 pyramids next to it, we`re betting that once the Mexican govt finds more money, they`ll find more inside the adjacent pyramids.
3. Chicanna
Called the ¨Mouth of the Serpent¨, this site was dominated by the huge monster mouth doorway.
Called the ¨Mouth of the Serpent¨, this site was dominated by the huge monster mouth doorway.
4. XpujilDominant aspect was a huge 3-towered structure with a hidden staircase. This is an after-and-before photo.
We`re now in Chetumal, and just visited the Mayan museum and learnt how to add and subtract with Mayan numbers. On to Belize tomorrow.
3 comments:
Palenque! God, there were Germans there when I was there too. I had hoped the tourism was only high for Semana Santa when I was there, but I guess it is a year-round thing. I loved it, though. It is quite breathtaking.
Great photos! I think you saw parts of the ruins that I missed. I guess that is what guides are for. (Except, of course, for the one I had at Monte Alban).
Don't underestimate the Chinese influence. They landed in Central America c. 1421-23 and did, indeed, influence arts and crafts. And language. And DNA.
Any Egyptian or Greek influences would have come via the Chinese, so that bit sounds a bit far fetched, from my comfortable armchair position.
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