I arrived the morning of my full day Palenque visit surprised to see so many tourists already there. Palenque is just as well traveled as Chichen or Uxmal, no doubt about it. But that doesn’t take away from it. The thatch roof that covers the tomb next to the Temple of Inscriptions…that does take away from it. But alas it’s easy to annoy the photographer. Get those fucking frames out of those windows! Get the scaffolding out of the way! Move those idiotic signs away from the bases of the structures! And no, under any circumstances, no ropes or fences! There is also plenty of active restoration going on with the palace, but there is plenty to climb on and plenty of great views. I did take a tour of the surrounding jungle (en Espanol), not really intentionally, lured into it with promises of other hidden “temples.” Sure enough there are plenty of unexcavated temples surrounding the core of Palenque, buried in mounds of rubble and trees. Switching between the three of my cameras and various lenses, I manage to spend most of the day here, resting once for coffee. Back in Palenque village, I have dinner at the restaurant across the street where two dudes are playing freaky marimba tunes. The tone of one of them sounded curiously like the weird keyboard that band Quasi uses.

The drive to Rio Bec is uneventful and I have become master of passing two large tractor trailers in one fell swoop, due to the fact that all highways in these parts are two-laners. I am stopped at a military checkpoint where I am asked if I am bringing anything like “frutas” into the region. I stay at Rio Bec Dreams, which is right off the highway, in a small cabin called a “jungalow” with shared outdoor bathroom. Helpful folks here, expats who have set up a good base for exploring this off the beaten path region of archaeological sites. Hit Becan right after arriving and am pleasantly surprised. Trees everywhere, mossy grounds, sizable pyramids that you can climb, many many rooms and passageways to wander within the structures, and not a soul in sight. Amazing views over the jungle canopy to the horizon from the main pyramid. As I climb one structure I scare a flock of green coated red tipped parrots who fly out over the forest canopy. It’s one of those Discovery Channel moments, only in real life. Also one very groovy Mayan face frieze unfortunately hidden behind opaque and very reflection prone glass.

The next day Calakmul was a 2hr haul, last part up a 60km slow and windy access road. I hit some road work going on and had to drive the rental over a half kilometer of completely torn up highway. When I say completely torn up I mean a bulldozer had just ripped it to shreds and they were in the process of smoothing things out, but it certainly wasn’t going to happen as I waited. I’m hoping the rental company won’t be looking too enthusiastically for scratches. On the way out of Calakmul the bad road had been completely flattened back into dirt. Bad timing…

If Palenque was the sublime zen master of ancient Mayan sites, Calakmul was Conan the destroyer. Nothing fancy at Calakmul, it impresses by sheer size and scope. All of the monolithic stelae located throughout the site add to the brute mystery. The site is huge and very tiring to walk through and climb about, and without the shortcuts provided by Rio Bec and my Moon handbook it would have been wasted energy. Views from the structures are the best part about this site. The view from structure 2, which is I believe the largest from that era, is amazing. The tops of the other pyramids peeking out of the canopy, the view extending for miles and miles above the jungle to the horizon. Once up here you begin to understand why the Maya sought to build these so high, despite wanting to be closer to gods and all that. Instant peace of mind, like sitting high above an ocean. There is also much excavating going on here, both within the tomb of structure 2 and some murals that had been ransacked some years ago and are now protected by a concrete slap moved over the opening. I spend 3.5hrs walking around and am beat and wander the long distance back to the car and start spotting howler monkeys, which are monkeys with little bear faces. When they “howl,” it is a quite terrifying thing. As I beckon them with “monkey sounds,” one tries to pee on me but misses. Then another one pulls out a sign that reads “go home, tourist.” Ok, point taken. These animals are extremely jealous of humans because they don’t know how to wear shoes or operate cameras, whatever you do don’t rub it in.

Today I made it to Tulum and had lunch and then opted to drive to Playa Del Carmen to stay there. Big mistake. Playa del Carmen is just a mini-Cancun, but I’ve never been to Cancun so I can’t really compare. One walk down to the MTV beach and I’m not even interested in the beach anymore. Think tomorrow I’ll head to Coba and then hit some beach back in Tulum for the last day here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 8:37 pm and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.