Ruins of Palenque, Yaxchilán & Bonampak

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We spent several hours at these Maya ruins on the first day of June, before it got too hot. Once again they were very impressive. All the ruins we've seen have been different but they amaze equally - that such a civilisation existed so long ago in this place and then it disappeared - in this case, the Mayans didn't disappear but they went back to a more simple subsistence lifestyle and nobody really knows why they left their enormous cities of stone. This site was particularly interesting because of the possibility to actually walk through the buildings - particularly the Palace - which makes it even more amazing as you imagine the life within the walls rather than just from the outside. It is possible to leave the main site via a jungle path which leads past more buildings which the jungle is slowly reclaiming and also passes a small waterfall. The exit is just across the road from the museum which houses quite a few interesting artefacts, found during excavations of the site.
We stayed a few more days whilst I struggled with my intestinal urges and were really fortunate with the arrival of a couple who had a satellite internet connection. Not only were they really interesting people to talk to, since they were on their way back from Guatemala, but Ed and Jan were nice enough to let us use their connection and we caught up on quite a few things that hadn't been tended to lately. (I also started looking for possible flights for my return visit to Australia early next year.) It was nice staying around the Mayabell. The restaurant has passable food - nothing very exciting though - and has live music every night, which is usually very good. The people tend to be both friendly and interesting, so that also made our extended stay pleasant.
By Tuesday I felt well enough to move on, so we headed off to visit two out of the way ruin sites on the edge of the Lacandon Jungle. Yaxchilán can only be reached by boat as it lies on the bank of the Rio Usumacinta. We drove to Frontera Corozal, around 160 kilometres from Palenque, along a road which follows the Mexico/Guatemala border. It was only built recently and we were quite surprised to see how populated the area was and how busy the road was. We were also somewhat depressed by the amount of jungle that is being cleared along the route - slash and burn is the preferred method used by the farmers here. We stayed at Escudo Jaguar (a 'resort') in the car park, because that was where the boat would leave from in the morning. Rio Usumacinta runs along Mexico's border with Guatemala, so we also had our first view of the Guatemalan countryside during our boat ride to the ruins. Along with the Swiss couple, that we shared the boat with, we were the only people at the site. There were also quite a few howler monkeys, but we didn't see them, only heard them a lot closer than we had in Palenque. I think I have mentioned before how much we enjoy walking through a site when it is almost deserted. Unfortunately I wasn't up to climbing the many stairs to make it up to the Grand Acropolis, which Juergen told me was really the best part. But I was suitably impressed by what I saw down below.
We had left reasonably early, so by lunchtime we were back - the boat trip takes almost an hour each way and they allow 2 hours for visiting the site. We packed up and drove the 30 kilometres to Bonampak. We found Campamento Lacandones which is by a river and has its own waterfall. There were lots of trees around and it really felt like we were right in the jungle. The place is run by some Lacandon people, who were quite reserved with us, but that may have been because they don't speak any English and only enough Spanish to get by. It was a lovely place and it cooled down considerably overnight, compared to Palenque. We slept well there.
Early next morning we went to the Bonampak ruins. You are not allowed to drive to the ruin site, but must park just inside the entrance and pay 70 pesos each to be driven the 9 kilometres to the site. We were the only people there this time, except for a pair of guards who talked constantly the whole time. They could be heard all over the site. They were really only there to take care of the murals for which the site is famous. Juergen wasn't allowed to use his tripod and we weren't allowed to eat our sandwich there. That was the only communication they made to us. Despite the guards, we were impressed by this site too. The three rooms of murals are really incredible - the best preserved we have seen. This time I did manage to climb the stairs and was well rewarded for the effort. There is a rather lame museum back at the entrance, which we passed through quickly and then we were on the road back to Palenque. It was on this route that we underwent our first ever check at a police/military checkpoint. Every other time we have passed one we have been waved through.
On the way back, at the pump of a Pemex station, we had an unfortunate encounter of the crashing kind with a Mexican pickup truck. We weren't really sure whose fault it was, but the way the locals drive around this area we are sure that it must have been at least 50-50! It was extremely difficult to negotiate because of our very limited Spanish and their non-existent English. Eventually we decided to let the question of fault just go and call our insurance - particularly since the poor Mexican driver seemed to be rather distressed (his small Nissan truck was a lot more damaged than ours). The operator spoke with both Juergen and the other driver and things began to get sorted out. We all had to meet the insurance assessor in Palenque later in the day and complete the paperwork and then they took care of everything. Sometimes the idea of countries having compulsory insurance on vehicles brought across their borders seems to be a bit unnecessary, but in this case we think the insurance has paid for itself, not only in terms of cost, but also in terms of good Mexican-Australian relations...
We spent one more night at Mayabell before heading for Campeche yesterday around lunchtime.

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