The Ancient Mayan City Of Palenque….My Visit. Part 1

Above is the new header photo of me standing in front of The Temple Of Inscriptions.This is the first and most impressive structure that I saw as I entered the main entrance.

I’m not going to give you a tour explaining everything,this can be Googled for those who are really interested in learning about this place.But I will give my impressions of the next 3 hours of Willy’s Wanderings.But first just a little background history.

At 8 AM I set out to walk to the ancient city, which as I was told was just about a mile up the road from the campsite here at Maya Bell.The magic word was “Up”as I didn't realize that the main entrance sits up on a ridge in the jungle,via a winding twisting highway.The jungle and forest is so thick here that its difficult to determine any rise in the topography.Huffing and puffing up the hill,I arrived about 45 minutes later to a parking area full of tour buses and venders..Oh boy! A crowd, and its not even 9 Am yet. It was interesting to mill about in the crowd and hear all the different languages being spoken.Many I recognized,many of course I didn't.People come in droves from all over the world to visit these sites here in Mexico.And by the way,I’m told that Palenque is the most impressive for natural beauty and lack of crowds.

The Main Palace and courtyard.

And what it originally looked like by this model.

The crowds soon dissipated as I entered the main gate,where a nice young lady from New Zealand was patient enough to,after several try's,get my header photo without anyone else in the photo.The crowd soon spreads out to individual areas as this place is huge.(2 square Kilometers)

Most of the time now I was pretty much alone where I could poke around and take in the beauty and history of this breathtaking park.Yes it is a National Park,and the grounds are very park like and well groomed.And I might add,spotless,with no litter.

The combination of surrounding jungle,and a beautiful clear running stream passing right through the middle of the site,made it a joy to behold.It really takes your breath away to be standing in this place.Even the howler monkeys got into the act for a while,as I could hear them just out of sight back in the jungle, with their heavy breathing sound that is similar to wind in the trees.I would imagine that many of the tourists visiting would not even take notice or realize what they were hearing.But after listening to them for the past week,I’m very familiar.In fact as I write this at 4:45 AM,I hear them and I never tire of it.

I wanted to show some of the interesting and flowering trees that are common to this area,making it such a wonderful place to wander around.

 

  So a final look at the last of the ruins.I took many photo’s and it was difficult to choose which ones to display.I really wanted to show more of what it looks like generally,just walking the grounds and soaking up some history.

In part 2 we will walk down a jungle/forest path,following the stream as it cascades down off the ridge,through the ancient residential area of Mayan Palenque,creating beautiful waterfalls and deep pools of crystal clear water, with the quality of any mountain stream back home. Mexico is not all a desert folks.