Palenque

Imagine sleeping outside in the jungle, up off the ground away from the ants and mud, under a roof protecting you from the rain that vacillates between mist and downpour. You wake up and hear the birds, or the rain, or the monkeys. That's where we've been for the last two nights- camping on a raised platform near Palenque, the famous Mayan ruins. It's not quite without amenities though, since we went to sleep each night listening to live music from the restaurant across the creek.

We arrived in the Palenque area on Saturday and went to the ruins on Sunday. Our guide, Raul, tried to impress upon us the mysterious connections the Mayans had with the universe. "Not just the sun," he told us, "but the whole universe." Ben and I know a little about archeo-astronomy from last summer's visit to Chaco Canyon, NM, but Raul went so far as to mention that "The Mayans probably had contact with aliens they knew so much about the universe." I don't know about that, but they did know how to build some enormous and sophisticated buildings, with giant entries and art, paint that has lasted for over 1000 years, and even a sewage system.

I actually enjoyed the afternoon more, when Ben and I were able to just ramble around on our own. There is so much at the site that is not accessible or still covered by the jungle. It's hard to grasp how big it was. What we did manage to grasp though, was the beauty of the place. The waterfalls, the birds, we even saw a monkey (from a distance, way up in a tree). The jungle is definitely awesome. Beautiful, but not always nice. I'd argue the ants biting my feet this morning were along the lines of malicious.