After a six hour bus ride from San Cristóbal de las Casas, I finally arrived in Palenque. In an effort to try to find my way back to Guatemala, I found out that pretty much no matter what I did, I would have to go through Palenque. Since the journey from San Cristóbal to Flores, Guatemala would be around 17 hours, I figured I would spend a day in Palenque and check out the Mayan ruins here.
I arrived at the bus station at around 6pm to a torrential downpour of rain and deafening thunder. Since it’s been the dry season down here, I haven’t really experienced too much rain other than one or two afternoon showers. Rain in the jungle is no joke, as it was unyielding all night long.
I woke up nice and early this morning, rolled out of bed and hopped on a 10 minute colectivo ride to the ruins. I was raised on the moto that the early bird catches the worm, and man was that beneficial for this trip. Both the rain (which was still coming down this morning) and the hour of the day made it so that there was hardly anyone at the ruins, and I essentially had Palenque to myself for a few hours.
I’m having a tough time trying to come up with the words to how I felt as I turned the corner in the path and first saw the ruins through the trees. The buildings looked absolutely majestic and all the colors of the jungle where wonderfully vibrant with the coating of rain. Fog from the low lying clouds curled over the canopy, and in the distance the roaring screams of howler monkeys echoed throughout the trees. Also, having no people around added such a wonderful mystique of the ruins, as I was waiting for the cast of Apocalypto to jump out and ambush me.
While I enjoyed exploring the ruins immensely, I couldn’t help but think about the downfall of civilizations all day. Walking through the ruins, I kept wondering to myself what future species would think about our achievements and downfalls when our time has come to pass. Ironically enough, when I eventually made it back to the hostel, the first things I saw on the TV in the communal area were images and videos from Japan. Talk about goosebumps.
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| A guy I saw in San Cristóbal |
