Palenque

Visited the Mayan ruins at Palenque yesterday morning. Gorgeous. A totally different experience from the Aztec ruins at Teotihuacan. Whereas Teotihuacan had been dry, brown, and utterly dominated by two mindblowing temples, the buildings at Palenque are on a smaller scale and, except where excavated, completely taken back by the surrounding jungle. The smaller scale and greater diversity of buildings at Palenque made it easier to imagine the city when it was in its prime. Filled with tens of thousands of people cooking, washing, sacrificing to their gods... Smaller though it may be, the Templo de las Inscriptiones was still huge and magnificent. It didn't take much imagination to see how a city-state that could build such a monument, in such steep and heavily forested an area, could command such a vast region.

The excavated, or partially excavated, buildings and temples were spread across many acres of deep jungle. Each group connected to the others by footpaths and bridges cut into the forest. Several small streams flow past the ruined city and, still within the city perimeter, form beautiful pools and small falls.

Photos