Palenque ruinas

Vid lunchtid på fredagen gav vi oss (äntligen!) av mot ruinerna. Det hade regnat hela torsdagen och under förmiddagen, men vid elvatiden slutade det så vi hoppade på en colectivo som tog oss den knappa milen bort till ruinerna av Maya-staden Palenque. Jag var här förra gången jag var i Mexico, för nästan sex år sedan. Då tyckte jag att det var en av de vackraste platser jag någonsin varit på, och det gäller fortfarande.

Oskar och jag gick runt i uppåt fyra timmar bland ruinerna. Det var dessutom väldigt lite folk (lågsäsong, regn) så ofta kunde vi vandra runt i säkert en kvart utan att se en själ. Då kunde man tänka sig in i hur fantastiskt det måste varit för de första arkeologerna som kämpade sig fram genom djungeln och plötsligt fick se tornet och stora palatset framför sig. Återigen får bilderna tala för sig själva, men jag tycker verkligen ni ska googla Maya-kulturen lite.

Oskar and I spent most of our Friday walking around the site of Palenque. Rain and low season equals minimum amount of people, which was really nice. At times we could walk around for fifteen minutes without seeing anyone. Six years since my last visit, and it's still one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

 Finally! I'd really been looking forward to seeing this amazing place again.

 Climbing ruins might look easy, but those steps are both steep and slippery.

 Just checking out one of the tombs (the tomb of the red skull?), no big deal.

 The palace

The big tombs 

Hej Oskar!

 Walking around in the huge palace might have been my favourite part of the day.

 Yet another pose...

 This place reminded me of the Don Rosa adventures i loved so much as a kid. Could almost see Scrooge McDuck looking for a treasure with a map in his hand.

 Juego de Pelota- Ball court. The Mayans had a ball game that they played on important occasions and during ceremonies, every Mayan city had at least one ball court.

    The woman in the dress is doing some sort of healing/energy transforming on her very devoted followers. Turns out this was only the first of several weird spiritual encounters we were going to have the next couple of days.

 Just a short walk and we we had the jungle and the ruins all to ourselves. And a waterfall. 

 The one moment that really made us feel like explorers was when we walked in to a ruin and a bat came flying over our heads. Almost felt like we were the first ones to go in there in hundreds of years.