Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Today is a rest-day, which will actually involve a fair amount of walking in very humid conditions round a bunch of old ruins just a couple of miles down the road from the hotel. But first, the usual early morning tasks, such as showering, getting dressed and eating breakfast at the excellent hotel buffet... it was when returning to my room that I noticed a rather large lump on my left elbow, about the size of a golf-ball and quite sensitive to the touch. I recall thinking I had a small lump there before we left, probably the result of some grit from a desk getting embedded in my skin. Well, now it seems to have become a full-blown infection, with accompanying swelling. Without going in to detail, I managed to drain some fluid from it, which was clear, so it should be OK, and put on some anti-septic cream and covered it with a plaster.

Then it was time to ride to the ruins, where we parked up and were immediately accosted by young boys (adolescents really) offering to look after and wash the bikes for 50 pesos each (about £2.50). This was a bargain, especially when considering the alternative had we not paid... We also met an official guide, also a young male, who spoke excellent English and would show us the main parts of the ruins in a 2-hour tour for $85 (the standard price, as marked on an official sign by the gate). Between the 4 of us (Nick, Al, Andrew and me) that also seemed like a bargain, so off we set, first paying the 50 pesos entry fee and then through the gate and passed through a small area of jungle, where there was a sign marking the appointment of the site as a World Heritage Site in 1987 (the plaque says 1988 – a good example of “Mexican Time”), emerging into a clearing with an enormous group of 4 Mayan temple structures in front of us – from right to left, the Temple of the Skull, dating from around 400AD, Temple XII-A, the Temple of the Red Queen and on the left Pakal's tomb (Temple of the Inscriptions)...





We then learnt a little more about the ruins, which comprise some 1,400 buildings of which 98% are still under forest, the 2% that have been excavated giving a real impression of a sophisticated culture, capable of shifting heavy limestone from quarries miles away to construct these buildings, which despite appearances are actually on level ground (although one or two are built on the top of hills). The buildings themselves are not all temples, and follow a similar architectural style, with a block structure on the roof designed to stabilise the structure (something that must have worked, as they're still here, despite having been swallowed by the jungle before being re-discovered). The temples are built in 9 layers, representing the 9 levels of the underworld, the Mayans believing that once a person dies, they need to progress through the underworld to emerge again, as with the corn they cultivated, whereby the seed is put into the ground (the underworld) and 9 days later emerges are green shoots...

Inside the Temple of the Skull was found the red queen, so called because her bones were coloured red like the walls of the temple would have been. Originally, like the pyramids at Giza, the temples were covered with stucco (plaster) and coloured, in this case red with mercury oxide from as far away as Mexico City. The Red Queen's tomb was discovered as recently as 1973 and was covered with a very large stone slab, engraved with carvings and coloured red. The slab weighed 7 tonnes and had to be lifted using truck jacks in order to get to the body of the queen.

Pakal's tomb is perhaps the most famous of the temples at Palenque, it being the final resting place of the great ruler, who brought prosperity to the Mayans in this city, and whose dynasty continued to flourish until the building stopped abruptly around 845AD and the city was abandoned.




The temple has some fascinating features, such as two small windows on the right side that directly align with the position of the sun on the longest day (21st June), projecting a shaft of light right across the top of the temple, to where Pakal stood holding his baby son, the light only falling on the child and demonstrating to the populace below that his son was indeed blessed by the sun god...





The rest of the complex includes Pakal's Palace, complete with sauna rooms and frescos, with more alignment to the stars, and a complex of 3 temples built by Pakal's son and heir, which share their alignment with the stars (and therefore their layout) with the great pyramids at Giza (both cultures clearly believing the alignment of stars in the heavens to have great significance).





I could probably write the world's longest blog entry on the information we were given by our excellent guide as he showed us round, but I won't, because I couldn't write it all down in my notebook, and besides, if you're that interested, why not by a book... But I will leave you with a couple of the more interesting facts, that illustrate once again how lucky we are not to have been living during Mayan times... first, the King used to pierce his genitals twice a year before the corn seeds were planted, spreading his blood on the land to guarantee a good crop... second, there is a ballpark where they used to play a ball game, trying to score between vertical hoops planted on the mounds on either side of the park. The losers in this game had their hands and feet cut off. The winners... well, they were sacrificed. Needless to say, it's one game where being not picked to play had its advantages...





With the tour done, we headed back to the bikes, which were very clean, paid our minders and made our way via the museum (where a replica of the Red Queen's tomb lid was) back to the hotel and the pool. Only the group insisted I stay out of it, due to my elbow... So I sat in the sun for a while, before getting out my map of Honduras and discussing routes with Kevin, working out if it possible for me to revisit the school I helped build back in 2006 (the good news is it is...).

Later I rode into town with Nick, Al and Andrew to get some dinner, preferring not to eat for 2 nights in the hotel. Palenque town is a mix of the very clean and modern high street, a big square where a band were playing (4 blokes knocking the hell out of a glockenspiel and a drummer), and typically run-down buildings the further from the square you get. We parked up in the square and went for a wander, before selecting a terrace restaurant overlooking the square, where we could hear the band playing (although that was possible anywhere in Palenque, such was the volume of their speakers), and ate a good meal of Mexican Beef, washed down in my case by a Fanta (sticking to my dry day promise). After dinner we went and bought Andrew some new sunglasses, because he'd bought a pair before dinner and then sat on them... before wandering round some more and then heading back to the hotel and off to bed...