Mayan Marvels

The anticipated slow, tortuous route from San Cristobal to Palenque proved even slower and more tortuous than expected.  We spent the day driving through verdant mountains dotted with indigenous villages, but eventually the numerous hills got the better of us and the van broke down with a cooling problem.  After lunch, and much fretting, we hobbled to a mechanic in Ocosingo (the only town en route) who had us back on the road in a flash. There was no "we can fit you in next Thursday" or waiting for parts, they just all huddled around the engine with a voltmeter and some bits of wire for an hour and we were as good as new!

We finally arrived in Palenque and stayed right in the jungle, listening to and watching howler monkeys in the evening, and exploring the Mayan ruins during the day.

We were so impressed with Palenque, that we detoured 100 miles to visit two more Mayan sites deep in the Lacandon jungle - Bonampak and Yaxchilan. Near Bonampak we also took a guided walk through the jungle to a crystal clear cenote and camped in a lovely spot on the Rio Lacanja.

Yaxchilan was less accessible, and even more interesting - we had to take an hour's boat ride down the Rio Usumacinta, which delineates the Guatamalan border. This brought out the Indiana Jones in all of us - particularly Francesca who loved exploring the tunnels looking for bats and beetles.

Still not bored with jungles and ruins, we made another long detour off the road to the Caribbean coast to visit Calakmul - a spawling site set in a National Wildlife Reserve. The most memorable part of the day was being harrassed by a troupe of spider monkeys who screeched, banged their fists and threw sticks at us as we walked under 'their' trees!  The girls were very excited and a little worried - after all, as Liberty told us, "we've never been attacked by monkeys before"!

Having survived the ordeal, we are now in Chetumal on the Carribean coast, overlooking the ocean again.  The big news of the day is that Francesca has lost a tooth - her first - we are hoping the tooth fairy can find us, and that she carries pesos!  Here is the 'before' picture...