Palenque: the ruins in the jungle

18th July

+ After a long night bus ride we arrived to the state of Chiapas. There, we went to visit the famous Maya ruins of Palenque and as we heard of a great place to sleep close to the ruins in the middle of the jungle, we decided to go there too. The place is called Pachan and it's a village, with bungalows, guesthouses and restaurants in the middle of the jungle, with no roads.

 

+ The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD. They are scattered around in the forest and it is pretty amazing to walk around those constructions. There is so much green and huge plants, you can also hear the monkeys (at the beginning we weren't sure if the sound was from a bull or a tiger... )
+ Some of the buildings you can also climb and you have a beautiful view from there. The most famous ruler of Palenque was Pacal whose tomb has been found and you can actually enter where the tomb is. It feels like Indiana Jones!
 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the story of a hat wearing a man

 

Shakira rocks in Merida

15th July

+ This colonial town is nice with its narrow and colorful street, with the hustle and bustle around the main plaza, live music everywhere and with the excellent "Yucateca" food. It is also full of history and therefore a good place to learn more about the Spanish colonization and the Mexican revolution.

 Eating the Yucateca style

+ Although we left the cost and its nice beaches with a bit of sadness, the hotel where we stayed was just awesome with a swimming pool surrounded by a beautiful garden and hammocks over the swimming pool  to lazy around during a hot day.

 

 

Our room behind this pink door and the bathroom was pink too! :)

+ Adding to this pinkytude atmosphere, to our surprise, Shakira gave a concert in the town for FREE the next day (as the town celebrated its 25 years of music festival)! We couldn't believe it and some of us (guess whom?) was really excited to get there!!! We (Dani - such a hero) managed to get some of the last tickets, pretty much in the back (and this is really far from the stage if you consider the other 150.000 Mexicans who were also there). In any case Shakira totally rocked!!!

 

Chichen Itza: The Maya Ruins of Yucatan

15th July

+ Chichen Itza is one of the current 7 world wonders. I bet is also one of the 7 most touristic-crowded places in the word....

+ The biggest attraction (main building) is its central pyramid which unfortunately cannot be climbed because the steps are too small and  steep and therefore too dangerous.

  + The Mayas were very advanced in mathematics and astronomy producing very accurate solar and moon calendars. Below you can see the observatory.

+ Below is a Cenote. This small lakes were 'holy pools' during the Maya reign. They used to through in offers  for the gods so that they could bring or stop the rain. The offers consisted of jewels, wood handcraft, and well, also some human sacrifices.