Palenque my favorite

Expected grandeur and Palenque delivered. A big monument the Temple XIII, the temple of Inscriptions where Pakal, my favorite Maya dude, was buried deep inside, and Tumba de la Reina Roja, the tomb of the Red Queen, first sight you beheld once you rounded the turn upon entering the Maya city. Impressive! The queen tomb was covered in red. Bas-reliefs on the roof comb of the Temple of Inscriptions. From a bit afar, one could see the Temple of the Cross, high above. The Palace compound, with the aqueduct running beside it, had intricate structures, a 4-level observation tower, Corbel arch corridors and the Patio de Los Cautivos, an inner courtyard showing relief panels of the captives, and a grand staircase descending to the ball court and to the breathtaking Temple of the Count, Templo del Conde, on the left. Most impressive! We climbed the temple of the Sun, then the Temple of the Cross, which had spectacular views of the entire Palenque site, and the temple of the Foliated Cross, which had carved wall panels and hieroglyphs.


Palenque is huge and only a quarter of it is open to public. But the quarter of it is manificent enough. SmallLeo couldnt stop wanting to take photos with the monuments. And quite a few he had. Looked everywhere for a fridge magnet with Pakal's face but couldnt find one I like. Also looked for a tshirt with his face but only found some that had either the round calendar with his face in the middle or too much text, so in the end I ended up with no Pakal fridge magnet and no Pakal tshirt. Sigh.

Gosh, I really liked Palenque, my favorite of the Maya sites. And I was a bit infatuated with Pakal the Great, 8 Ahau and Sun Shield. His tomb replica is in Mexico city museum so i doubt I'd ever see it. Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, the Mexican archaeologist who discovered Pakal's tomb was buried right in front of the Pakal's temple.

Finally had our picnic lunch with bread, crackers and tuna at A&T's porch. The light but satisfying lunch in the afternoon jungle atmosphere with birds on the trees and cuanti mundis roaming around, was relaxing and really quite nice. For the rest of the day, we've explored the hotel site, dined at the restaurant and just chilled out. Very pleasant and enjoyable day.


Palenque - Its ancient name was Lakamha (“Big Water”) and its modern name comes from the nearby Spanish colonial settlement of Santo Domingo de Palenque


Palenque photos:


Hotel Chan-Kah photos: