Palenque: MEXICO

We arrived in Palenque and were welcomed by the heat and humidity. Pheww, it sure was hot there. However, there was also a mystical feeling in the air. We visited the ruins in the jungle. Aha, now I see where this mystical energy is coming from. The Mayans were here 2000 years ago, and their footprint has been left. Thus we began our travels on the Ruta Maya. So much history, culture and energy. One could spend an entire trip going to all the sites and learning about the cultre of the Maya from yesterday, today and what their future holds.

Palenque.

We hiked ino the jungle to see the covered ruins. I believe from space they reported over 1000 ruins in this area.

Waterfall, the Maya choose this region because of the easy access to water.

A tree that is being over taken by another tree, #junglelife.

Ruins and the entrance into the ruins, now a home for jungle wild life.

Ruins in the jungle, and a home for a snake.

Jungle berries.

Palenque: inhabitance of the Maya.

Ruins.

It was soo hot. Most of the ruins were actually painted and had designs covering them, of snakes, jaguars, Mayan faces.

Or even skulls!

The palace with a watch tower.

Covered by the trees are the steps to reach this temple.

Inside a temple.

These are carvings of prisoners that were captured and then later killed as offerings. Notice the hand over the chest, this is a display of respect.

The Maya also mutilated their scalps so that they were long and oval shaped and wore their hair in pony tails on top. They started the mutilation of the scalps when they were babies.

Impressive structures.

Aqueducts to retain and move water. 

I believe this guy is a warrior.

The color still remains on this stelae. To tho top right are symbols which represented the Mayan language.

A wall with carvings.

The structures were built to represent he 13 layers of the Mayan realms, their hell, heaven and earth.

This is a god. To the right is a head coming out of a corn stalk. The Maya believed that humans were formed from the corn.

Palenque.

A shaman smoking something.

An image of a god that was adorned in the temples.

A jade mask found in a tomb, most likely of a noble.

This is an elaborately decorated tomb of one of the leaders in Palenque, he had this commissioned before his death.