Palenque Ancient Maya Ruins

Today was a 12h+ day. I was collected at 7:35am and dropped back off in the town centre at 19:45, and got back to the hostel at around 21:00. I cheated and had pizza for tea! Sometimes needs must but I remembered at around 7pm I'd not eaten for 24h!!

As well as the ancient ruins, I went to two amazing waterfalls. Since tomorrow is also a waterfall, I'll do all three in one blog post and just talk about the ruins in this one.

Palenque ruins are some of the most important Mayan ruins in the world, second perhaps only to places like Tikal in Guatemala (I was lucky enough to visit 6 years ago) or Chichen Itza (which is on the list for next week). The pyramids are enormous and some I was able to climb. I always find these kinds of ruins breathtaking. For me they are just as wonderful and impressive as the pyramids in Egypt, or any of the Greek or Roman ruins that remain.

Palenque ruins are completely in the middle of the jungle and the heat and humidity is intense. At points it rained (shocker, in a rainforest!) and my skin was wet and gross from a combination of sun cream, insect repellent, sweat and rain!

In 1952 archaeologists discovered a tomb with a decorated lid of an ancient Mayan queen. They have built a replica which I saw here today (first tomb photo), and I also saw one in the Jade Museum in San Cristóbal (second tomb photo).

I am feeling very overwhelmed by this beautiful day and am even more motivated to visit Chichén-Itza when I go to Yucatán next week.