Dec. 31/08..Jan1/09.... by Betty

Who would have known that we would be spending New Year's Eve at the magnificent falls of Cascadas de Agua Azul? We left San Cristobal de Las Casas shortly after 8 a.m. We were told that the road to Palenque, although only 210 km was a very slow go. With Ben in the lead we managed to clear San Cristobal without incident. (The truth being known is John and Ben did a little scouting beforehand!!) One lady told us that there were over 100 topes on the road to Palenque…we lost count after the first 50!! It seemed we were going over bumps every few kms. The windy mountain road took us through the Chiapas Highlands, so breathtakingly beautiful. We had a game we played to see how many of the locals would wave back at us. The children were so cute. Lynnette, in the lead, would start waving, next Betty and by the time they got to Sherry in the end…we managed to get a wave out of them along with some shy smiles. In other cases, the children would run out to the road to wave…full of smiles with their mothers calling them back to safety. They do not see big rigs like ours too often. We passed several little hillside villages that seemed to be there mainly for the harvesting of coffee.

We arrived at Cascadas de Agua Azul around 2:30. We experienced our first rainfall since last October as we were trying to find a place to park overnight.. The cloudburst made the air very humid. We were surprised at the crowd of people here at the falls. And of course, we are inundated with vendors trying to sell us their wares. It is so hard to say no but we really do not need any more trinkets. On the 5km stretch of road in to the falls the locals would put a rope across the road to stall us while they try to sell us stuff.

Thinking we would visit the falls and then have a safe and quiet place to park for the night, we parked our rigs in the parking lot….Tonight is New Years Eve and they have a live band playing, the park is full of local villagers. The music is fantastic but they seem to give loud and emotional speeches between songs. We walked over to enjoy the music. It was amazing. John, Sherry and I were the only ones in a sea of a thousand dark faces swaying to the music. The others just stood there, no expression, nothing. I found it very strange. Later on, Ben and Lynnette went over to listen to the music and to dance. The booming music lasted until shortly after 10:00 pm. Ahhhh, peace and quiet……NOT…..at the stroke of Midnight we were awakened to the sound of fire works going off and OH NO, the music started up again and continued on until after 1:00 a.m.

January 1, 2009... by Betty

Happy New Year Everyone!!!! Today we left Agua Azul shortly after 9 a.m. Although, we had very little sleep, we still enjoyed the trip into the Falls and the noisy New Year's Eve celebrations. We were a little nervous parking there as our big rigs stood out like sore thumbs. I got up in the night and noticed someone walking around our units with a flash light. I was alarmed at first but then I realized he was a watchman from the gatehouse and was looking out for us.

Our trip to Palenque took us almost two hours. After we settled into Maya Belle RV Park - an RV park in the jungle located a few kms inside the Park gates - we took a collective bus up to the ruins. OH MY GOD!!!! I thought the ruins at Monte Alban in Oaxaca were impressive. They do not hold a candle to the ruins of Palenque. I was so grateful that my feet held out so I could climb some of the many uneven steps up to some of the temples.

Although the Mayan people had settled in what is now Mexico in the years around 2500 BC, the settlement of Palenque did not commence until around 100 B.C. with the construction of many of the buildings commencing around the late 4th Century. It is unknown what happened to the Mayans at this location as by the 9th century they had disappeared, leaving only the empty buildings

Fortunately, the Spanish Conquistadors in the 16th Century missed the ruins because of its dense jungle location. The ruins were finally discovered in the mid 1800's. New discoveries are made all the time. The ruins as we know them today are only a very small part of what was once Palenque. It will take many more life times to fully uncover the remaining ruins.

In 1952, a discovery was made in the Temple of the Inscriptions. This discovery was the crypt of the King Pakal. Buried with him were several glyphs that led scientists to solve the mystery of the Mayan Calendar and more Mayan history.

January 2, 2009... by Betty

We will only stay here two nights. Yesterday, in the late afternoon, we heard some very strange sounds. It sounded like something blowing through a wind tunnel, followed by several pig-like grunts. It took us a while to realize these were the sounds of the Howler Monkeys that frequent the local jungle. John and Sherry spotted a couple of them while bird watching this morning. They sure give off eerie sounds.