The ruins of Palenque sit at the edge of a dense jungle made into a national park. The grounds occupying the temples and ruins is large and impressive. There were more ruins in the jungle that we did not visit as they appeared to be closed off to the self-guided tourist. Palenque has hundreds of visitors, unlike our visit to Tonina which had ~20 visitors. We spent an hour and a half walking around, reading the plaques that explained the obvious, i.e., this temple is built of stone and the walls were plastered with stucco and to the west is another building. Some plaques did state what certain areas were used for. Photo left: Twenty-first century ruler of Palenque.
For us, the jungle that surrounded the ruins was intriguing. We saw a variety of birds, many butterflies, and the day before at one of the resort hotels we saw monkeys. We'd love to do a hike in the jungle but I"m not sure we'd find our way out.
Photo right: Ballcourt of Palenque.
The ruins are definitely worth a visit but be wary of higher prices from vendors and the potential for deception. Our visit was tempered by an encounter with a Mexican guide who misquoted what he would charge to take us on a tour. We agreed to a tour when he said “75”, then just before we started I verified the price and he said 350 pesos per person….he meant closer to 75 USDs! We kindly said no and took our self-guided tour. There were more tour guides who approached us with a lesser fee of 100 pesos….the price kept going down closer to the entrance.
This photo reminded us of the famous Chilkoot Pass photo during the Klondike Gold Rush.We may look like dummies but being our sixth week in Mexico we have a general instinct to know when we may be getting charged too much.....Bruce has already been hit by the gringo factor a few times. For the most part, everyone is on the up and up.
Bruce was glad to leave the ruins and town of Palenque and head toward Campeche, Campeche. I had read a blurb about a town called Champoton (42 miles south of Campeche) which looked interesting and perfect timing for a stop. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as interesting as the guide book said. We did find a nice hotel, grabbed a bite to eat and off to bed. There is nothing to keep us here another day. This is a fishing community and similar to Homer, Alaska in that the fish is abundant and the most expensive thing on the menu. I ordered chicken.
Coastal town of Champoton, Campeche.
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