We only rode about 80 miles today, but it took quite some time. Between the constant curves and mountains along with land slides, road cave ins and the ever present pot holes and speed bumps, I doubt we averaged more than 30 MPH. But the riding was nice and cool, plus the scenery was really nice!
Lots of corn grown here and you cannot believe some of the ridicules steep angles it is being grown on mountain sides. A small amount of it is actually on some what flat land.
We are in Palenque for the night and will go to the ruins tomorrow. I was there about five years ago and always regretted not hiring a guide to better explain the architect and history. Hopefully I can get a combination English and Spanish speaking guide tomorrow for Ana and myself.
Hi Donnie! Just found this new RR. You two have a great trip! We are now living in San Carlos, Mex. Been here since Christmas and are loving it. Safe travels my friend. Royse PS Your old GS is happy and going strong!
We spent about half of the day at the Palenque Ruins. I have the pictures down loading now. Here is some info from Wikipedia. Palenque (Bàak'<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[pronunciation?]</sup> in Modern Maya) was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 226 BC to around 799 AD. After its decline, it was absorbed into the jungle, which is made up of cedar, mahogany, and sapodilla trees,<sup id="cite_ref-Schrom_1-0" class="reference">[1]</sup> but has been excavated and restored and is now a famous archaeological site attracting thousands of visitors. It is located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, located about 130 km (81 mi) south of Ciudad del Carmen<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]</sup> about 150 m (164 yd) above sea level. It stays at a humid 26°C (79°F) with roughly 2160 mm (85 in) of rain a year.[ Palenque is a medium-sized site, much smaller than such huge sites as Tikal, Chichen Itza, or Copán, but it contains some of the finest architecture, sculpture, roof comb and bas-relief carvings that the Mayas produced. Much of the history of Palenque has been reconstructed from reading the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the many monuments; historians now have a long sequence of the ruling dynasty of Palenque in the 5th century and extensive knowledge of the city-state's rivalry with other states such as Calakmul and Toniná. The most famous ruler of Palenque was Pacal the Great whose tomb has been found and excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions. By 2005, the discovered area covered up to 2.5 km² (1 sq mi), but it is estimated that less than 10% of the total area of the city is explored, leaving more than a thousand structures still covered by jungle. You can find a lot more information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palenque
It was raining (sprinkling) when we got up this morning. We walked in the rain to get some coffee at Oxxos and some great tacos at a local stand. The rain finally stopped about 10:00AM so we caught a van at 11:30 and went to the Ruins. It sprinkled off and on the entire time we were there. Enough at times that we would take cover, but no real problem. There was a haze most of the afternoon and it shows up in most of the photos. I took photos of some of the info boards for the different structures. There is a lot of info available on the link in the last post. I don't have much narrative for the photos I have. Lazy!!! I am still amazed at the structures these folks were building over 2,000 years ago! :eek1
Of the different ruins I have been to in Mexico, I definitely would put the Palenque Ruins on the must see list, just after the Pyramid of the Sun north of Mexico City. I would also have the world's largest pyramid located east of Mexico City near Puebla on that list.