Palenque - Tree Monkeys, Meet Ground Monkeys

One of the temple buildings from the Palenque ruins

My visit to Palenque was a bit weird as I was only there for three nights and spent two of them horribly sick, again. I really need to learn how to tell the good tacos from the bad ones. However, I think I saw enough to give this place a review.

Palenque is a cool little town that sits in the only spot of real tropical jungle in Mexico. With that jungle comes steamy tropical heat, which was different to the dry heat of Yucatan. One of the main tourist activities in the area is a ritual sweat bath called Temazcal which is supposed to be a spiritually cleansing experience, but to be honest catching a minibus with no open windows was probably close enough. I certainly felt like a new person when I stepped out into the breeze.

An astronomical tower at Palenque. One thing I have learned about the Maya is that they were keen astronomers

If you've seen the opening to Raiders of the Lost Ark, that's the vibe of the areas around Palenque. Not too far from the city are the ruins of ancient Palenque, which were frankly astonishing. Impressive in a different way to the ruins I had already seen, better preserved, cheap and relatively quiet. I was there on a 'busy' day, and even so it was still pretty empty. You can climb and enter all the excavated buildings apart from those with murals to preserve, some of which are very tall.

Overview of the main residences of the priests and royalty of Palenque

I was supposed to leave that evening, but my stomach wasn't feeling up to a night bus so I stayed another night with some friends at a cool little hostel just out of town. The next morning, the owner of the hostel called us over after breakfast with hands full of papaya and banana pieces. As she stood there, a group of howler monkeys swung out of the trees and climbed down to the lower branches, allowing us to hand them some food!

Gimme!

They were adorable, and even had a couple of babies with them. Their hands were really soft as well, which was surprising from an animal that spends its days gripping rough tree bark. After some initial hesitation, they got very close to us and even tolerated some back scratches while we handed them the treats.

Is this picture cute or a bit spooky?

It would have been nice to spend longer here, but my plans at the time meant I had little time left. Instead, I hopped on a couple of collectivos to get to my next destination, San Cristobal. If you're travelling the same way, the collectivos were about half the price of an ADO bus for a slightly longer journey time with much better views. Recommended!

Caro and her spirit animal, probably
 PS: Sorry for the lost absence, loyal readers! I had some problems getting some of the pictures, updates should be more regular now.

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