Going back a few days

Yesterday we did a 10 hour tour that turned into 11 hours. It took in the Palenque ruins (Mayan), and Cascada de Misol Ha, a huge waterfall, and more waterfalls at Agua Azul. We decided to get a tour guide, really everything is so cheap and it is good to support the tourist industry here, I don't see any of the people serving us living in mansions. Our tourist guide is Ernesto, and he worth the money. As a bonus, something about a tree fallen on the road that blocked of access to the main part of the ruins, he offers to take us for a walk through the jungle as a bonus for the same cost. In the meantime the tree has been cleared but he honors his offer, so we go for a walk through the jungle. The jungle is very like our qld rain forests but perhaps twice as dense. Not long after we start out Ernesto stops to listen. We hear what he is listening to. It's a howler monkey. He says if we're lucky we might see one. And I know he really wants us to see one. He stops often to have a listen. But no luck. We do see a toucan perched on a distant branch though. That was a thrill.
As we traipse through the jungle, Merryon and my eyes are mostly on our feet. Ernesto points out clumps of rocks here and there and explains that only 5% of the ruins have been uncovered. 95% are still covered in jungle. He talks about the Mayan powers that be. To important people they were like kings , to the plebs and workers they were like gods. They ruled by inciting fear. Fear of the gods and their wrath. They mayans cleared so much jungle. They burnt trees as part of the process of making the stucco that covered the temple and which they then painted in their traditional bright colours like blue and orange. We could still see remnants of orange on the plaster. The amount of trees they had to burn for this process was huge and eventually they depleted their surrounding jungle. Wiki says the temples were abandoned after power struggles but Ernesto suggested that they'd annihilated their environment and food sources and were forced to leave. Gee, shouldn't we learn something from this? The Mayans were incredibly intelligent. In the temples the leaders even had a toilet. A stone throne, that had a stone canal with a good sluicing of water, carried of course by the slaves, that led the effluence underground and away from the temple.
From there we went to Misol Ha waterfalls, which were stunning and loud, and then on to another lot of waterfalls at Agua Azul. This was a real touristy picnic sort of area with heaps and heaps of market stalls, selling food, drinks and crafts and we had 3 hours there to have lunch and basically spend money! We didn't do either. We knew we had some true artisan markets coming up so we held off. I was tempted by some embroidered blouses and spent ages agonizing over colours and sizes, but when it came to paying, the vendor added a quick 40 pesos each to price she'd first quoted. This is not the first time this has happened and this time I wasn't going to play the game. Much to her disgust I changed my mind. I was sure I'd find some nicer tops along the way.



At Misol Ha waterfalls, 6 June.




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