Yaxchilan, Monday 14^th September

We met our guide for the tour, a local named Jesus and we walked from the hotel to the river as it was only a few hundred metres. We boarded our boat and set off for the forty minute high speed boat ride to Yaxchilan.

 Our captain contemplating the forest banks of the river.

Yaxchilan is an ancient Mayan city kingdom and trading centre on the river and is only accessible by boat. It is also best visited early to avoid the heat of the day when it is both hot and humid but also before all the insects are awake and ready to eat you alive. Not to mention that having the place to yourself before the crowds of tourists destroy the tranquillity is also a big bonus.

The river is the border between Mexico on our left or port bow and Guatemala is on our right or starboard bow.

We landed at a flight of steps and got off the boat. This is the rainy season but the river levels are much lower than normal as this is a drier than usual rainy season. We walked through the jungle towards the first plaza seeing some woodpeckers in the trees, plus some spider monkeys playing in the trees above our heads. There was also a giant shrew like creature whose name in both Spanish and English I forget.

We arrived at the first building and it was a labyrinth with several dark underground passages to get into the main plaza. There were bats hanging from the ceiling and large spiders crawling on the floor and walls…plus the occasional drip from the roof that might make you jump in the dark.

The insects were particularly active that morning and most of us got bitten by a mirage of tiny but sharp toothed biting insects (only those with 100% DEET seemed to survive the onslaught unscathed). Photos of some of the ruins.

We went back by boat and the journey was longer as it was upstream against the current. And we had another crocodile sighting and a reminder not to dangle fingers in the water. An interesting group photo of L to R Nicole looking at the floor of the boat with Seb behind her, the captain of the boat, John looking at the camera and Tracey and Steve making faces at the computer.

 And one of mr looking contempentary at the jungle banks of the river as we speed by.

Next stop after getting of the boat was Bonampak, only a short distance, perhaps 30kms from Yaxchilan and an ally of that city. It is a much smaller site but the architecture is very different. Here the local Mayans built on top of existing structures so every king built their pyramids higher and wider than before rather than building complete new buildings on a new site.

It is also one of the few places where the original painted stucco plaster is still visible.

Plus some colourful butterflies one of which was particularly obliging by standing still and taking a lift by landing on my head.

Then it was back into the bus for the long journey to Palenque where we would be staying for two nights. It is not far, some 95kms but it was back along the same slow road with speed bumps. Plus it had started to pour down so visibility was poor.

The rain eased off as we arrived at our campsite within the national park at Palenque but everything was wet so it was an easy decision to opt for an upgrade to a rustic one bed room, no facilities of its own but it was a little hut built in the jungle roofed with palm fronds.

After an evening meal the rain started again but we still changed into our swimming costumes and went swimming in the pool. Overhead the clouds darkened and lightning surged between clouds and from the clouds to the ground. Rain beat down onto the surface of the pool. We stayed in the pool as the rain was cooler than the water in the pool so we carried on swimming for more than an hour before going to bed.