Travelling Around Britain and the World

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Palenque and Back to Mexico City: Part 10 of South East from Mexico City

The Mayan Ruins of Lakhama and a Flight Back to the Capital

29-Nov-2017

Wildlife at the Chan-Kah Resort

Mexico
Chiapas
State

The Chan-Kah resort near Palenque is the sort of luxury holding pen for foreigners we usually try to avoid, but I liked our cabin on the resort boundary where order transformed into jungle. Before leaving yesterday to drive back to San Cristóbal, Al had mentioned that we might hear howler monkeys in the morning. The very loud, very aggressive noise, more growling than howling, that filled the early morning air would have been scary without that warning. They seemed to be all around us so we went out for a look, but however hard we peered into the trees all we saw was leaves and branches. Howlers habitually communicate across miles of dense forest, so we should not have been surprised.

Lynne outside our cabin, Chan-Kah resort, Palenque

The gods of tourism have decreed that the modern town of Palenque, two miles to the east, is of no interest; we were here only to visit the Mayan ruins, a similar distance in the opposite direction.

Palenque is a small city in south east Mexico, marked on this map only because of the Mayan ruins

Lakamha, The Palenque Mayan Ruins

Our guide arrived late – we were getting used to that – and drove us the short distance to Lakamha (literally: "Big Water") as Mayan Palenque was probably called. The city was occupied from roughly 100BC to 900AD, though most extant buildings date from the 7th century. Once abandoned, the city melted back into the jungle.

Part of the Palenque site not incorporated into the main tourist site. More lies hidden in the jungle

Mayan hunters telling a Spanish priest of a jungle palace in 1746 set off a series of investigations, initially amateur, damaging and often highly speculative, that became more professional with time. Today 90-95% of the site remains unexcavated but the 2.5km² open to tourists contain some of the finest Mayan buildings known. As the Mayans lacked the wheel, metal tools, or pack animals early European explorers credited the city to the Egyptians, the Polynesians, the Lost Tribes of Israel or anyone else who took their fancy. It was not until 1831 that Juan (previously John) Galindo, an Anglo-Irishman working for the Federal Republic of Central America (existed 1823-41) noted that the figures depicted in Palenque’s art closely resembled the local native Americans. His observation gradually put a stop to the more exotic ideas.

Clearly Mayan features, from a panel in the palace

The Red Queen's Tomb and The Temples of the Skull and of the Inscriptions

Opposite the entrance on an artificially levelled platform is the 7th century Temple of the Skull, so called because the only surviving stucco is of a (deer’s?) skull.

The Temple of the Skull, Palenque

The Temple of the Skull forms a single complex with the Temple of the Inscriptions.

The Temple of the Inscriptions (nearest the camera) the Tomb of the Red Queen and the Temple of the Skull, Palenque

Between the temples, beneath the temporary covering, is the Tomb of the Red Queen, so called because the coffin and its contents were sprinkled with cinnabar, which can still be seen. It was a high status 7th century burial of a woman aged about 60. Her diet had been rich in meat and she had unusually good teeth but suffered from osteoporosis.

The Tomb of the red Queen, Palenque

The tomb was discovered in 1994. Beside the sarcophagus were two poorly preserved skeletons, one of a woman in her 30s the other of a young male. They are believed to be servants sacrificed so they could assist her in the ‘Place of Fear’.

Sarcophagus of the Red Queen, Palenque

Begun around 675AD, the huge Temple of the Inscriptions houses the second longest Mayan glyphic text known, recording 180 years of the city’s history. According to that inscription it is the funerary temple of K'inich Janaab' Pakal (ruled 615-683) and his sarcophagus was found deep in the temple in 1959. It was suspected that the Red Queen was Janaab’ Pakal’s mother but their DNA showed no family relationship. Maybe she was his wife, Lady Tz'akbu Ajaw. When/if the tombs of Janaab’ Pakal’s sons are located this question may be answered definitively.

The Temple of the Inscriptions

Inscriptions found here and elsewhere on the site have allowed historians to piece together the ruling dynasty from 431 to 799. Lakamha was semi-permanently at war with nearby rivals Calakmul and Toniná (see yesterday’s post). Calakmul sacked Lakamha in 599 and after another defeat in 611 the King of Calakmul actually entered the city. Government collapsed, religious ceremonies were not carried out and a contemporary inscription reads "Lost is the divine lady, lost is the king." Recovery started when K’inich Janaab’ Pakal (the Great) came to the throne in 615 and gathered pace throughout his 70 year reign, which became Lakamha’s golden period.

The Palace

The Palace is set at right angles to the Temple of the Inscriptions. The oldest parts date from the 3rd century, though there were many later additions.

The Palace (and Lynne and several vendors), Palenque

The palace has 12 rooms, two courtyards and a tower all connected by a series of narrow passages. Mayan architecture seemed to be groping towards the concept of the arch, but had not yet arrived, so the masonry is massive, the corridors tall and narrow, and the rooms small.

Corridors in the Palace, Palenque

Stucco decorations appear in places that would have had little or no natural light.

Stucci decorations in the corridor, the palace, Palenque

Several of the rooms appear to be saunas or sweat rooms and three contain stone benches. A stucco relief shows the king sitting cross-legged on one to receive visitors.

Stone throne, the palace, Palenque

Behind one throne, the Oval Palace Tablet records the coronation of Pakal in 615 AD. He was crowned by his mother, who had been his regent and the probably ruled jointly with him for some time afterwards.

The Oval Palace tablet, the palace, Palenque

As the tablet is undecipherable from my picture, here is a reconstruction (thanks to mesoweb.com)

Reconstructio of the Oval Palace Tablet, Palenque

Some decorations still show traces of the original colours.

Traces of original colour on the stucco, the palace, Palenque

The west courtyard is small, its use unknown…

The west courtyard, the palace, Palenque

…while the larger east courtyard was probably used for public events and the greeting of important visitors.

The east courtyard, Palenque

The surrounding walls were decorated with images of humiliated captives - a warning to visiting foreign dignitaries.

Humiliated captives, east courtyard, the palace, Palenque

The tower standing above one corner of the east courtyard was originally roofless and probably used for astronomy. The roof was the work of early archaeologists when the sophistication of Mayan astronomy/astrology was not yet understood.

The tower at the palace, Palenque

North of the palace is a small ball court.

Ball court, Palenque

The Temples of the Cross

…but we crossed the aqueduct that provided water for the sweat rooms….

Aqueduct, Palenque

…to the Temples of the Cross. This group of three temples built during the reign of Pakal’s son K'inich Kan Bahlam II (reigned 684-702) face each other in a bowl beneath the sacred mountain Yehmal K'uk' Lakam Witz, (Great Mountain of the Descending Quetzal).

Temple of the Foliated Cross

The temples contain inscriptions confirming their builder…

Temple of the Sun, Palenque

…and were given their name by early explorers who noted the crosses (a representation to the Mayan World Tree) in two of them (we earlier encountered the Mayan cross in Chamula).

Temple of the Cross, Palenque

Leaving Lakamha

There is more, but we had seen all the major buildings, so we made our way back to the car park by a path winding through the jungle,…

Lynne (and pandas) winding through the jungle, Palenque

… what may have been a residential quarter of the city…

Possibly residences in Palenque

…and across the Otulum River which flows from springs on the sacred mountain and provided the water for the aqueduct.

The bridge over the Otulum River, Palenque

Agoutis and Other Entertainment

We were back at the resort in time for lunch, nachos followed by soup, and then enjoyed an afternoon of leisure.

We walked through the extensive gardens…

The gardens at the Chan-Kah Resort, Palenque

…and spent some time stalking agoutis. Two of the eleven agouti species are found in Mexico, the critically endangered Mexican agouti and the abundant Central American agouti. These little chaps are very common in the Palenque area so I presume they are the latter species, though their colouring fits the description of the Mexican agouti. The hotel gardens were full of sleek, well-fed looking agoutis, but persuading one to pose nicely took patience.

Agouti - cute whatever the species, Chan-Kah resort, Palenque

Then it was time for a dip in the pool.

I don't know why Lynne chose to photograph her toes,
but I can be seen wallowing in the water in the background

30-Nov-2017

Back to Mexico City

The next day we returned to Mexico City. A cheerful and chatty man turned up in plenty of time for the two-hour drive to Villahermosa airport.

Palenque to Villahermosa

The road was good, though there was plenty of traffic, particularly after we joined the main highway from Guatemala where everyone, locals included, had to pass through a customs post. Traffic was divided into categories and sent through different channels in a large roadside compound; it was all a bit of a charade and when we reached the sharp end we were waved through with hardly a glance.

At traffic lights hawkers worked their way through the lines of vehicles, a dangerous way of making a meagre living.

Hawker selling food at the traffic lights, Palenque to Villahermosa
Tabasco State

We entered Tabasco state (everybody knows the sauce, but I had not previously realised it was a place) and reached Villahermosa airport in plenty of time. The airport is east of the city so we saw nothing of Tabasco’s capital.

We lunched on beer and sandwiches, ham and cheese and shredded pibil chicken. Pollo pibil, I read, ‘is a true gastronomic jewel of the Yucatán Peninsula,… the main ingredient being Achiote paste’ (a blend of spices coloured red by annatto seeds). Our sandwiches were expensive and borderline nasty, which I attribute to airport catering rather than the actual merits of chicken pibil.

Our flight took us over Popocatepetl in perfect visibility, recompense for the mountain hiding in the haze when we were in Puebla.

Popocatepetl from the air

As darkness fell we were back in the same Mexico City hotel where we started almost a fortnight ago. We dined in a nearby restaurant, drinking Mexican - tequilla and another good red from Baja California - but eating Spanish, the solomillo was a particularly fine piece of steak.


South East from Mexico City

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Location: Carretera a Palenque- Zona Archaeologica Km. 8, 29960 Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico

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