The Palenque. The Great Mayan city

Ancient Palenque ruins (dating back as fas as around 500 AD) are considered the most exquisite example of Mayan architecture. Hundreds of old ruined buildings are spread over 15 km2 area in the jungle and only a small compact area has been excavated so far. The forrest around these temples is still a home for howler monkeys, which could be heard as well.

Everything you see in Palenque was built without metal tools, pack animals or use of a wheel.

I went to Palenque already early morning, as soon as the gates opened. I wanted to explore the ground and get photos without big tourist groups walking around and ruining them :).

As said, most of Palenque Mayan ruins are still unexcavated in the jungle. Tourists are led mostly to the cleaned-up constructions, which are indeed very nice. They are restored and safe and pretty and neat. But if you venture from the main attractions more into the jungle, you will see a bit the "other" Palenque. The ruins still burried under wild nature, trees growing right on top of them. Those trees are very old, their roots go deep, but somehow they don´t seem to do much damage on the building, they rather co-exist together. The raw jungle-Palenque is cool - the roots and rock are intertwined, small passages to discover, all under the shade of very gracious trees. The nature is alive around you and air is very fresh. And the best part - the nearest tourist is about 1 km away!

I think i sat in the raw Palenque for about two hours enjoying coolness of the shaded rocks. And during this time not a single person came. Oh, what a paradise!