The Palenque ruins include some of the most detailed Mayan art, we had seen yet. The king had a pyramid for his tomb. The jungle wall came up to the edge of the buildings. It was obvious that these ruins had been left suddenly and abandoned to the jungle. None of it was destroyed by man, that is, pulled down and intentionally scattered in the woods. The destruction that we saw was just from time (several hundred years), the humid weather and the effects of jungle plantlife. Scientists debate why the Mayans abandoned their cities so completely. They talk about diseases like life-threatening diarrhea, the drying up of water sources on the peninsula, foreign military invasion by the Aztec indians from the north, demographic disasters stemming from too many people using too many resources in too small an area and reaching a point of crisis. The "climate change" model seems like a modern fantasy pasted onto something from the past. Anyway, the Mayans just left.
Life Birds Seen Today
- Crimson Collared Tanager
- Gray Throated Chat
- Rufous Browed Wren
- Hammond's Flycatcher
- Banaquit
Palenque has waited patiently for us, for so many years. This place is so complex and so historically important, we decided to stay three days at the "Mision-Palenque" hotel.
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Robert and Berry
photo courtesy of misionpalenque
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