After a week of being cooped up in our hotel in Palenque, due to illness, we were finally ready to venture out to the ruins. Seeing the Palenque ruins was high on Jon’s list of things to do on this big trip of ours, so we wanted to make sure we were both feeling well and prepared to spend a few hours in the hot and humid jungle exploring. Our taxi took us directly to the ruins and dropped us off at the ticket booth where we could purchase our tickets. Once there, a man named Salvador came up to us to give us a little bit of information about the site. We knew this would end up being a sales pitch of some sort, but since this was one of the major things we wanted to do on our trip, we thought that it would be worth it to hire a guide for a few hours. While we were unsure at first, Salvador quickly proved his worth by taking us places we never would have ventured on our own and sharing information about the Mayans and the ruins we were about to see.

Our morning with Salvador started off with a brief overview of the Palenque ruins, standing next to a large map showing the entire site. We learned that only about 5% of the ruins have been uncovered and restored; 95% are still in ruins and overtaken by the jungle. On the map, he pointed out a path into the jungle which we would soon be taking to see some ruins still covered up. We went down a path into the jungle at that point; within minutes, both Jon and I were dripping with sweat! Salvador looked up the weather on his phone and showed us that it was 100% humidity where we were – no wonder we were so hot!

Salvador explained where we would be going on the map, which shows the parts of Palenque that have and have not been excavated and restored.

Salvador stopped frequently to point out features of the jungle that we otherwise would have missed. Standing next to a large tree, we discovered that the actual tree was slowly being covered by a parasite and would eventually die. There were colorful Bird of Paradise flowers scattered randomly, with orange or pink petals pointing in different directions. Spiders jumped around to get out of our way, much more agile and fast-moving than I would have expected!

These were some of the unique flowers we saw while walking around in the jungle.

At one point, Salvador bent down and poked around in the mud at the base of a fallen tree. Out of the mud, he held up a few broken pieces of pottery, including one that was part of a rim of a bowl! This was exciting, especially for Jon who loves to find and collect rocks and pottery shards from our travels. Salvador told us that it was very common to find small pieces like that, especially near trees that had been uprooted, since it turned up the dirt to reveal buried artifacts.

At the base of an uprooted tree, Salvador found a handful of pieces of pottery from the Mayans.

During our trek in the jungle, there were numerous hills and mounds that looked like nothing more than jungle floor. Salvador pointed a few of these out, and then told us that all the hills and mounds we saw were actually unexcavated ruins; buildings that had been covered by the jungle. We saw a few sections of walls and crumbling rocks amidst all of the nature. He noted that many of these would remain covered, since they were just small houses and not as attractive as uncovering the large temples.

You can make out a wall in this picture, which is a building that is still covered with the jungle.

Once we hiked out of the jungle, it was time to enter the site of the uncovered ruins. We went past the ticket counter and after a brief discussion with the woman in charge of collecting tickets, Salvador led us down a path marked “No Pase” (do not pass). He said that it was a small ruin but one of his favorites, usually off limits to tourists, but that we were given permission to enter. We walked a few minutes down a path and came upon a small cleared area with one-story buildings. We were the only people there and it felt like we had discovered something new that nobody else had seen before (even though we knew many others had come before us!).

This is part of Complex IV, which we had all to ourselves!

The signed labeled this as “Complex IV”, a residential area apparently for members of the military. There were a couple of small dwellings, one with archways and both with windows and doors still intact and visible. Steps covered with moss enabled us to climb up on top of one of the buildings and look down into where a tunnel used to be. For me, this was my favorite part of the day since I liked the feeling of isolated exploration as we were by ourselves in the jungle with the ruins.

We loved exploring every part of the ruins, especially these that were off-limits to everyone else!

Finally, it was time to walk into the main area of the ruins where the large and photogenic temples were located. We walked along the path which led right to the front of a series of three temples all connected and all restored to what they would have looked like over 1,000 years ago. One of these temples had an opening where we could walk a small distance inside to see rooms where sarcophagus where held. The Temple of Inscriptions was to the left, in which were found many tablets with writing and pictograms. These eventually enabled scholars to learn the Mayan language and understand their culture and history.

Lana and Jon in front of the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque.

The highlight of the complex was undoubtedly the palace, a large structure that still had some rooms and walls standing at the top. We were able to climb up the side of the building and discover the artwork and carvings still visible on the walls. From Salvador, we learned about the Mayan style of architecture; instead of a dome or pointed ceiling, they had a shape similar to an inverted bottle to hold up the walls, some of which were still standing over a millennium later.

This is one of the many carvings we saw still left in the palace that we explored.

Climbing around and exploring the palace at the ruins of Palenque was one of the highlights of our time in Mexico!

Windows dotted the palace in the shape of a “T”; we learned that this was deliberate as it was meant to represent the Wind God (and also a good method of self defense as arrows could be shot out sideways, so the warrior would not be visible by the enemy). There were many tunnels that connected all of the temples and palace, some of which were still visible although not open for us to traverse. A flat stone had a notch cut out of the side; we found out that this was a toilet and the notch was over a hole that led to running water underground.

A “T” shaped window, looking out to another “T” shaped window.

A hallway with a view to the jungle beyond it.

A view of the Temple of Inscriptions from inside the palace.

We finally said goodbye to Salvador, thanking him for his time and more importantly, his knowledge. We learned much more about the Mayans and the ruins than we would have on our own and I think that our experience was richer for having spent the morning with him. As we meandered through some more ruins on the path toward the museum, we stopped to admire a multi-stepped waterfall with jungle vines swinging across. Our time at the Palenque ruins was special and was a highlight for our time in Mexico. I highly recommend hiring Salvador, or another knowledgeable guide, to lead you through the history of the Mayans and help you discover the things that make it such a unique place to visit.

A beautiful waterfall set in the jungle.