Palenque

Today I went to the superb ruins of Palenque, right in the heart of the jungle. Here is the hot, humid weather I've been expecting. You think it would be nice after a cold mountain town like San Cristóbal, but no. It's not. So, trying to be smart, and not waking up early enough to tour the ruins before the sun hit its nasty, burning zenith, I went later on in the day. This still proved to be very grueling, especially since most of the ruins consisted of large, pyramid-like temples, often on top of hills. I've seen a lot of ruins by now, but they never fail to fascinate and delight me. Walking on the same stones worn smooth by thousands of years of human feet, seeing living remants of ancient culture in crumbling carvings, one feels a powerful, sometimes even unsettling, link connecting us all through the vast halls of time. Most of all though I feel in awe at a culture that could create such power and beauty, mighty enough to have lasted through the ages.