Palenque, Ancient Mayan Ruins in Mexico

We had a great time in Palenque, but truthfully Angel was more interested in the lizards and the waterfalls than the Ruins. They can be quite dangerous climbing on them with all the pushy tourists. Still we enjoyed them very much but she was very disappointed that we could not climb the main temple, it is not accessible anymore due to too many tourists causing errosion and such. This was a big deal as I had told we would, because I had climbed in 1990 and they were working in it in 2000 so I thought it would be ready...so that put a bit of a sour note on our day.

Nevertheless, it was great fun exploring the jungle atmosphere and it was so hot, humid and lush.


After we climbed a few temples, it was very hot, so we took a refreshing walk thru the cool jungle path to the waterfalls and relaxed on the swinging bridge.

Careful here, some tourists were quite rude and nearly bounced us off. I know that next time we will definitely go in the afternoon, as many tourist buses arrive early in the morning and it's very crowded in certain areas.

We did have alot of fun looking at all the intricate Maya designs on the buildings and I explained about the Maya and how they discovered zero. We talked about how the temples looked before, how colourful they were and all the beautiful clothing the people wore with feathered headresses, we talked about what the  markets would have been like and how lively it would have been.

We talked about astronomy and how advanced the Mayan were in studying the stars and creating calendars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization

We discussed how the ruins were all covered with dirt and how anthropologists dug the temples out and how hard it was because the jungle keeps trying to reclaim it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palenque

We talked about corn and how it was once just grass and thru horticulture it became the corn we know and that because of it there was great wealth and that is how the temples were created. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize

We talked about alot of wonderful things. We could hear the howler monkeys and parrots making all sorts of noises in the jungle.

It really is an incredibly rich valuable educational experience for a child to travel to a place such as Palenque and while she may not remember it the same as I did, I know it impacted her and she will benefit greatly from it later in life.

We didn't see any howler monkeys, but we heard them, this is not our video but I thought I share it.



Courtesy of Gersendeconure's Youtube Channel

El Panchan, Palenque

Located at the base of the Ruins of Palenque is the fascinating El Panchan.  Rich in flora and fauna the have lovely little cabins. We stayed on the quiet side and it was really great. They have a wonderful restaurant and a creek meanders thru the whole place and there are little bridges.
 

Angel and I had a wonderful time investigating our surroundings looking at bugs and she rescued a little turtle from the road, just as a taxi was about to pass, so that was super special. We saw the most incredible things. El Panchan has a wonderful jungle feeling. Travelling to El Panchan one is rewarded with a wonderful & very educational environment that I wish all children could experience. At night you can hear the howler monkeys, it makes you feel a little nervous but at the same time it's very exciting. You can easily visit the ruins from here.

Merida

Merida is a beautiful city and a huge contrast compared to Cancun.

Merida has gorgeous architecture and a lot more obvious poverty, but I loved it. People were kind and friendly and I felt safe here with Angel. We took a horse and carriage ride around the city, it was a great way to see the incredible architecture considering my little one  was tired from long bus rides and airplanes. I made one big mistake by forgetting to check the bedding in Cancun when we left and accidently forgot Angel's dragon. It was a bad start to our journey but I fixed it with a new toy and just this year was able to replace the little dragon.(So word of advice always check for toys when leaving the hotel, hostel or posada!!) So there was a happy ending. I think that it was very important for my child to see the differences between the two cities. It was very educational.

Cancun

Cancun was great! We spent 3 days there, mainly resting up after the plane. We stocked up on items we needed for the trip, and checked out the beachs. Culture shock was a big factor when it came to food...but luckily we found a hot dog vendor and so that helped. We bought fruit and cereal at the big grocery store as well as plates, cutlery, dramamine, bug cream and other essentials we thought might not be as economical when we left Cancun. We got our bus tix for Merida and prepared for our next big Adventure!

Travel Links

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/responsible-travel

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico

Arrival in Cancun

Welcome to Adventurez in Mexico

In November 2008, a mother and child left on a 5 month journey from Canada to Mexico. Traveling on a very tight budget they intend to stay 5 months. These are their "Adventurez." Focusing on the highlights of their journey and sharing it thru travel tips, photos and videos, Adventurez of Mexico will focus on travel, accomodations, home schooling, money, food,  language, culture as well as many other things. We hope this information will be helpful , inspirational and enlightening for any one considering a similar journey.


Originally posted Sept 15/2008
The Secret!!

If you build it they will come. Hey did you ever see the secret!!
It's all about projecting what you want and thanking the universe for what you have.

My take on it was that if I just told the universe what I wanted and really imagined it and focused on it, would happen. Well that's what this is. It's sort of a vision board. We have been planning this trip darn near 6 + years.

And now we are almost ready.
It's going to be soooooo exciting. We are going to see the most awesome things.

And if all our dreams come true ...this won't be just a trip to Mexico, but to Europe-Paris, Italy and Cook Islands, India, Africa...the whole great big world.

But to start we will travel to Mexico. I'm Angel's mom, Tina, I've been many times and I am so excited to share it all with Angel. So stay tuned, and get comfy because shortly we will be on our way.

If all goes to plan we should be leaving early November 2008. Looking forward to painting again. I did these two in 2000