Yucatan Road Trip Day 6: Calakmul

First Problem: We didn't sleep very well. The bed in our room, which was otherwise perfect, was missing a slat or two, which made the mattress sag. By the time we discovered this, it was 11pm, and we ended up sleeping sideways to avert major vertebral trauma.

Second Problem: My iPhone alarm didn't go off, because somehow the battery ran from 50% to zero overnight (I think I ended up lying on it). We didn't wake up until after 7am, and weren't ready to go until close to 8am. We had intended to be at the site ready to go in as soon as it opened at 8am. It was an hour's drive into the site. I was so upset I was nearly crying: the whole point of visiting Calakmul was to be there as early as possible to maximise our opportunity of seeing jungle creatures - and toucans.

Third Problem: Somewhat fortuitously (depending on how you look at these things), Third Problem overrode Second Problem. As we were approaching the car park, we were met by a family from Mexico City, with whom we'd chatted the previous evening. They all looked forlorn and rather bedraggled. Turns out they'd arisen at 5am to drive in to the site (yes, it didn't open until 8am, but probably they were also intent on seeing wildlife in the national park) - but they had been forced to turn back. After last night's storm, they had been confronted by fallen trees and branches across the road. They had apparently managed to clear 3 sets of branches themselves, but had finally come to one that had defied them, even with ropes.

I was super-impressed that they'd even attempted to move the fallen timber. They'd ended up dirty and with cuts all over their hands and legs, but with their spirit undaunted. They were even keen on seeing if they could borrow a "motosierra" - a chainsaw (we had a bit of an in-joke after that about the word "motosierra". The family spoke excellent English, but the mother couldn't think of the English word for "motosierra", about which her English-is-easy-we-speak-it-fluently daughters teased her mercilessly. I thought that was a bit mean of them - it's not like "chainsaw" is your common English 101 vocabulary word. Unless you're some kind of multi-lingual axe-chainsaw-murderer, I guess).

And it was Sunday, which meant that possibly no one from the park would be working to clear the road.

Our hopes plummetted. To think that I'd been upset about possibly missing some toucans - now it looked like we might not get to visit the site at all. We had driven over 1000km to get here, and we had been so looking forward to Calakmul.

Our gallant host, Gary, took over. After first ensuring we were comfortable in the restaurant, and telling us we could reclaim our room key and make use of our room, he promised to drive until he could get reception on his mobile phone, and to make some calls and find out what was going on.

And what do you know? Gary returned within an hour, that we'd whiled away admiring photos on the Mexico City family's father's laptop, to report that, hey, the roads were being cleared, and within an hour, we should be all good to get through.

Hurrah!! Never mind that I'd wanted to get in the as early as humanly possible. Having almost had the chance to visit snatched out from under us, to get to go in at all was a massive bonus.

So we waited another half hour, and then set off into the jungle. It was 60km through the national park to reach the site. We were determined to keep our eyes peeled.

And it paid off!!


But before you get too excited, I have to say that recording Jungle Animals Viewed From Cars on one's camera proved nigh-on impossible. Yes, I had the camera all ready and waiting, but a) the surprise of seeing the animals, b) the motion of the car, c) the uncanny preference of animals to manifest on the driver rather than the passenger side, and d) the fleeting glimpses afforded, meant that I missed the majority of the photo ops.


So you will just have to believe me when I tell you that we saw, in order of appearance,

1) a toucan flying (briefly) - I just about went into rapturous conniptions, having all but given up hope of seeing the bird I had been longing to spot. These things fly FAST. The only reason I realised it was a toucan was because of the unmistakable shape of that beak.

2) A CAT!!! Seriously! It was walking off the road, and we saw it head into the jungle, with mostly its hindquarters and tail visible. It was large, like a tiger, and it was a solid brown-black colour - not spotty. Not sure what species, but most likely a jaguarundi, Puma yagouaroundi: a medium-sized wild cat that ranges from southern Texas in the United States south to South America.

My money is on this species as it's primarily diurnal and likes to hunt on the ground. Also, Gary told us later that it was most likely a tigrillo, which is one of the Spanish common names for the jaguarundi. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)


Mind you, it could have been a puma, only because it seemed a little large for a jaguarundi - but that could be me romanticising the experience:

We actually got a good view of the cat, whatever species it was, but because it was mainly on Sean's side, by the time I passed the camera to him, its hindquarters were retreating into the jungle. I jumped out of the car, but by then it was merely a rustle in the bushes.


3) An ocellated turkey. These are very pretty, but we didn't see this one up close. It was running across the road ahead of us. See if you can spot it in this picture:

4) Something that looked like a large guinea pig running off the road. Gary reckons it could have been an agouti.

5) A bunch of howler monkeys in a tree! They were pretty high up. Still, here's a shot of one:

 

Am Awesome Wildlife Spotter Extraordinnaire.

After all that excitement, it was almost anticlimactic to arrive at the ruins.

But not quite.

There's quite the hike to get to the ruins. You can take the short, medium or long route. No prizes for guessing that we picked the long route!

We passed some of the residential structures. Here, Sean is contemplating the real estate:

After passing the Acropolis, we made it to the Gran Plaza, or Plaza Central.

Here's Sean in front of Estructura II, at the south side of the plaza.

Each side is 140m long, giving it a footprint of just under 2 hectares. This makes it one of the largest known Mayan structures. The little columns (against one of which Sean has his hand) are called Stele - they have elaborate carvings (usually portraits) and hieroglyphs. There are over 130 at Calakmul, but they are very worn and weathered, making them hard to read.

The below shot is from about halfway up. You can just see the relief-type structure to the right of a platform in the photo above.

You reach a temple and you think you're at the top, but you have to pass around it to the left to reach the real summit, more than 50m above the forest floor.

Looking down!

Sean is on top of the world! Well, he's at least on top of Estructura II.

Further around to the left of the above shot, you can look southwest to the Guetamalan border, around 50km away. We think we just managed to spot the El Tigre pyramid at the Guetamala Mayan city of El Mirador. 

Here, I'm chugging a lemon Fanta (all that climbing is thirsty work) and we're looking to the south-east, and to Estructura I, Calakmul's second great pyramid, which is about the same size as Estructura II. It was next on our agenda!

Looking down past Sean to the Temple below - this is the part where you think you've reached the apex, only you haven't! We're looking north here, and you can just see Estructura VII arising from the jungle at the northern end of the Gran Plaza.

We hopped down from Estructura II, and headed for its twin, Estructura I (inspired names, I know). On the way we passed Estructura III. There were some little children racing up it as nimbly as goats. I'm talking four year olds. I think I need a Mayan pyramid or two in my backyard. Those stairs are a great workout.

It was here that we ran into our Mexico City amigos, the intrepid clearers of roads. In taking two trips into the park, they had run down their petrol, and asked if we might be able to give them some of ours. We were willing, but concerned as we were also low on petrol (and cash, as it happened. Well, they don't grow ATMs in the jungle), and needed what we had to reach the relative civilisation of Xpujil, 50km to the east from the park entrance. As it turned out, our adventurous amigos must have found some juice elsewhere, as we didn't see them stranded in the carpark later on. 

And now we come to Estructure I. Okay, random trivia time. The site was named "Calakmul" because this is Maya for "two adjacent mounds", which is what Estructura's I and II looked like before they were excavated. Cool, huh?

So, Estructure I is about the same size as Estructura II. 

Time to climb!

We just loved how the trees were still growing up the sides of the pyramids. And you can already see how we're rising above the jungle canopy.

Look at the tiny little people!

Seriously, though, it is really hard to get a photo that conveys just how darn steep those stone stairways really are. We were quite proud of our efforts in scrambling up both pyramids with only a slight increase in heart rate. Well, okay, more than slight - but our recovery time was impressive!

Here's Sean on top of the world. Again.

And here I am doing my best "Posing Prettily Whilst On Top Of The World" attempt. I think that's Estructura VII again to the left of my head.

We were lucky enough to have very dramatic skies.

And then an eagle started circling overhead! Well, specifically, over Estructura II:

Back to the Plaza Central and back past Estructura II.........

......we ended up at the north end of the Plaza Central, facing Estructura VII. At 24m, this looked good for a cool-down!

This smaller pyramid offerred great views back to Estructura II (and Estructura I, off to the left):

Just because Estructura II so rocks, another shot of it from Estructura VII. It was so cool to look over at those huge pyramids and think we'd just climbed them!

Sean waits patiently for me at the bottom of Estructura VII. It takes longer when you're carrying the camera!

We also climbed Estructuras IV and VI, and that just about wrapped it up for Calakmul's Plaza Central. We also checked out the various Acropolis sites, before heading back into the jungle for the 1km walk back to the car.

Now, we'd obviously had the most incredible day, and Calakmul was everything we'd been hoping for. That atmosphere of being lost in the jungle, and emerging on top of the world after climbing those giant pyramids, was like nothing we experienced elsewhere. And we appreciated it all with extra zest, because we almost hadn't gotten to go.

But I must be a bit of a spoiled brat (or else I'd spent too much time at Disneyland), but deep down I was still disappointed that I hadn't seen a toucan close up.

And I'd really, really wanted to get a good photo of a toucan in the wild. It had been one of the things I'd been most looking forward to about Latin America.

So I was just a little, tiny, wee bit disappointed.

We were almost back at the car, when Sean suddenly deviated off into the jungle along a side
path.

"Hon, that's not the way to the car!" I called.

"Shhhhhh!" he hissed, and waved his hand at me to be quiet. "I haven't heard that bird call before........."

Sean has an amazing ear for nature's sounds. 

Surely it was expecting too much that the sound he had heard was the cry of the toucan.

And even if it was, surely it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack to locate the bird?

Nevertheless, if anyone could track this bird down, it was Sean, Tracker of Monkey Sounds in the Jungle of Palenque.

I stood stock still as Sean crept quietly up the path, peering in the trees.

But I knew it was a near impossibility.

AND THEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly, silently, Sean stopped, beckoned strongly, and pointed into a nearby tree.

With rising excitement I hastened as silently as I could to his side, and followed where he was pointing.

And I had to stop myself squealing with glee and jumping up and down.

Because this is what he had found:

EEEEEEEEKKKK!!

I quickly snapped some photos, and then we held our collective breath that this beautiful bird would stay put while we changed to the telephoto lens. And our luck held, and so I got these beautiful shots.

There are no words to express my (silently contained) joy. Seeing that beautiful toucan was the highlight of my time at Calakmul. I simply could not believe how fortunate we were - it was such a privilege to be able to view this incredible bird so close up in the wild.

My husband is a legend.

So, now we knew what sound to listen for, we drove out through the 60km of national park at 30 km/hr with the windows wound down. We would hear the toucan cry, and stop and jump out with the camera. We managed to catch glimpses of a few more toucans, both in the trees and flying across the road, but not another photo. But I had my photos, and it was a joy just to revel in the experience of hearing and spotting toucans in the jungle.

And we saw another ocellated turkey - this time very close up. Unfortunately I managed to focus on the foliage rather than the bird, but you get the idea:

Once Sean had got us out of the jungle (something like 2 hours later!) it was on to Xpujil for fuel. But not before I managed to snap this road sign that had never before been encountered:

Watch out for bats!!!!

Then I took the wheel and drove us 450-odd km up to Playa del Carmen and civilisation, via the very scenic Laguna Bacalar. I'm happy to report that the road conditions were top notch, and I really got into the zone. I refused Sean's offers to take the wheel and happily exercised my newly-acquired Mexican Driving Skills, pushing the limit just a little (nothing compared to the locals!) to get us in to Playa del Carmen at the very civilised hour of 7:30pm.

Unfortunately we lacked specific directions to the Royal Haciendas, but I spotted a sign and accordingly travelled seven more kilometres to pop out the northern side of Playa del Carmen........and no more signs did then appear.

Instead there was a turn off to "The Grand Coral" right where the Royal Haciendas were supposed to be. In the end, I turned in to this driveway, having no real choice after combing the highway back and forth without any joy. I spoke the magic words "Royal Haciendas, por favor" to the gatekeeper, and whoo-ha, we had us a resort.

Yes, for those not in the know, the Royal Haciendas is part of a huge development collectively known as the Grand Coral. Sure, like that makes sense to visitors from outer space. Apparently Royal Haciendas is going to get its own sign soon. I hope so, for the sake of less savvy aliens.

After winding down an entrance road for about 2km, we finally happened on paradise, but just as we drove into the carpark, the heavens opened. So we checked (dripped, squelched) into our new, five star digs looking like drowned rats, although the rain failed to wash away any of the dirt and sweat we sported from our Calakmul journeyings.

Classy.

But thank heaven for bellboys and luggage carts; we were settled in to suite D429 (more on that later!) in no time, where we got amongst some much-anticipated Instant Noodle Action and hit the (very comfortable) hay. Even though we'd reached Playa del Carmen, we were back on the road first thing in the morning - we had a date with some final destinations on the Mayan trail!

Yucatan Road Trip Day 5: Palenque

Here is Sean in the carpark at Ed and Margarita's Cabanas (after his awesome night's sleep) as we set out for Palenque ruins early the next morning. Look at how filthy our car is, after 70km of driving on dirt, and enduring the mud in the previous night's storm: 

We had been worried that, with all the rain, we may have driven all the way to Palenque for nothing. There's not much joy wallowing around an archelogical site knee deep in mud and not being able to climb pyramids made slippery and dangerous by rain. 

But luckily the storm passed in the night, and the new day dawned bright and clear. The roads were dry (I love the tropics), Palenque was open for business, and we were psyched and set to go!

Palenque stands at the point where the first hills rise out of the Gulf Coast plain, and the area is covered with dense jungle. Had it not been raining so heavily, we might have heard howler monkeys from our little jungle room. Here was the view I encountered on my way back to the car the next morning.

As you can see, there's "No Traspassing" in this "Private Place". We really were in the jungle!


Less than $30 for the room and 5 minutes later, we were on site at Palenque. Again, we were among the first visitors to the site, which means a lot when tour groups swarm through in droves, and you're wanting to enjoy the mystique of the ruins and capture that "Indiana Jones" mood.


Palenque is breathtaking - the ruins are visually spectacular, with towers and pyramids, all set into the hillside and surrounded by lush jungle and waterfalls.


First pyramid climb: Templo de la Calavera, which you encounter as soon as you enter the site. This photos is looking towards El Palacio (The Palace) and its spectacular tower. Only problem with arriving early is that when you're looking east, as we are here, you have to shoot into the sun. Better photos looking west!

Indy, eat your heart out. Exploring the tunnels below El Palacio:

There was a photo shoot going on while we were there. I'm assuming it was for tourism, as the model was traditionally dressed. She would have been quite warm: it was a very steamy day.

In the shot below, we're standing on El Palacio looking at Templo de las Inscripciones (Temple of the Inscriptions). This is the tallest building at Palenque. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to climb it, but according to Lonely Planet, interior stairs lead down to the tomb of Pakal, whose jewel-bedecked skeleton and jade mosaic death mask now reside in Mexico City.


On the right is Templo de la Calavera.

Sean descending into yet another tunnel on top of El Palacio, with Templo de las Inscripciones in the background.

In one of the four main grassy courtyard areas of El Palacio, looking up at the tower.

You see those white pillars in the above photo? Each is a carving of a Mayan noble:

Tunnel view back to Templo de las Inscripciones from underneath El Palacio:

After exploring El Palachio, we crossed the river, dodging the many hawkers - thankfully they weren't too energetic in their soliciting, probably because of the warm weather. They were kind of languid. More like sleepy lizards than irritating flies. 

However, just like at Chichen Itza, Palenque seemed to be overrun with jaguars. The scream of the wild cat continually echoed throughout the ruins........but it was just a whistle being sold at many of the illicit stalls, with repeated demonstrations being unleashed on unsuspecting tourists.

Across the river is Grupo de las Cruces (Group of the Crosses), three pyramid structures surrounding a plaza. From here, you get a great view back to El Palacio:

This is Templo del Sol (Temple of the Sun), on the west side of the Grupo de las Cruces plaza. It has the best-preserved roofcomb at Palenque:

Some well-preserved reliefs - I think this could be Pakal and his son Kan B'alam II. They seemed to be quite the rage among the Palenque artwork.

We then climbed Templo de la Cruz (Temple of the Cross), the largest of the group. I love how green it is at Palenque!

Here I am looking back towards the Templo del Sol:

It's a long way down! But such an amazing view.

See? We were really there!

We then decided to get amongst some of the jungle action. We left Grupo de las Cruces and headed into the greenery left of Templo de las Inscripciones in the above left.

We found a gorgeous lizard:

We saw the small Templo del Jaguar amongst the jungle:

According to our map, if you pressed on further, there were more structures, but our path petered out. In fact, Palenque consists of hundreds of ruined buildings spread over 15 square kilometres, of which only a small, central area has been excavated.

Man, that jungle was GREEN!!!

Sean heard some non-birdlike noises and tracked them to a monkey in a faraway tree, but I didn't get to see it.

We emerged from the jungle and headed down river, along the banks of the Arroyo Otolum, to the series of waterfalls. As we were heading down the wooden stairs, I spied a bright blue dragonfly!

The waterfalls were so beautiful:

This is part of the Grupo de los Murcielagos - mainly small residential complexes. Imagine living right by this beautiful river! Lucky Mayans!

Here I am on the suspension bridge. It was very bouncey! The water behind me is crystal clear.

We couldn't get over how well preserved the stone reliefs were:

We emerged on the western side of the river and investigated Grupo Norte (the North Group). Here we are on top of one of the structures looking southwest at Templo del Conde:

And the view back from the top of Templo Conde. Palenque is SO photogenic!!

We had climbed 4 pyramids, clambered through tunnels, wandered the jungle like Dr Livingstone, and enjoyed beautiful waterfalls. Our work here was done.

One final view of Templo de las Inscripciones, this time from the northern side. The main thing to note here is the TRUCKLOAD of tourists offloading onto the site. This, mi amigos, is the advantage of getting out of bed early. The peaceful and mystical atmosphere of these sites is simply shattered once the hoardes invade. The earlybirds tend to be few, and they seem to tread peacefully, and reverently, respecting the hush and admiring the beauty of the tranquil morning and the majesty of the edifaces.

It's around noon, so my eastward-looking shot back to El Palacio was now good to go!

On the way out, we passed the turn-off to El Panchan. Guess what? There was the sign for Margarita and Ed's Cabanas! Of course, it was only on the side visible as you're leaving the archeological site, and it's tiny, but who do tourists think they are getting lost in the dark and the slashing rain?

(NB we never actually met Margarita, or Ed. Just a couple of random dudes in a smelly reception-come-bedroom).

We were heading to Calakmul, deep in jungle of the Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul in Campeche State, and about 50km from the Guatemalan border.

This involved trundling back up through Chiapas and Tabasco (with all very friendly military checkpoints, I might add), and then heading due east on Highway 186. The total distance was around 400km.

Just out of Palenque, we saw these cattle being herded on horseback:

We had been bracing ourselves for a huge day of driving, so we were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived comfortably at Hotel Puerta Calakmul at around 4:30pm. This is an eco-friendly establishment with an extensive use of raw timber. It's rustic elegance, if you will. Here's Sean outside our room, which even had its own hammock on the verandah:

The best bit was the huge dining room/lodge area, featuring floor to ceiling, fully screened windows.

The dining setting was beautiful - made of cactus wood with colourful flowers carved into the top of each chair. It had started raining right as we arrived (we were very grateful not to be driving in the rain after our experience the night before), and it was lovely to sit back and enjoy the jungle surroundings and listen to the rain, without getting wet - or having to find accomodation in the dark.

We were STARVING and thoroughly enjoyed a three-course meal of soup, fish and lemon pie, or spaghetti bolognaise, fajitas and lemon pie if you're Sean.

And while we're capitalising words, we were SUPER excited about Calakmul, and eager to get up very early the next morning to make the hour-long drive through the park to the archeological site. It was probably our most-anticipated site. And because it's deep in the jungle, and far from the beaten track, it's much-less touristed. We hoped to see toucans, monkeys and maybe even wild cats (5 of the 6 Mexican wildcat species inhabit the park). So, after a luxuriant evening of fine food, conversation and sipping top-shelf tequila courtesy of Gary, the very kind and friendly manager, we set the iPhone alarm for, well, rather early, and collapsed into bed.