Best of Small Town Mexico-Exploring the Yucatan

I really hate to put you through another episode of "Come on over and check out our slides of the Grand Canyon!" but this week's Best of Small Town Mexico has to do with our recent trip to Palenque. One of the very best things about living in our small town is that it is smack dab in the middle of Mayan Ruin Central.

Our hotel was nice; simple but clean. We reserved, and paid for in advance, I might add, a pool-view 2 double-bed room. We were given a room with one double bed and a view of the adjoining business's parking lot. They were nice enough to give us two roll aways (free of charge!) and us each a cup of juice (?!?). Oh well, no big deal, it's all about spending quality time together, right?

So Friday we were off to explore the ruins of Palenque. It was very cool. It is probably the biggest group of ruins we have seen in this area of Mexico and is situated in a lush green jungle.

I will not try to impress you here with my knowledge of Mayan architecture or their social structure or even when the darn buildings were erected because it's pretty limited. That's Guapo's department. If I would let him, he would stop and read every dang informational sign he could find. If you want to know more, I am sure Google can point you in the right direction.

My department takes care of things like keeping everyone lathered in sunscreen, fully hydrated and saying things like: "Ohhhh, wow! That's beautiful/big/interesting/unique."

Or, more often: "JULIO, GET BACK DOWN HERE!!!! Stop climbing the pyramids without me or your dad."

One major difference between Palenque and other sites we have visited was that at Palenque we were actually allowed to go inside a few of the buildings whereas at other ruins we were only allowed to climb around on the outside. That was really cool. We were able to see some beds where people slept and even saw some ancient potties.

The next day we went to a place called Agua Azul (Blue Water) a group of waterfalls about an hour from Palenque. Here's a little travel tip: Don't travel in Latin America during "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) unless you really like crowds. This lesson we learned in Venezuela but somehow pushed it to the back of our minds when we were planning this trip. This was the scene when we arrived at Agua Azul:

Not too inviting. The problem was, to keep the kids behaving all day at the ruins we had to constantly reminded them that the following day they would be frolicking in waterfalls. There was no way Margarita (8) was going to take pictures and leave; and who could tell poor little Julio (5) who threw up on the way there because the road was so curvy, that swimming was cancelled?

Someone had to take them in to the very crowded, very cold water.

Have I mentioned lately what a great husband and dad Guapo is? He had absolultely no desire to hop in the waterfall water, but did so anyway while I sat, fully clothed, and took pictures (well, someone had to watch our stuff).

And finally, here's a funny sign:

That was right next to this waterfall:

All and all it was a fantastic trip. Mexico is an incredible country with so much to see and do.