Wow. What a day. Again. It started with a sketchy car ride up to our first adventure in the Palenque Archaeological Park. It is impressive how some of these vehicles can pass any type of inspection. Or maybe they just don’t. Anyway, we made it – even after we stopped on a hill and almost didn’t get enough oomph to get started again. Phew!

This Mayan city is almost 20 square kilometers big. According to recent scans of the area, there are over 1400 structures under the forest canopy. What is visible today? Less than 10%. Excavation began in 1948 and had been pretty steady until 2002 when everything came to an abrupt stop. The reason? A combination of money shortages and trying to find the balance between discovery and environmental responsibility.

You see, in order to uncover these buried treasures, you must destroy the forest. Destroy is used literally here. There is no halfway, no compromise, no middle ground. It is all or nothing. We are very fortunate to be able to visit the structures that have been uncovered. The amount of history and knowledge that has come from the tablets inside them is priceless. Who knows what other secrets lie beneath not only this forest floor, but others around this whole area? Unless we can find a way to uncover them without destroying the nature around them, we will never know.

We had such a great guide, Edgar, and we learned so much about the Mayan culture. We are so grateful that these few structures have been uncovered and that we were able to explore them. We weren’t alone this time, but we also weren’t fighting crowds. Another site that is often overlooked because it is more difficult to get to. Lucky for us!