Mexico Holiday AAR

[lustindarkness]

Frederick Waldeck is the best part yet of your AAR

[Malthus]

Chiapas, Palenque, last

After the Temple of the Count, we travelled down the path to the site museum - which goes down alongside a series of very nice waterfalls (the water comes from that Aqueduct). By this time, we were so damn hot and sweaty we were willing to dive right in to some pools at the bottom labelled "the Queen's bathing-pools" - a possibility some killjoy had anticipated, and put up "no bathing" signs to prevent.  There is an ancient Mayan building halfway down described as a "sweat lodge". It simply beggars belief that anyone in Palenque, ancient or modern, could possibly want to get *more* hot and sweaty than simply being there makes you - but there it is.

The site museum is worth a visit - some of the better preserved panels are to be found there. What it has, as mentioned above, is a blessedly air-conditioned room with the carved coffin of Pacal the Great - which is enormous and well worth seeing (just standing in the air conditioning is worth the trip!). What it doesn't have, is any food other than a vending machine: if you go, bring your own.

[Malthus]

Frederick Waldeck is the best part yet of your AAR

I was vastly entertained reading up on him. I knew nothing about him, until I saw the name of "his" pyramid; that sparked my curiousity.

[Malthus]

Chiapas - day trip out of Palenque - Yaxchilan

While in Palenque, we learned that it was possible to pay for a bus trip to visit two other very significant sites - Yaxchilan and Bonampak. Emphasis on the word "possible". If I had any idea of the length and difficulty of the trip, I may have reconsidered - which would have been a shame, because the sites are well worth the effort.

We paid our price, and woke up at 5 in the AM to be picked up. The guy arrived, with a lovely couple from Slovenia already aboard - the woman was stunningly beautiful, and I mean stunning.

The bus was in bad shape - apparently held together with chewing gum and twine. I realized we may me in for it when the first thing the driver did was stop to buy a large supply of oil - he spent the rest of the trip feeding oil into his machine. Unfortunately, the road was very hilly in parts, causing my wife no end of grief (she hates scary drives) and the engine no end of stress. However, though it had some moments when it sounded like it was expiring, the driver did manage to coax it there and back again - three hours of driving each way.

Yaxchilan is right on the border with Guatemala, which is apparently to Mexico as Mexico is to the US - that is, a source of illegal immigrants and drugs. So the closer we got to Yaxchilan, the thicker the military and police presence became - we passed checkpoint after checkpoint, complete with stone-faced Mexican soldiers with assault rifles and riot shotguns (they stopped us only long enough to leer at the lovely Slovine and my wife - evidently, we did not resemble Guatemalan migrant workers. They did not, however, hit us up for bribes, which I had been fearing).

You can't actually drive to Yaxchilan - it is reachable only by boat, so after the three-hour drive came a 40 minute ride on a local's rented motorboat-canoe on the muddy, massive Usumacinta River (complete with hungry-looking crocodiles and, of course, Howler Monkies). Finally, we arrived at the site ...

[mongers]

Thanks Malthus, I'm enjoying this.

I bet the young'un in future years won't forget much about that road trip. 

[Eddie Teach]

No-one visiting the ruins of their cities could think they were unsophisticated primitives.

Did they have flush toilets and AC?

[Malthus]

No-one visiting the ruins of their cities could think they were unsophisticated primitives.

Did they have flush toilets and AC?

In some places I went, they still don't. 

[Malthus]

Thanks Malthus, I'm enjoying this.

I bet the young'un in future years won't forget much about that road trip. 

That's what I'm hoping anyway ... though he did some complaining about being dragged up yet another Mayan pyramid. 

[KRonn]

Fun AAR. I like the info you put in there. I've never been to Mexico and have little idea of it. Glad you had  a great time!   

[jimmy olsen]

The hotel we were staying at was very luxurious and not too expensive, but I noticed something I did not mention to my wife (who made the booking) - it appears most of the other guests there were wealthy Mexican fellows and their "negotiable affection".  Extremely high-class "negotiable affection" I may add. In short, all the dudes were elderly, wealthy men and all the ladies were stunningly beautiful and in their early 20s ...

You don't think she noticed?

[alfred russel]

The hotel we were staying at was very luxurious and not too expensive, but I noticed something I did not mention to my wife (who made the booking) - it appears most of the other guests there were wealthy Mexican fellows and their "negotiable affection".  Extremely high-class "negotiable affection" I may add. In short, all the dudes were elderly, wealthy men and all the ladies were stunningly beautiful and in their early 20s ...

You don't think she noticed?

There are lots of possible explanations. A bad one for Malthus would be that she knew the hotel because she stayed there several times in her early 20s.

[Maximus]

I doubt he would hold it against her. Malthus knows what it's like to work your way up from the streets.

[garbon]

I doubt he would hold it against her. Malthus knows what it's like to work your way up from the streets.

Rough

[mongers]

I doubt he would hold it against her. Malthus knows what it's like to work your way up from the streets.

Rough

It is The Languish way:

Man down, quick kick him in the nuts. 

[Malthus]

The hotel we were staying at was very luxurious and not too expensive, but I noticed something I did not mention to my wife (who made the booking) - it appears most of the other guests there were wealthy Mexican fellows and their "negotiable affection".  Extremely high-class "negotiable affection" I may add. In short, all the dudes were elderly, wealthy men and all the ladies were stunningly beautiful and in their early 20s ...

You don't think she noticed?

Maybe she did; the point is, *I* wasn't going to bring up the topic.