Mexico (3) – TRAVICARIOUS

Mayan ruins that were discovered under jungle foliage in the city of Palenque. If you can see the overhead cover on the second photo, we got to climb those steps!!

We climbed up the very steep stairs into the burial temple of the Red queen. I’m always up for climbing stairs. I do much better at coming down, though. I’m glad I’m not claustrophobic!

As I said: Steep steps with no hand rails. The fog just rolls in at will. Which reminds me. We were sailing down the highway at full speed with fog so dense we could barely see the red car in front of us….and lived to speak about it.

This man was selling art on a piece of suede or leather with the Mayan calendar on it. They included a chart for your particular date of birth. This shows how the people sell their wares — just throw down a sheet and put out your stuff. I bought my mug here and was thrilled. 180 Pesos ($11). It’s green, embossed and says Mexico on it. I ended up actually USING it in the hotel at which we were staying, since they didn’t have a coffee set-up in the room. Luckily, I travel with my own travel sized teapot for hot water and my instant coffee, but I needed a coffee mug. PERFECT TIMING!

Jane and I hiked to the top of the first building. You only realize how high up you are when you see the tiny ant-like people below!! This was the necklace she had just purchased below It’s from the Mayan Calendar for her birth month.

Wow! What views!! I can’t remember climbing THIS HIGH to get these shots!

This is a cactus, growing up a tree!

This is a butterfly we saw inside a store window trying to get out. Jane says “Hello Jeff!” and I’m thinking “Hello Jes!” We both have loved ones who have died and come back to us as butterflies. They follow us everywhere. ….however, we were told this is a moth.

This is what we found in our rooms when we returned. By this time, we were all chummy enough to go in and out of each others’ rooms for picture-taking.

Jane, Vickie and I walked to town and found Christmas cheer. Vickie didn’t pack for the weather so she bought two darling embroidered short-sleeved tops for $5 each. What a deal. Along our walk to town we saw two macaws together in a tree! My dad used to own one whom he named Bill.

This is what we came home to after shopping. The pool was too green, so they all migrated to the kiddie pool. We got to know each other and have drinks before dinner.

We were on a bus for 8 hours this day. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and enjoyed the Gulf of Mexico while we dined.

The building of the new train from one coast to the other has caused a lot of traffic back-up, but this portion was finished. It is designed to overcome of the supply chain problems out of Vera Cruz.

That evening, we had authentic Mexican entertainment.

This is Vickie (with her new Mexican top!!) who was invited to come and dance at the end of the show. She hadn’t realized SHE was supposed to be the bull; not the bull fighter!

Yup, this is Burger King inMexico.

This is an ad for a pharmacy that says something like: “The same thing; only cheaper”.

There were four buildings built around an open air area called a quad. It was named the Nunnery. It was built many, many centuries before it was discovered; but when the people who discovered the buildings under the grassy overgrowth, they felt it looked like a nunnery because of its many small rooms, and named it as such.

There were stories about the snakes on the building that you see and the designs over the doors, etc. But I was so tired and so hot that I quit listening.

The top photo on the left was a pyramid that they punched a hole in to see what was inside and they found ANOTHER PYRAMID! They left that hole and started archeology research at the base of the building on the other side which will take many years to discover all there is to know about it.