January 6th
Palenque and
Villahermosa
Despite
a rainstorm, we decide to return to Palenque this morning to explore
further. One of the delights of
this site is a carefully constructed path along the Otolum river, passing
several waterfalls and some small residential groupings. The sometimes heavy downpour makes for
slow (and squishy) going, but certainly adds to the power of the
waterfalls! I repeat to myself a
new mantra – “They’re so much prettier in the rain!” – to avoid thoughts of
soggy hiking boots. This replaces
my previous refrain of “It’s good for my hair!”, always good for cold
showers. Though in this case
perhaps both would work. The walk
is gorgeous, though, and quite empty.
We have the ruins to ourselves.
The
afternoon finds us in Villahermosa in neighboring Tabasco state. (Not the home of the sauce, alas.) Our driver describes this oil-boom town
as the “city of two lies”, being neither a city (villa) nor beautiful
(hermosa). Sadly true, but it does
have a splendid park. When Pemex,
the national oil company, discovered the Olmec city La Venta inconveniently
close to their fields, they created a park here and moved many of the
sculptures. While less valuable
from an academic perspective, this does allow for more accessible viewing. The park/zoo has a jungle feel, with local
plants and free-roaming coatimundis.
(Free roaming mosquitos as well, alas.) Interspersed along the walkway are animal cages
(jaguars! crocodiles!) and huge
stone heads. We know little of the
Olmecs, an ancestor race of the Maya, but their stone carving skills presage
the era to come.
As
an aside, one of our favorite monuments was titled “The Silhouette”. It seemed to have a vague human shape,
but was very eroded. On reading
the plaque, we learned that it wasn’t actually an Olmec sculpture, just an
interestingly shaped rock found nearby.
So perhaps this isn’t the most archeologically pure exhibit we’ve ever
visited.
One final night, this time in a rather prosaic Hyatt, then back home we fly. Hot water, air conditioning, and CNN provide momentary comfort, but there is a soulless quality to it compared to scaling temple staircases in the jungle.