After San Christobal we had a five hour bus journey on a road that was even more windy that the road to San Christobal! It ened up in low land and some very welcome heat, though the nolivety of the humidity soon wore off. We stayed in the town of Palenque for two nights, visited the Mayan ruins there and then continued to Merida the capital city of Yucatan state where we visited another Mayan city/ruin at Uxmal. I took plenty of photos, especially of the spectacular pyramidal temples, at both a handful of which can be seen posted in my albums.

The contrast between the Olmec/Toltec/Aztec sites around Mexico city and the Mayan cities is quiet dramatic. The Olmec/Toltec/Aztec cities usually crowned hill tops or other prominent places where as both the Mayan cities so far were located in jungle, which lead to an amazing effect entering them as you start walking through jungle then suddenly your confronted by a massive stone eddiface.

One thing that the majority of Meso American runins I've visited in Mexico have had in common is that only a small fraction of the known ruins in each site has been excavated and open to the public. Listening to our guides the reason for this is simply that there is not enough money for the archaeological work to be undertaken. When you consider how little is actually known about the Meso American cultures and there are only a small percentage of these sites that have been uncovered (Xochicalco ~20%, Palenque ~10%, Uxmal ~30%), I'd imagine with further excavation there is strong chance of a 'Rosetta stone' like discovery which would unlock the secrets of these cultures. Maybe someone should start an NGO to fund this work as the Mexican government don't seem overly concerned.......