Day 1: Palenque

Beginning the tour with some history and cultural background, the first day included a visit to the awe-inspiring temples of the Mayan site of Palenque. Scaling hundreds of steep stone steps, we admired the intricate carved limestone reliefs and hieroglyphs. Some of the stucco walls and carvings retain traces of the original red and green-blue paint. Surrounded by more than 30 different streams and waterfalls, the original Mayan name for the site was Lacam’ha meaning “place of big water”.

Built in the rainforest, the site is under constant maintenance to hold back the encroaching vegetation. Little black howler monkeys can be heard screeching for miles as they lay claim to the plentiful fruit trees, and we can see them leaping across the tree tops.

Our knowledgeable guide, Patricio, part indigenous and a citizen of nearby San Cristóbal de las Casas, is quick to point out the continued need to protect Chiapas’ cultural history and historic monuments. He also laments the loss of many important historical relics. Many of Palenque’s precious relief sculptures have gaping holes where looters have removed the faces. Tomb treasures have found their way into private collections. International museums have refused to return such priceless artefacts as the crown of quetzal feathers worn by one of the Mayan kings.

Patricio was proud to share with us the accomplishments of these ancestors who ruled at Palenque from approximately 100 to 900 AD. They were astronomers who built an observatory and reflective star-gazing pool, dentists who inlaid the teeth of the elite with jade, and surgeons whose work can be seen in the repaired skull fractures of surviving remains.

The indigenous people of Chiapas are fiercely proud of their heritage, and are struggling to retain their many languages and traditions. This struggle is central to the work here that is being done by many of the agencies supported by OPSEU through Horizons of Friendship.

Emily Visser