Into the Mayan Jungle

The last time that I was at Palenque, I went to a tourist agency in the town and signed up for a tour.  Generally I avoid tours; I much prefer to see a place on my own, at my own pace.  However, this tour was to visit an area that would be very difficult to see on one's own... the Mayan ruins of Yaxchilán and Bonampak located in the tropical rainforest near the Guatemalan border.

At dawn a van arrived at my hotel for the trip of over two hours.  The van was very cramped.  Not only were there tourists heading to the Mayan ruins, but also passengers who were using the van as transport to reach the border of Guatemala. 

There is a single ribbon of paved highway leading into this remote region of Mexico.  The highway has led to settlement in the area, and that has led to deforestation of the virgin wilderness. There are small villages and farms along the road.

 

 



We stopped at a hut along the highway for breakfast.  The meal was simple but tasty, and in spite of the primitive conditions, I suffered no intestinal problems as a result of the breakfast.

 

 



We continued on to the end of the road at Frontera Corozal, a rather squalid town of 5000 people situated on the banks of the Usumacinta River which forms the border with Guatemala.  There are no roads to the Mayan ruins of Yaxchilán.  From here we took a launch to take us down the river to the archaeological site.

 

 

Looking at the Guatemalan side of the river from the boat

 

 

 

 

We finally arrived at Yaxchilán.  There is no dock.  The boats simply pull up along the beach.

 



 

 



We hiked a short distance into the forest to the archaeological zone.  We could hear, and occasionally see, howler monkeys in the trees.  The cry of the howler monkeys is incredible.  They sound like lions roaring.

Yaxchilán was at its height during the Late Classic Period in the 7th and 8th centuries.  Its greatest king, Shield Jaguar, ruled for more than six decades.  Under his rule Yaxchilán became a major Mayan city state that dominated much of this part of the Usumacinta basin.  After A.D. 800 the city was abandoned to the forest.

 

 

 

Yaxchilán is noteworthy for its carvings, particularly the sculpted lintels above the doorways of its temples.  The carvings venerate the royal dynasty of the city.

 

 

 

 

Two of the most famous carvings from Yaxchilán are now located in London's British Museum.  When I was in England this summer, I had a chance to see them.

 

The first panel shows King Shield Jaguar with his favorite wife, Lady Xoc, kneeling to his side.  Lady Xoc is performing a bloodletting ceremony.  She has pierced her tongue, and is pulling a rope of thorns through it.  Her blood drips onto paper in a basket at her knees.  The paper will then be burned as an offering to the gods.

 



 

The second panel shows the aftermath of the bloodletting ceremony.  Upon burning the blood-soaked paper, Lady Xoc (who would probably have taken a hallucinogenic drug prior to the ceremony) has a vision of a dead ancestor rising from the smoke.

The remains of a great stairway lead up a mound to the most impressive of Yaxchilán's structures.

 

 

This temple is simply known as Structure 33.  The building is topped with a "roof comb", a decorative feature typical of classic Mayan architecture.  The niches in the roof comb would have contained sculptures.

 

 

 

 

 

The steps at the base of Structure 33 are also decorated with carvings and hieroglyphics.  A huge number of hieroglyphic carvings are to be found at Yaxchilán.  They proved very useful to archaeologists who eventually were able to decipher the Mayan writing system.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we had a limited time at the ruins.  There was much more to see, although I'm not sure that I would have wanted to wander the paths through the jungle to see some of the other groups of buildings.

 

We returned to the launch, and headed back upstream to Frontera Corozal.  There we had lunch at a simple restaurant.  Again, the food was basic but tasty.  We then got back in the van which was now less cramped since several of the passengers had left on to Guatemala.  We headed down the road to the ruins of Bonampak.  The last section of the trip was along a bumpy, dusty, dirt road.

 

Bonampak was a smaller Mayan city which was subject to Yaxchilán.  The archaeological site is rather small, and not very impressive, but it was here that one of the greatest finds in Mayan archaeology was made.

 

 

The structure at the extreme right hand side of the photo above is known as the Temple of the Murals.

 

In 1946 an American, Charles Frey, was living in the rainforest and made friends with the indigenous natives.  One of them took him to a secret spot, the ruins of Bonampak, where the locals still held religious ceremonies.  There Frey found the three room building whose interior was covered with mural paintings.  In 1949 archaeologists were called in to study the structure.  The paintings were covered with deposits of calcium carbonite from rainwater seeping through the roof.  The archaeologists cleaned the walls with kerosene to reveal the brilliant colors of the murals.  Photographs were taken of the paintings.  However, the kerosene resulted in flaking and decay of the artwork.  Fortunately, we have the photographs of the extraordinary murals, and an exact replica of the temple was built on the grounds of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.  

 

  





 

The murals of Bonampak constitute the greatest example of Mayan painting anywhere, and give us an unparalleled glimpse into their life.  It also contributed to a reevaluation of Mayan culture.  In the first half of the 20th century archaeologists tended to idealize the Mayas as a peaceful tribe of intellectuals who, unlike those bloodthirsty Aztecs, did not perform human sacrifice.  But the murals at Bonampak show scenes of battle, bloodletting ceremonies, and the torture and sacrifice of captives.  As archaeologists unraveled the Mayan hieroglyphics and were able to read the carved inscriptions found throughout their ancient cities, it was confirmed that the Mayas were indeed a very warlike society, and that blood sacrifice was an integral part of their religion.

 

After a brief visit to Bonampak, we made the long trip back to Palenque.  It was after dark by the time I returned to my hotel.  It had been a very long and, at times, uncomfortable day, but it was a very rewarding trip to see places where only the most intrepid tourists venture.