Yaxchilan and Bonampak archaeological sites

8:45 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico

A mural at Bonampak archaeological site. Much better preserved than I ever expected and a beautiful thing to witness (see the enlargeable image below).

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Today I was (very fortunately) talked into going to the Yaxchilan and Bonampak archaeology sites with Brittany, Liz and Evelyn. It was an all day trip for $600 pesos ($50 USD), including transportation, entrance fees, breakfast and lunch, yet my extremely stingy self still hesitated. However, Sarie had enthusiastically recommended the trip and her approval is difficult to earn, so I figured it must be worthwhile. Plus, we were all getting cabin fever from being stuck inside, working on our computers for the past two days. Last night we impulsively made fondue (five girls in a house, what do you expect?), and then went to bed early.

This morning the tour picked us up at 6:30 a.m. in a charter van, and we stopped along the way to have a wonderful breakfast of eggs, rice and fruit. Then we continued the rest of the three hour journey to the Usumacinta River, which divides Mexico and Guatemala. We rode on a long, skinny and low-riding boat down the river, drifting so close to Guatemala’s shore that we were all tempted to jump out just to say we’d been to Guatemala. But we had heard the river was teeming with crocodiles, and while we never saw any, there were tons of crazy huge, swimming iguanas.

The shore over my shoulder is Guatemala!

We arrived at Yaxchilan (Mexican side of the river)

and were given two hours to explore the premise. While not quite as expansive as la ruinas de Palenque, this site featured more detailed carvings and ornately decorated tablets. In the first building we entered there were dark hallways that crisscrossed throughout the structure. Most of the pyramids we had visited in the past had roofs but not many walls, so seeing wasn’t a problem and we didn’t bother to bring headlamps. This was an exception, but I couldn’t leave it unexplored. There were bats in the narrow hallways so I was walking through trying to catch them in flight with my camera and flash. The flash also doubled as my navigation tool, and I would initiate it, walk about ten feet (or as far as the image burned in my head allowed), then flash it again.

I inched my way through with this strategy, until I reached some steps. I had seen them for a fraction of a second, and I thought that was sufficient to get me up safety. But I took a few steps up and went crashing forward on my forearms, as my feet slipped backward on the uneven and damp steps. Luckily, my arms cradled the camera and it never made impact with the rock.

My feet did not fare as well. I had smashed the toes on my left foot against the rock and was only wearing sandals. It felt like a stubbed toe x 10, but when I made it out of the darkness and back with the rest of the group, I looked down and didn’t see the damage I was expecting based on the still non-relenting pain. At first. But a few minutes later I looked down again and there was blood gushing from beneath the toenail of my middle toe, and the nail looked like it was about to fall off. We cleaned it and applied a band aid (our group has quickly learned the importance of taking a first aid kit everywhere, because you never know what could happen—especially in my case). It definitely felt broken, and I spent the rest of the day in pain and struggling to climb up and down thousands of steps, always trying to keep the weight on my heels.

Lizard checking its [Mayan] calendar

We did see some amazing sights though—enough to drive the throbbing toe out of my mind. We finally got to see our first spider monkeys at Yaxchilan, which was quite a treat for us monkey-lovers. We met back at the boat and returned to the tour’s home base for a delicious and well-presented lunch of chicken fajitas with flan for dessert.

Next, the four of us hopped back on the van and headed to the Bonampak site. These ruins were much smaller and consisted of only a few buildings, but they made up for their modest size by boasting incredibly well-preserved murals. They were highly detailed and colored, and I was amazed at how well the artistry had survived the centuries. This was my favorite part, actually witnessing full paintings where I could see the subjects clearly rather than just guessing vaguely at their meaning. I continued taking photos until I was the only one that remained, then reluctantly turned my back on the cultural treasures and joined the others at the van.

When we got back to the house I took off my band aid to reveal a black and purple, swollen toe with a puss filled nail and crooked joint. I seem to be attracting injuries here like Nutella attracts ants.

Working on my feet all day is not going to be fun.

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