Wednesday, September 24, 2008

welcome to the jungle

Ive spent the last to nights in Palenque, home of some serious ancient ruins in the jungle.
I looked up ‘jungle’ in the dictionary and it says……… 'a wilderness of dense overgrowth; a piece of swampy, thickset forestland'... hmmm, they forgot to put in the part about being constantly soaking wet. Either from torrential rain or pure sweat from any sort of excertion I.E. standing up from a chair…..totally soaked and my wet noodle of a body worming its way back to sit. Air-con?.....yeah, no. not in this hut. But not to worry the half dead 1950 fan blows the heavy dense piss warm air right at me. Ahhh! 3 cold showers a day is a must and you learn to ignore the scent of B O.
M0m, Dad they've recruited me....... Zapatistas for life!
I know the gun is bigger than my arm, but isnt that the point? Jungle chicks
one world connected
this place is absolutely amazing! The history of the ruins and the Palenque people.... fascinating. dating back to 100bc but thrived in 300-700ad time. The ruins themselves are magical, nestled into the hills of the jungle with grand structures out in clearings sprawled across 500 acres (guessing). Can you imagine (though they knew about it) they built all of this without using the wheel.
The coolest part is that you can walk around-in-up all of it.

the pictures say more than i can.......
Whats that they say about pitch black deep cave like rooms in ancient buildings in the jungle?.....'dont go in them idiot they are full of bats.' but curiousity makes some of us learn the hard way....... so i went in and its jet black, flicked my bic to see.... instantly! about 30 of them darting at my head smakcking into me. ive never ran so crocs-slipping flaylling arms fast in my life! heart pounding while a couple outside waiting, watching, laughing from a wise distance.

Two thoughts for those who want to visit this area.
1. if you live in Minnesota, spend 23 hours a day for at least 2 weeks in a sauna to prep for the climate
2. don’t wear crocs when walking on-in-around the jungle or ruins. the limestone rock is slippery smooth covered with moss mostly and it doesn’t feel good falling down 2 foot tall steps landing on more 2ft tall steps nor can you out run bats in them, nor will they protect you from thousands of tiny red fire ants biting the sh#$&% out of your feet.

4 comments:

Matt Davis Minneapolis said...

Cool Stuff Mike!

matt

Mel said...

Too funny. Thanks for the laugh. Wish I was there to enjoy and observe.

Fazio said...

Sounds like you are safe and having a good time....the photos are fantastic!!! Kelly and I were thinking about you this weekend...be safe my friend and have fun!!

Mike Haley said...

Hey all,
Thanks its beating expectations!