CHIAPAS - PALENQUE RUINS

Click on the title to this post to go to a good web site on Palenque.

PROBLEMS

The night before departure for Palenque we dump tanks. There are NO services for us while staying in Palenque - it is just a hotel parking lot. The difficulty is that the dump is very tight for our large RV, and there is no gravity dump because our outlet is lower than the dump opening.

Fortunately I could borrow 2 lenghts of macerator sewer hose from Terry and Bill, and linked with our hose, our portable macerator pumped sewer 75 feet away and up into the dump. Alan Buie's 5th wheel was in the same bind and we dumped it also.

During early AM departure checks we found the right rear RV tire had only 82 pounds of pressure instead of the 110 spec. There is nothing to do except limp along for the next 305 miles - a very long one- day trip. Fortunately we have a built-in air compressor in the RV.

It was a long and tiring trip. We had to stop every 50 miles at first to check pressure in the leaking tire and pump it up. We determined that it was a slow leak. Out plan was not to leave the caravan, get to the parking lot with the others, and resolve the problem afterwards.

However, as we passed the town of Palenque near our destination, our tail gunner recommended we stop at a llanteria ( road-side tire shop) to see if they could repair it. Well, they determined that the STEEL RIM was leaking, and installed the spare.

By then, the rest of the caravan had left us well behind, and the tail gunner asked to stay in town looking for a welding shop for repairs on another RV, and we therefore continued on our own to the destination.

To make the story short, the Caravan Log Book was wrong, and the hotel entrance could not be easily seen until we were very close. We overshot the entrance by 50 feet before we stopped - there was NO one waiting for us and there were no warning signs ahead of the left curve hiding the entrance.

After some VERY exciting mountain climb to a turn-around, and then a hard exhaust brake type steep descent, we finally arrived in the parking lot, only to experience a sudden 5th wheel brake lock as we were maneuvering to park.

Theories about overheated brakes were floated by the wagon master. Then I thought that another cause of such a hard tire lock could be the emergency brakes. Sure enough - the break-away cable had been pulled by the ladder, which was out of its normal place to make room for the bad wheel in the truck bed.

After parking, we at least get relief from the steamy heat of Chiapas with a good swim in the hotel pool. This is almost the entire group. Terry Brewer must have taken this picture because he is not in it.

A guanabana! I haven't seen this delicious fruit since I left Cuba.

Palenque is our Southernmost stopping point, and Chiapas is hot, very rainy, and one of the poorest Mexican states.

A thick subtropical jungle surrounds Palenque, our hotel, and all the roads.

Banana trees were in bloom in February.

The Maya builders built this aqueduct to run UNDER the buildings.

Palenque has some of the very finest Maya architecture, stone reliefs and paintings.

The terraced steep sides of one of the buildings.

Climbing some of the buildings produced beautiful views of the surrounding jungle.

Maya arches.

A Maya latrine in one of the buildings.