Day 316 – Yaxchilan and Bonampak

Tour of Yaxchilan and Bonampak from Palenque

Today we woke nice and got ready for our 6am pick up. We had booked a tour with Tulum Travel Agent in Palenque, the previous night (Day 315). The tour cost us 800 MXN / $60.53 AUD per person, and included transport, meals (not including drinks) and entrance fees. No guide was included with the tour.

The van arrived at 6.07am, which was pretty good. The sunset from the van looked really nice. However, this may have been due to the heavy tint on the windows. 

Just before 7.30am we arrived at a restaurant for breakfast. Unfortunately, so had another 5-10 vans full of tourists. The restaurant was offering a basic breakfast buffet (bread, eggs, bacon, watermelon and papaya), which was nice. Coffee and juice was also included. We had to wait in line for a very long time though. Including the waiting and eating time, the meal took 45 minutes.

Yaxchilan Ruins

To get to Yaxchilan Ruins, you need a boat. From our (my wife’s) research, the difficulty is this boat. It will only go, when it is full, which means waiting around for an unknown time. If you end up paying for the entire boat yourself, the price is similar to a tour. This was the main reason, we went on a tour.

The van arrived at the dock around 10am. The van driver did not speak any English but we think he recommended taking plenty of water, insect repellent and sunscreen. We were ushered to a waiting boat on the Usumacinta River. It was really cool, because the opposite bank of the river is Guatemala. The small motor boat, ventured along the river for 40 minutes. Along the banks are thousands of mainly yellow butterflies going wild.

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Once we arrived at the banks of the river, the boat driver, told us, he would wait here for two hours. 

After a short walk, we glimpsed the first ruins. There were really nice. One of the first buildings surprisingly has a labyrinth that goes up and down ancient stairs. After coming to several dead ends, we backtracked to daylight. The site is large, but not massive and the majority of the buildings can be entered. The most impressive building is up the large staircase, but some of the smaller buildings, house nice artwork that have survived the centuries.

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Aided by the mobile app MAP.ME, we did a round trip around the ruins and came back to the entrance. Here as we waited for the rest of the tourists, we had a can of coke from an eski, sold by the staff.

We then walked back to the boat and took it to the waiting van. From the dock, the van drove us less than 200 metres to the restaurant. At the restaurant, we started talking to the other tourists on the tour. We learnt that there is still a French Colony in South America, known as French Guiana! Not being a fan of occupations, it made me a little sad. 

Bonampak Ruins

After lunch, we got back into the van and drove towards the Bonampak Ruins. After an hour or so on the road, our driver stopped the van near another van. We were told to get into this van. The other van, was a lot older and covered in dust. Once the journey started, we could tell why. The road was super dusty and bumpy. Luckily, it was a short 15 minute ride.

We arrived at Bonampak Ruins and walked several hundred metres along a dirt path, which was mainly sheltered by large trees. At the Mayan ruins, we were instantly impressed. Only one large section remains. The other buildings in the area, can easily be called ruins.

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The main draw card to Bonampak, is three chambers, that still have original murals. The murals are quite impressive and some signs to the side tries to explain what you see. These murals are super well protected by staff members enforcing a large list of rules. The rules are understandable, but I think excessive. 

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The site only took one hour as, besides the mural chambers and walking up the large staircase, there is not much else to see. We left the site and got back into the dusty van. The dusty van took us back to the nice tour company van. By the time we arrived in Palenque again it was 7.30pm.

Back in town…

We were dropped off at our accommodation Casa Janaab. From here, we walked to the ADO bus terminal and bought our bus ticket out of Palenque.

It was a massive day, to see the two sites, but despite all the driving, we loved the experience.