440 - 10th - Start the business

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Mar'09

The doors had just opened to the ruins at Palneque and among the very first people to get in were these shopkeepers who owned small make-shift "tiendas" inside the complex. They put up their shops right besides the palace of the king which was actually a passage between the two main areas inside the campus. They had all kinds of things ranging from table covers to calendars and small show pieces all having some kind of "Mayan" look.

I was climbing down the ruins of the palace when I saw them getting ready for the day's business. I took this photo from the first level of the building in order to go unnoticed and get a "natural" shot.

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425 - 13th - Witnessing history

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Feb'09

Palenque is one of the most fascinating archeological ruins I have ever visited. We reached the place before it opened and were one of the first people to enter the site as soon as the gates were set free. You could feel the energy the place possessed as soon as you stepped in. Not evening a single human being in front of you and just bare pyramids and open fields lying ahead, made you feel you have entered into a some other world. A world where the stones speak for themselves and the kings tell their stories through the glyphs, paintings and pyramids.

An experience which changed forever the way I looked at archeology and to be more specific - at the Mayas.

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409 - 28th - The tiny fungi

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th Jan'09

One person was really pissed off while I was busy clicking these tiny mushrooms - my guide to the ruins of Palenque.

We had hired a guide to let us know the story behind the stones at the archeological ruins of Palenque. After giving us the details of the pyramids he led us into the jungle to show some ruins which haven't been excavated yet. As we were spiraling through the narrow path in the undergrowth we passed under a log of a fallen tree. This bunch of tiny fungi was growing on that particular piece of wood. While the guide was cursing me for spending time on something which isn't even remotely related to Maya civilization, I was busy getting my shot.

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408 - 27th - Palenque

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th Jan'09

The site of Palenque was abandoned by the Maya people for several centuries, when the Spanish explorers arrived in Chiapas in the 16th century. The first European to visit the ruins and publish an account was Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada in 1567; at the time the local Chol Maya called it Otolum meaning "Land with strong houses", de la Nada roughly translated this into Spanish to give the site the name "Palenque", meaning "fortification". Palenque also became the name for the town (Santo Domingo del Palenque) which was built over some peripheral ruins down in the valley from the main ceremonial center of the ancient city

I took this photo from the top of one of the pyramids right at the corner so that I could cover maximum area. the place was beautiful and the clear weather and sunshine helped me getting a pretty clear landscape.

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