We had an urge to keep moving. Especially while the noserly WNW-NNW breezes stayed light. The sunrise on February 10, 2015, brought the chatter of a flock of parrots and other birds of unknown species to the bay of Puerto Marques. They all seemed to roost in what was left of the jungle foliage on…
We left Marina Chahue in Huatulco on February 7, 2015. I noticed that even at mid-tide on a falling tide, the surge in the marina was impressive. As it can be, there. (Protip: break out the trucker hitches you'd used as mooring lines in Mazatlan, and use them again in Marina Chahue.) It was very…
Readers of this here blog already know how much I enjoy exploring Precolumbian archaeological sites. Copalita, just outside of Huatulco in Mexico's state of Oaxaca, is one of my favorites.Way back in 2015 the cab ride took 10-15 minutes from the marina and the round trip cab fare was a mere US $11. The museum…
So, yeah, that fair current that pushed us along and right out of the way of that brewing Tehuantepec gale? To avoid making landfall somewhere around Huatulco in the middle of the night, we had to drop our engine speed to 2100 rpm. We saw we were still scooting along the 30'-35' depth contour at…
Still no pics. I'm all business when I cross Tehuantepecs. It turned out we'd assessed the forecast correctly. As we left the shelter of Puerto Chiapas and came onto open water, conditions were rolly with the very last of the slop left over from the previous Tehuantepec'er. Breezes were now about 8-10 knots and dropped…
Photos? Fuhgeddaboutit. January 2015 was almost over and it was time for us to sail northward. That meant we'd cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec like we'd done in March 2010, but we had to pay even closer attention to weather windows this time. The mountain gap that causes strong winds and seas to increase to…
Our 13-hour-long day trip out of Palenque was only half over when we approached the Mayan Classic era ruins of Bonampak, located on a tributary of the Usumacinta River. In a history similar to Yaxchilan's, artifacts recovered from Bonampak indicate it was a nondescript agricultural settlement in about 100 CE, that amassed wealth from river…
Back in the 1980s, travel from Palenque to the two Classic Mayan sites of Yaxchilan and Bonampak was a multi-day trek along muddy roads through the jungle followed by hiring boatmen to paddle you and your gear along the Usumacinta River – the border between Mexico and Guatemala. These days it's a more-straightforward all-day trip…
And now, for some details Palenque has disclosed. Portions of the structures' original stucco can still be found in sheltered places; some of the clearest examples are on the palace walls and show combinations of black outlining with predominant reds and the deep sky-blue color known as "Mayan Blue." …
Palenque is a major Mayan archaeological site located at the jungle's edge in southeastern Chiapas highlands. It rose from a small regional center in about 500 C.E. to a major Mayan city-state in the Late Classic Period, about 600 C.E. (when my own ancestors were living in mud huts and painting themselves blue). Of all…