Equipt's "Expedition Mundo Maya"

[equipt2]

The Equipt Team is in McAllen, TX ready to hit the border in a few minutes for our annual 2 month trip! We are in my 80 Series Land Cruiser and Paul May's 100 Series. Our live SPOT track is here: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/f...8USO58LRAynQ7j
If you have not please become a fan of ours on Facebook here: Equipt Expedition Outfitters | Facebook
We will be dead heading today and try to get to Palenque as fast as we can to start our tour of many Mayan Ruins in southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. We will be joining the gang at No Limits Expeditions for their Rainforest and Ruins Tour Jan. 14th-23rd and be on our on all the other time. Please throw us some suggestions of places we might want to see along the way. Tomorrow starts the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar and we are going to be down there to help celebrate it with a many a beer and a few shots of tequila!!!

 

[equipt2]

Equipt's "Expedition Mundo Maya 2012"

O.K. so Team Equipt is 8 days into our "Expedition Mundo Maya" trip and finally has something worth while to say/show and a good enough internet connection to get it done!:sombrero:
We are now in San Cristóbal de Las Casas preparing to cross the border tomorrow into Guatemala where we will join up with James & Angela Brown of No Limit Expeditions.
We stayed at the Maya Bell Campground near the ruins at Palenque for three days recuperating from our bonsai drive to southern Mexico. Yesterday Jan. 6th we drove from Palenque to the ruins at Banampak which are on the Guatemala border. This morning we visited the ruins which are some of the most beautiful in all of Mexico. First here are some images from Palenque.

The ruins at Palenque as seen from the near the highest point looking down at the "Palace."

Paul giving Beverly his best explanation of how the Mayan people disappeared around 850 A.D.

This was the bathing cascades for King Pakal also known at "Pakal The Great" and his queen "Tzakbu Ajawat" who was the Princess of Oktán. It took all that I had to keep Beverly and Paul from jumping into the falls for a quick swim! BTW, this image is handheld as there are no tripod's allowed at these ruins.

This is really cool bark found at Palenque, please don't ask me what it's called......:ylsmoke:

One of the last structures that you visit at Palenque and well worth the wait!

Wow!

Who said that the ancient Mayan's were not good engineers or understood erosion evasion techniques?

We brought 4 of the new Snowpeak Hozuki Lanterns with us on this expedition and love the light that they produce. They are infinitely adjustable and very compact.

This is the first trip that Equipt is an official Snowpeak dealer. We are loving the benefits as this stuff is not only very lightweight, but just plain old cool.....:sombrero:

The view from our campmento at San Miguel de Allende. It was officially named the RV & Tennis Club?

While in San Miguel de Allende we camped near this Uni-Mog. Word is they arrived 1.5 years ago for a one week stay and have never left.:ylsmoke:

I know some people think that this is a vacation for Team Equipt, but lets get real. This is a product evaluation/testing trip and no fun at all!:sombrero: BTW, this stay on the way down shows that there are not many people traveling south due to the threats. This park is usually full and we had the entire thing to ourselves.

Now on to Bonampak!

 

[equipt2]

Equipt's "Expedition Mundo Maya 2012"

Now on to Bonampak which is located near the Guatemalan border and about 100 miles from Palenque. We camped in a dirt parking lot about 5.6 miles away from the ruins. This is as close as you can get in your vehicle to this incredible place. From here you must pay 70 pesos to a cab driver to take you to the ruins???
The long drive into the middle of nowhere was well worth it as these are the only ruins left that will actually let you visit and photograph the brightly colored murals inside!

The view as you walk into the ruins, very compact and full of Mayan love! known as the Grand Plaza.

We were the only people there for about 30 minutes, very nice.....

Beverly was like a butterfly bouncing from ancient ruin to deep into the jungle to discover something else really cool.

This is what you come here for! The best preserved murals from approx. 800 A.D.

Although tongue piercing is very popular today, it was not over 1000 years ago when this was painted. This was a religious sacrifice performed by these three women in the mural.

This carving was just outside of where the murals were found at Banampak.

Beverly and Paul huffed and puffed, but no blowing over Edificio 17. It has stood erect since A.D. 850. The guards did not think this was too funny..... P.S. They weren't really trying very hard......:sombrero::

O.K. I have about 500 images from inside the mural vaults, but will not bore you with any more!

Until we reach our next connection in Antigua, Guatemala......

 

[spressomon]

Nice trip! But its a MAN not a 'Mog.

 

[jonharis]

Incredible. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Enigma]

Nice pics, and yah, that ain't a Mog :0