Palenque, eh?

The cool mist of the Chiapas highland jungle slowly gave way to abright, sun-filled blue sky. But with the mist went the peace and quietalso shrouding the ancient Mayan ruins of Palenque. Numerous buses(including ours) packed with Mexican and foreign tourists arrived onSaturday to scope out the impressive pyramids, towers, palaces, andgrassy plazas that date back at least as far as the 5th century A.D.(For more on the history of this important site, see the sweet video below.) Having spent the night in town, we walked in as soon as theruins opened and spent the morning touring around while the crowds werelightest and before the mid-day sun pushed the temperature into the 90s.

Before our group of 14 got back in the mini-bus for the curvy,five-hour, vomit-inducing ride back to San Cristobal, we had time tofilm a brief movie about Palenque starring James and Karla (editor’snote: Kayela). The excellent cinematography is courtesy of Joel, whoshot it on full-color, IMAX-quality 70mm film. While the surround soundand 180-degree shots can only be truly experienced when the film has itsfull theatrical release in the Bay Area later this year, he also shot itwith his point-and-shoot digital camera. Now all you blog readers (yes, all five of you) can check out the online version below, which is stillpretty cool despite its highly questionable education value. The workingtitle is “Mayan Mocumentary,” and it was filmed in two parts (totalelapsed time: approximately one minute). If you have seen any of themade-for-TV specials about mysterious ancient cultures (especially theover-dramatized shows on the History Channel), you may appreciate this.