Within the Chiapas state, on the land of the Zapatist Revolutionary Army (EZLN) with the subcommandante Marcos in the front line, we went and got a jungle-nestled Mayan site. We emancipate from the Yucatan peninsula for a couple of days at the edge of the Guatemalan border. From the pleasant town of Palenque we reach the eponymous archaeological site. The city differs from the previous ones as for the style and with the harmonious invasion of the nature. Because, except the core of the ancient Mayan capital, basking in the glow of nice stone buildings, the jungle is everywhere. The trees take roots into the foundations of the edifices driving to a symbiosis between the nature and the archaeological remnants. A visit which is worth misdemeanour, hundreds of kilometers from Cancun.
In the surroundings of Palenque, two other highlights see their car parks filling up during the day. The first one is the Misol-Ha waterfall, a thin curtain of water, encircled by the same greenery that sheltered the Mayan site and the second one, an amassing of limestone basins which pour into one another. Each point of view looking out onto these short waterfalls invites to a break. Down below, the sun, within its struggle with the clouds, makes shimmer the river when its rays reach the water surface.
Keyword - freedom -
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Palenque: in the heart of the forest
By dorian on Tuesday 18 November 2008, 14:03 - RTW2-Mexico
Thursday 6 November 2008
night dive with the manta rays
By dorian on Thursday 6 November 2008, 17:38 - RTW2-Hawaii
For these last 2 days on the large Hawaiian land, I rented a car, a Chrysler PT Cruiser. I drive to the west coast where, close to the airport, during the air waltz of the jumbo jets, a handful of boats agglutinate in a little bay where they thrived a peculiar activity, the manta rays night dive. It's precisely where I will be tonight. On the way, I make a detour by the black sand beach the turtles lay down on. They are only 3 today, but my joy to approach them is as great as yesterday. I can't linger because the road is still long up to Kailua. 1H30 later, I arrive at the diving center where I comply with the formalities. The price is exorbitant, it adds up to 170$ for 2 dives. I get to the boat at 3PM where the staff welcome the divers of the day. As we navigate to the bay, a dolphins' family offers us a aerobatics show. A savoury starter preceding our immersion.
After the briefing, we go into the water for the first dive. A tasteless immersion, far from the marvels of the Indian Ocean. However, the interest focuses on the second dive. The dusk motivates us to put on our equipment again and equipped with a torchlight, we jump into the water. A several-torch-kitted box was established at 10m deep underwater and light the surface. Different series of divers come and kneel down around this luminous seamark and put their lamps upwards. This cluster of light attracts swarms of plankton which manta rays are very fond of. After a 20-minute vain waiting, the dive master decides to move on to the spare plan with a normal night dive when one of the divers shakes his torchlight and all our eyes turn back. The sea devil flies to the light shaft. Our breathing cuts themselves off, the time of this mind-blowing dance. The creature will make two other rides before vanishing into the dark blue. We will wait for its or one of its fellow member's come back but in vain. We get on the boat, glad of this brief appearance when another ray comes by the hull. Each one of us is delighted with this double encounter while we go back to the pier in a starry sky.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
wide angle over Big Island
By dorian on Tuesday 4 November 2008, 09:16 - RTW2-Hawaii
We leave the volcanoes to reach the coastal road. We want to cover the north and east side of the island hoping to discover paradisiac beaches or breathtaking viewpoints. Our Jeep navigates on the bituminous ribbon which juggles among beaches and cliffs. Within the cracks of the steep rock faces, the valleys squeeze a thick vegetation which glides towards the ocean. The northern Polulu valley competes with the southern Waipio valley. Our eyes get lost into the immensity of the landscapes and far down, when the water meets the stone, it dies into a white foam. We take again the road to venture hinterland for a couple of hours. The scenery changes so fast, here we are in the tropical forest. But our presence is not the fruit of chance, that's to encounter a few particles of suicidal water that makes a great leap from the top of a cliff, the Akaka falls.
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