Page 123 - Exile-ebook

122 AN EXILE OF THE MIND A BOXCAR TO PALENQUE 123

Chichén Itzá with the observatory on the right. The lid of Lord Pacal’s sarcophagus, Palenque.

musical genre of the mariachis. Salvador had a special technique for Uxmal, Chichén Itzá and Palenque. bailed out of the boxcar at a run
Ricardo, noticing my visits were parking in a space smaller than his The temple doorway at Chichén Itzá within a 15-kilometre walk of the
becoming less frequent at the res- car. He would nudge the front car seemed a good place to camp in the isolated site.
taurant, usually because I couldn’t forward and then push rearwards pouring rain. We used our tent for Palenque emerged from a greenery
afford it, commissioned a mural the car at the back, doing this several the first time to discover next morn- of lush tropical jungle. A serene
on the wall in exchange for meals times until he created a space in the ing that the rock used to belt tent mystical air was discernible amidst the
and beer. He wanted a brunette, a street to fit in. pegs into the flinty ruins as we clambered
blonde and a redhead scantily clad At that time I was struck down by a soil was a carved face over the many carved
in a beach scene. Jane Lawrence mystery illness for several days until of a Mayan god. stones scattered about,
was one of the beach girls. a painful penicillin jab, inexpertly The clickity-clack of undisturbed due to the
Russell’s shipmates from New aimed by Salvador to my rear, a train slowed to walk- scarcity of roads.
Zealand came to visit with nine of us accelerated my recovery. Mainly for ing pace days later as In another two years,
squeezing into Salvador’s car for a fear of getting another jab. we slung our packs through the open tourists by the busloads would descend
week of late nights and drinking. And Using our customary mode of door of a boxcar. And with a skip we on this tranquil site, clamouring for
for a little culture, a cramped visit transport, the trusty thumb, Russell jumped in after them. plastic Palenques from roadside stalls.
to the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán, and I set off for the Yucatan to vis- The train rumbled through the Eric Von Daniken, in his controversial
50 kilometres northeast of the city. it the magnificent Mayan ruins of deep jungle of Lacandon where we Chariots of the Gods, would later