La Piedra Serpiente

Today I went to the site looking for a guide named Nicolas Lopez, a local Chol Maya. He had ben my guide last year into Palenque's jungle on the western side of the site and I wanted to go there again. Tourists can only visit this area if they are accompanied by a licensed guide. Guides must have 530 hours of training. Few touristas want to go there because the paths are muddy and hard to follow. Nicolas loves to tramp through the woods, finding things that he thinks are of interest to me. When we were done, after paying him, I also gave him a reproducible map of the site that he can give out to his future clients.

During our very watery tour, we carefully made our way through all the travertine terraces that have formed in and around the cascades. Water ladened with calcite from the underground springs coats everything over time, including these snail shells that we picked up out of the stream.

At one point, Nicolas exclaimed "La Serpiente!" and pointed down to one of the formations and sure enough, there it was, a stone snake. Si, es verdad!