Bill French arrived fairly late (after 10) from Canada. James took him out to eat at Kinoki, which is close and good food, then Bill, Rita and I sat up talking till 1am, recognizing that we had to get up at 5.
Despite the early departure time, almost everyone was on time or earlier for meeting the buses. Bill´s hotel forgot to give him the wakeup call but he woke up in the nick of time anyway, running out without his passport. There was time for him to recover it (naturally) because two students who live alone had malfunctioning alarms. So we left a half hour late but it was still fine.
We had a nice breakfast stop at Los Tulipanes in Ocosingo and continued on to Palenque, arriving by noon. We stopped to check into Los Leones, relax, and get lunch, then left at 1:30 for the site.
Unfortunately, the site closed much earlier than previous, so we did not have as much time as planned. I whisked the class through the museum, showing especially the huge clay incensario stands (finding an element that had not yet been published but makes sense of the posts) and the limestone reliefs. I had spent the bus ride reading the new book by David Stuart on the reliefs of Str. 19 so I could explain them in detail in the museum.
We headed up to the site through the area of the cascades so that we could look at the residential complexes known as the Murcielagos Group and Group B, in the latter of which we saw where the tomb had been uncovered that contained the figurines displayed in the museum, and also the sweatbath. This sweatbath is particularly elaborate with its three vaulted niches. (See the group photo from the entrance to the Murcielagos).
Up at the site I skipped the North Group due to lack of time, and instead took the class through the Palace, beginning at the earlier level known as the Subterraneos and continuing up through the stairs to the upper level, ending on the north and west sides. As usual, there was a beautiful breeze blowing through House C. We also looked at the so-called toilet and Tina gave us a demonstration!
We couldn´t climb the Inscriptions Pyramid so instead contented ourselves with an entry into Structure XIII and the so-called Tomb of the Red Queen. It appears that a residential room, one in a large residential block, had been used for the tomb and then the whole residence buried by an outer structure. One end of the buried residential block is shown in the phot.
Next we went to the Cross Group, climbing only the Sun and Cross pyramids, and reviewed some of the basic ideas covered on the group in lecture. The class was then left with 40 minutes to wander on their own. Bill and I explored the area of Structures 17-21, and then the residential complexes adjoining the Cross Group on the west and north, known as Structures XV and XVI. The Structure XV group is where excavators found the Incensario stands with human faces. Structure XVI is particularly interesting for its three levels, all connected by multiple interior stairways. At this complex, we heard howler monkeys not far away.
We had some time left so we climbed structure XII to look at the plaster motif of a rabbit skull, then sat and enjoyed the view as we watched students gathering to leave the site.
The ride back to the hotel was uneventful, and after a rest the drivers took us into town for dinner, internet, and shopping. I needed to get rubber bands to keep all of our entrance stubs organized, and a bunch of our group eating together suggested that when I go to the stationary, I should ask for "ligas." They knew it had become slang for pick-ups. I didn't know that. So I asked for ligas, but luckily the attendant didn't flinch and just brought out the rubber band package. Last laugh is on them.
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