NEW MEXICO: ROSWELL

June 30, 2021

We spent the night at a Super 8 in Las Vegas (New Mexico), a quirky hotel in a quirky little town. I loved the peacock decoration that was part of the hotel landscaping.

However, Las Vegas didn't hold a candle to the quirkiness of our next destination: Roswell, New Mexico, home of the [in]famous July 1947 "Roswell UFO Incident." The basic story is that a "flying disc" crashed at a ranch about 75 miles from Roswell and was reported to authorities by the Roswell Army Air Field. However, the Army quickly retracted the statement, saying that it was actually a plain ol' weather balloon that crashed. 

Things were quiet until the late 1970s when a retired military man exposed the "cover-up" to a UFOlogist, or a researcher of UFO sightings. Many more "eyewitnesses" soon came out of the woodwork, including several who said that at least one alien spacecraft had crash-landed and bodies had been recovered by the military.

In 1994, the US Air Force came out with a report stating that the crashed object was a nuclear test surveillance balloon, and in 1997 they added that the recovered "alien bodies" were probably test dummies that had been dropped from high altitude.

What I can gather is this: 1) Something crashed into a field 75 miles outside Roswell in July 1947; 2) There was some kind of cover-up, although whether it was because it was a nuclear-related device or a UFO can be debated; 3) There are a lot of crazy people out there; 4) Roswell makes a big chunk of money off its UFO/alien image. As for #4, why else would we have gone to Roswell, except perhaps as a bathroom stop on our way to Carlsbad Caverns? 

As soon as you hit the edge of Roswell's business district, there is no question what the big draw is.

MEXICO, VILLAHERMOSA DAY 2: PALENQUE AND MISOL-HA

March 16, 2018

On our second full day in Villahermosa, our friends picked us up for a 90-mile drive to what in my opinion is the best of all the Latin American pre-Columbian sites: Palenque. Well, at least it is the best of the ones I have seen. I had been there in 1979, and I remembered that walking around it felt like walking in a movie set (which is a little strange--something real feeling like something fictional). 

The walk between the parking lot and the ruins was lined with vendors, which was good because Bob really needed a hat. We were facing another day of almost 100° weather and over 90% humidity. A hat won't help with the humidity, but a little shade on the head is a good thing, and this shopkeeper seemed especially happy to make the sale.

Tropical climate makes for bodily misery, but it also creates a beautiful setting.

The region was first inhabited by Mayans in about 200 BC, with Palenque's glory days beginning at about 200 AD when it was a power center that ruled over the region. For unknown reasons, Palenque was abandoned by its residents in 900 AD, leaving its temples, palaces, and homes to be gobbled up by the hungry jungle.

The first "modern" account of the city was published in 1567 by Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada, the Spaniard who initially ran across the ruins and named them "Palenque," or "fortification" in Spanish. No more official visits were made until the late 18th century. Many archaeologists visited the area throughout the 19th century, but it wasn't until 1891 that the first excavations and restorations began.  Palenque was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and is now one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico.

The restored section of Palenque covers about a square mile, but it is estimated that only a tenth of the city has been uncovered and that there are more than a thousand buildings still enveloped by heavy jungle growth, waiting to be excavated.