Palenque 27th – 28th July

 

Palenque is amazing and you should visit. The town itself was a little on the rough side and as we got off what seemed to be a very long bus ride with Oli we were pretty happy. Oli was heading on to the north of the Yucatan peninsula that evening so the break was enjoyed! The town bus station was a far cry from the brand new, air conditioned halls with security guards and clean marble floors. More like what we had expected of Mexico and Latin America. Slightly rough round the edges, not particularly big and surrounded by vendors who sell all sorts of useful things like chewing gum and other stuff. So we traipsed off into town and did a little shopping around for a clean cheap hotel/hostel. We didn’t find anywhere worthwhile recommending, as they all seemed to be similar. We dumped our bags and headed off with Oli for a final dinner before we said goodbyes later that evening. Chicken and rice and cheap beer and then Oli was off. The town is nothing to write home about… but it does look like there is investment by the town and they are trying to make things nicer for tourists and the inhabitants. So, I take it that given a couple more years, it will have a nice central street and square and will subsequently attract more people. There are quite a few large, out of town hotels in the area and of course the ruins, which we visited the next day, were amazing.
Heading back to the hotel after seeing Oli off we found the hotel room to be enveloped in revolting stench emanating from the drains, on complaining we were asked to wait for the shift change in twenty minutes which frankly we couldn’t be bothered with. As we had already paid we moved rooms to a larger room and made bets on this becoming a slight issue in the morning, and of course it did. We refused to pay, dumped our bags and walked in direction of the ruins as we needed a walk. En route we were accosted by several Mexicans who seemed to imply the walk to the ruins was a mad idea, but when the pavement finished and we were soaked in sweat from the early morning sun, we got the idea they might be a little further out than we thought. The usual number of collectivos were roaring past and we hailed one, it cost something like 10 pesos each to get to the ruins. The cost of getting in was fifty more pesos for entrance into the national park area and then another fifty to get into the ruins. Money well spent… the photos do not do justice to how amazing the ruins are – so spread out and still encased by jungle, they really give an impression of what a marvelous sight it must have been for the Spanish explorers who first discovered them. Palanque is probably one of the hottest and most humid places in Mexico, so climbing up the steps of the many temples resulted in Jen and I having drenched tops, although it was totally worth it for the views. In the evening we hopped on a night bus to Chetumal after paying for a much needed shower in the hotel. MT