Palenque
We arrived in Villahermosa in the state of Tobasco on Friday night (May 11), and took off early the next morning on a bus bound for the town of Palenque in the neighbouring state of Chiapas. Chiapas is known for its violent protests and highway robberies because of the group called the Zapatistas who are consistently unhappy with the way the central Mexican government runs the country. We never came across any of that, but we did come across a lot of poverty that makes it almost justifiable that the Zapatistas are always uprising.
We arrived in Palenque town, a bustling, hot little place, and immediately took a combi over to the hippie backpacker jungle area of El Panchan. We ended up staying at Margarita & Ed's in the area, which was awesome (although Margarita can be a little abrasive). For only 170 pesos, we got a clean, mosquito-free room with our own bathroom (although we had Apt.1 originally and the window to the bathroom looked into the garage where people constantly came and went!).
We then caught another combi to go the the Palenque ruins. They were simply magnificent. The coolest part was that you could walk inside some of them. The ruins are set amidst a jungle backdrop, and we could hear what seemed like hordes of howler monkeys. The sounds they made could be quite horrifying if I was alone in these jungles!
We arrived in Palenque town, a bustling, hot little place, and immediately took a combi over to the hippie backpacker jungle area of El Panchan. We ended up staying at Margarita & Ed's in the area, which was awesome (although Margarita can be a little abrasive). For only 170 pesos, we got a clean, mosquito-free room with our own bathroom (although we had Apt.1 originally and the window to the bathroom looked into the garage where people constantly came and went!).
We then caught another combi to go the the Palenque ruins. They were simply magnificent. The coolest part was that you could walk inside some of them. The ruins are set amidst a jungle backdrop, and we could hear what seemed like hordes of howler monkeys. The sounds they made could be quite horrifying if I was alone in these jungles!
We hiked back to El Panchan, and sat down at "Don Mucho's" and had an awesome Italian meal with fresh, homemade pastas before drifting off to sleep to the sounds of jungle animals.
Pathway to our hotel room at Margarita & Ed's.
Welcome to Palenque - this is supposed to be a carvingof a rabbit skull.
The grandeur of what once must have been a trulyspectacular and possibly very powerful Mayan city.
Phrases most frequently used: "How did they build thesethings?" and "Why here?" The howler monkeys were
heard loudly and clearly from atop my perch where
this photo was taken.
The Mayans were advanced - this was a toilet!
Entering the ruins.
Inside one of the main buildings.
Atop one of the ruins looking at another.
A hike up to one of the many hidden ruins.
Inside the jungle are still more ruins that are laden withyears of jungle growth.
Una pizza de calabaza, jitomate, aguacate, cebolla y jalepeno.(Pizza with zucchina, tomato, avocado, onion, and of course, to
make it truly Mexican, lots of jalapeno!)
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