El Panchan

Upon arrival to the city of Palenque from San Cristobal, approx. a 5 hour bus ride, we once again trusted our Lonely Planet travel book and headed for El Panchan, which is located just off the road near the entrance to the Palenque ruins. El Panchan houses a group of hotels some with cabanas, restaurants, bars and travel agencies in the middle of the jungle isolated from everything and everyone. It was quite the unique setting and a backpackers heaven.

We made it to Margarita's and Ed's Hotel and Cabanas just in time to snatch the last room for the day. At this point it was approx. 5:00 p.m. and if we would have arrived any later, we would have been out of luck and have to return to the city center of Palenque. The city center of Palenque is not an attractive city nor does it have any tourist attractions. It is solo the jumping off point for tours and the ruins of Palenque.

Luck was on our side because our room even had an air conditioning unit which was key in the middle of the jungle. It can be very hot and humid. The sound of the jungle was almost deafening at times, even with the air on high. It was an amazing two nights in the jungle.

We didn't know what to expect of El Panchan, but we were impressed. Both nights we found ourselves in Don Mucho's restaurant and bar, where we were thoroughly entertained with live music and fire dancing.

We thought transportation was going to be an issue because we were so far from the city's center, but combi's, which are vans that transport the locals and tourists at times, are very frequent starting around 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. We would literally just stand on the side of the road and wait for one to pass. They are cheap too ~ approximately 10 pesos for us both.

There are even tour agencies located in El Panchan. We booked two different tours through one of the agencies, both of which turned our to be incredible tours. The entries for those tour will follow this entry.

After our three days and two nights in the jungle it was time to move on. There are only night buses out of Palenque so after our last day, which was a tour that lasted until 7:00 p.m., we used the community shower in the jungle to freshen up and prepare for our night bus to Merida at 10:00 p.m. approx. 8 hours.

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