Palenque to Comitan

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Today we decided to take it easy (a lot of good thatdid us). We packed up and left the hotel towards the Mayan ruins of Palenque. As expected, you have to pay twice; once to enter the national park, and again, four kilometers later, to enter the ruins themselves. then, of course, you have to pay the local crook to 'guard' your car (read: ransom to not steal it and everything in it). Then you fight off all the crooks peddling tours, and you finally make it to the ruins themselves.

The city is very impressive, even though it's mostly rebuilt by archaeologists. The Mayan buildings are very big and very impressive, and the city is big enough that you can feel almost alone there, despite so many other visitors. Tamar and I wandered around, read some of the signs explaining what the different buildings were and climbed on the buildings where we were allowed to.

We left the old city to look for the Sombrillas Waterfalls nearby. They are at the entrance to the national park, so we went up the trail. Just a few meters from the start of the trail we heard things falling from above. We looked to see where it was coming from, and we caught sight of a small troop of monkeys way high up in the trees! They were black, long limbs, so I think they were spider monkeys. I managed to get a few pictures, not great ones as they were so high up.

We continued up the trail (lots of stairs) and came to a hanging bridge over the stream with a 'Do Not Enter' sign. We asked a ranger who happened to be there how to get to the falls and he just said 'cross the bridge'. So we did. The trail leads through some ruins that were probably living quarters, and then on to the falls. The waterfall is small but very pretty. We had a look, then returned to the car. We saw the monkeys again, they were still there, still almost, but not quite, invisible in the treetops.

We drove off, deciding to visit Misol-Ha falls. It's not far from Palenque. We were just about the only ones there when we got there, which was great! The walk down to the fall is not long and it's impressive! It's similar in shape as the falls on the Golan except bigger and surrounded by jungle, a semi circle cliff, the water cascading off the center of it into a deep pool below. Opposite the pool is a jumble of boulders and the river continues between them downstream. We changed into bathing suits behind a boulder and went for a swim. We almost reached the waterfall itself! But the people working there (I assume) motioned us to get out, and watched until we did...

Still, we had a good, refreshing swim. Then we put on shoes and walked behind the falls. There's a path that leads behind and around the falls, and the cliff above hangs over the path, so you don't really get wet, just a little spray. In a few places water pours out of crevices in the cliff. I guess technically those are springs.

So, refreshed, we continued on our way to Comitan. When we reached the first nail-board roadblock there was just an old lady there with a few kids. She had a plastic jug with a hole for coins in the top. I dropped a couple small coins in and they let us pass. The second roadblock wasn't there today.

I continued driving, Tamar keeping me company through the winding road. I stopped to buy some Rambutan fruit that we'd seen yesterday from a stall at the side of the road. It looks so wierd! I asked the young girl there how to eat it, and with some sign language she explained it to me. It's similar to a lychee and you eat it the same way.

Eventually the villages seemed to get progressively poorer and the roads worse. More and bigger potholes cropped up, mainly in the villages but also between them. My concentration was severely tested!

The scenery changed as well. The hills grew smaller, there was more open areas, and the forest changed from thick jungle to pine. There were fewer stalls along the way, mostly empty or closed, so there was really no reason to stop. As a result, we drove right through to Comitan, about four hours straight.

Comitan is a strange town. It sits on a large, steep hill but is built in a grid. The result is that we drove up the steepest street I have ever driven!

We reached the hotel only to discover that they didn't receive our booking from Booking.com. I had to pay full price! They gave a discount because the room didn't have a television (not that I need one), but then they put us in a different room, with a TV but up a flight of stairs, and didn't ask for full price.

We were about to crash but we desperately needed food and coffee. Tamar found a little restaurant right nearby called 'El Caldero'. Good food, nice atmosphere and friendly staff. Even the music was good. We fully enjoyed the food and coffee, and decided we'd have breakfast there tomorrow.

I tried updating the blog but the internet at the hotel was extremely slow and fickle so we tried to make an early night, but there was loud music coming from outside. Mexico's independence day is today! And the fireworks started after 11PM! Near our hotel! Sleep was out of the question until about midnight.

Fortunately, tomorrow we've got less driving, and we're going back to San Cristobal, which we enjoyed so much. Looking forward to tomorrow!

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