Palenque ruins and stuff

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Hello all,

Here is my next blog entry from my Mexican leg of the trip.

After Tulum headed inland (end of the hot white Caribbean beach updates - shame, I know that you all enjoyed reading about the beaches whilst in a UK winter…) Next stop was Palenque a small town (didn’t stop there) but the main attraction is the Mayan Ruins set in the jungle. Very impressive setting for the ruins with amazing jungle backdrops and views from the tops of the temples. Lots of parts still shrouded and buried in jungle awaiting excavation.

After Palenque I took a very scenic bus ride to San Cristobal de las Casas, a small colonial town in the highlands of southern Mexico. On the way saw amazing cloud forests and the high levels of poverty of the highland villages, I hadn’t realized how poor some parts of Mexico actually were.

The old part of San Cristobal was made up of narrow undulating winding streets and old colonial buildings and was a cool place to hang out for a couple of days. Took a tour out to see 2 indigenous villages in the mountains around the village, very interesting to see how they live, very big emphasis on religion there, plays a big part in their lives although their beliefs are a mix of Catholicism and their ancient beliefs.

Because of the civil unrest in Oaxaca (very strong feelings expressed at a rally that took over a concert in San Cristobal!) decided to bypass the city and head straight for Mexico City with Marty the aussie guy I was traveling with for a while. A lovely overnight bus ride ensued…. Bus drivers seem to be a bit optimistic about the performance capabilities of their buses when it comes to overtaking and indeed their importance on the road, seeing trucks pulling off the road to allow us to get through was a bit unsettling for a while but I’m sure I will see worse in other parts of the world. Not sure if they are worse than some of the bus survey rides back home tho.. (sorry in joke for the Passenger Transport posse - hi guys!)

Whilst on the subject of mexican buses will just tell you about the in journey entertainment, they like their movies, which have a tendency to be violent and third rate straight to video…. Sometimes they are English language with Spanish subtitles (fine even helps with learning a few choice Spanish words!) other times they are dubbed into Spanish (not so good and voice overs are a little bit over dramatic) but to mix it up they then put on a French movie in French with Spanish subtitles… that completely snookered me so tried to sleep instead… Haven’t got the hang of sleeping comfortably yet, even though the seats recline a long way and are reasonably comfortable (certain bus companies back home could take note!!)

Right have blathered on for long enough now so going to leave it here.

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Photos

Mayan temple
Ruins at Palenque

Another temple
Another temple - there was quite a few

View from up a temple
pretty awesome tucked away in the jungle

local kitchen
Kitchen in a small village in highlands near San Cristobal de la Casas

weaving
In village we visited the whole family did weaving to make money