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3rd MAY 2009 - PIG FLU 'RUINS' PLANS, WATERFALL FUN & MOVING ON!!!
7.30am we arrived in Palenque. We had been lax again and not only had we failed to pre-book a hostel but we had failed to even look up the names or directions to any!! Slap on the wrists ladies!! We had a little wander down the street but there wasn’t much occurring so we wandered back to the bus station. The plan was for one of us to watch the bags whilst the other went hostel hunting. Like a cat, we landed on our feet as a couple from the same bus as us told us where they were staying and advised that the place had a dorm room. Sold!! We followed the couple to the hostel. It was not a nice walk as it was so damn hot even at 8am. I was very jealous of the ladies wheelie suitcase!!
The hostel wasn’t too far and seemed ok. Only 60 pesos anyhow which works out at roughly 3 quid…bargain!! It was pretty basic though…beds in a room. No toilet paper, no plug sockets and you had to pay extra for breakfast and a shower. Ok for a
night though. Once in the room we did a spot of washing and freshened ourselves up. Once sorted, we wandered into town. We wanted to try and book a tour to the archeological site/ruins which was the main attraction (and our sole reason) for visiting Palenque.
The pig flu ruined it for us (no pun intended). The government was still on with this closing of the major attractions business. All the ruins in Mexico had been shut for 6 days and were due to re-open on 6th or 7th May. How inconsiderate!! We couldn’t afford to waste time waiting for them to open and had we known we would have skipped Palenque. Bloody Pig Flu!! We asked around in a few tour shops what else Palenque had to offer and each answer was the same…nothing except a tour to the waterfalls. Nat was very disappointed as she is not too fussed about waterfalls. I was a bit gutted to as it had been a waste of a journey but I liked a good waterfall so all was not lost. Also, there are loads of ruins around Mexico and I was sure we would be able to visit some others
along the way. We had a team talk and decided that our best bet would be to do the waterfall tour and then leave for Merida that night.
We headed back to the hostel where we tried to cancel our booking for that night. The lady played the Spanish card and despite my hand signals being spot on the money, she pretended she didn’t understand us. No money back for us….I was tempted to do a 2 fingered hand signal that she may have understood but I refrained like the good girl that I am. We decided that we would rather lose 3 quid than waste a day and so we forged ahead with our plan. Palenque was the worst town we had visited and it seemed pointless staying there now that the ruins had closed. We headed to the bus station and booked our ticket out to Merida for 11.30pm. We then walked to the tour office and booked on the waterfall tour for that day. It was then a case of back to the hostel to quickly change and get what we needed before setting off to the pick up point.
The bus picked us up
at 12 midday long with a few others. There were 12 of us in total plus the driver who I called ‘big guy’. Nat thought he looked like a big malteaser !! Huh?!! Malteasers are appealing and something you want to devour. This guy was not something you wanted to devour..trust me!! Once we were all in the van he took us to the first stop…Mizoi Falls. We spent 30 minutes there looking at a big tall waterfall. It was pretty cool and we were able to walk right underneath and behind it on a ledge. Very pretty place and a nice setting. There were some caves around the back of it that we wanted to have a quick look in too but a random guy was trying to charge us an entry fee. I don’t even think he worked there and was just trying to make a quick buck!! We didn’t fall for it and missed the caves. Once back up the top, we stood on the viewpoint to look at the fall. Heard a woosh very close to our heads. Turned out to be a firework that a guy behind us had let off. Sooo close it almost
took my head off and I felt a breeze as it passed. The guy just thought it was funny and began to light another. We made a sharp exit and went back to the van!!
Back on the bus, the next stop was Aqua Azul Falls where we had 3 hours to spend. I thought that there would just be a few groups of people there on small tours like us. It was not the case. The place was set up for tourists and locals. There were restaurants, market stalls, kids carrying baskets of bananas…all sorts! Loads of people there too…tourists and families who had come for the day. You could say it was going off!! The waterfalls were lovely. Not tall like the last one but wide. They created pools to swim in as they came over the rocks in stages. Loads of people in the water, sat on rocks, climbing up the falls and jumping off. Such a cool place…you could have spent all day there easily!
We strolled around at first and took some pictures. We had all our valuable on us and needed a locker to store them in before we dared go for
a swim. That was the one thing they didn’t provide and so we sat on the grass and chilled in the sun for the first hour. So hot…Mexico is definitely the hottest place we have been so far!!At around 4.15pm we decided that enough was enough and we wanted to get into the water. A random French couple saw our predicament and offered to watch our stuff for us. They looked pretty trustworthy and we took them up on the offer. The water was so cold but so nice on such a hot day. We sat on the rocks in the water for about 30 minutes and then went to relieve the French couple. Very grateful.
We than saw an English guy from the bus and all 3 of us took it in turns to wait with the bags. It was really good fun scrambling up the waterfalls and climbing over rocks. The current was quite strong in places and you had to be very careful. The only downside was a couple of the Mexican men who kept taking photos of us and following us around. Quite off putting and not what I wanted but we managed to ignore
them as much as possible. Thinking about it now, we should have charged for photos and built up some travel money. Either we would have made some money or having to pay would have deterred them. Apart from the photos, I had a really good day and could have stayed there for ages. 3 hours passed far too quickly!!
Back on the bus at 5.30pm the big guy drove us back to Palenque. We stopped along the way for 4 people to transfer buses. The connecting bus was about 40 minutes late which meant that we were sat there waiting for 40 minutes. 3 kids swarmed the bus and kept coming to the windows and door trying to sell us stuff. They were so young and I felt really sorry for them as it seemed such a shame. Really is a large poverty problem in parts of Mexico!!
We arrived back in Palenque at around 7.30pm. It was uncomfortably hot and I felt as if I was melting. The hot air seemed to envelope you and I struggled to breathe! We walked back to the hostel, sorted our stuff out and then headed out for tea. We were
incredibly thirsty and felt like our insides had dried out. We ordered a massive jug of orange juice which was a mistake as all the oranges had to be freshly squeezed and it took ages to come. Just as I was about to arrive at heavens gate, I saw an orange glow. Amazing…the first glass didn’t even touch the sides. The food came not long after. We had both ordered fajitas and again they were very plain (not spicy). Seems to be the way of the Mexican food. A little boy no more than 4 years old kept coming up to the table trying to sell clorets. He even put his hand in my pocket looking for money. Not good and although I was angry my heart went out to him. He was 4, he had no shoes on, it was dark and there was not a parent in sight. So different to home and I found it quite upsetting to see!
After dinner we killed time and went on the net for 90 minutes. Then we headed back to the hostel, picked up our bags and made our way to the bus station. It was still hot at
11pm and the kids were still out. Child cruelty!! We sat in the station for 10 minutes and then the bus came. I was glad to get on. We were sat apart again but it didn't matter too much as we were travelling through the night and hoped to sleep for most of the 9 hour journey. Seat reclined, mask on, eyes closed...we set off!!
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