Blogs from Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, North America - page 16

Without a doubt, Chiapas is my favorite state in mexico. It is diverse, it has interesting politics and struggles, it has the most biodiversity of all of mexico, it has steamy jungles and high pine forests, ancient ruins, waterfalls, caves, canyons, mountains, cocoa and coffee plantations, and beaches. It lies at the southern isthmus where mexico bends easterward towards the Yucatan. If you ever come to mexico and have to decide between places, don´t skip Chiapas! My main bases were Palenque and San Cristobal del Las Casas. I arrived in Palenque from Villahermosa, going ever deeper in the rainforest. This east side of the Chiapas is flat, humid, hot. Modern Palenque itself is a small, decent, but unimpressive town whose main attraction are the ruins in the jungle outside of town. I´m staying in a 50 ... read more

Our journey to the Mayan ruins of Palenque started with a rush to the bus station. We had to take 4 different subway lines and no time for mistakes. We arrived with minutes to spare and a chance to find some liquid yogurt and some churios (Mexican donuts). Our new Volvo coach entertained us with DVDs and air conditioned us into semi conscious comas. We stopped for some road side gruel, beans, some kind of poultry and fried platano (big tasteless brother to the banana). We were then approached by an attractive lady introducing herself and welcoming us to her country? Our first response was to figure out what she was selling then create a reason as to why we don’t want it. As time passed we realized that her roadside chitchat was just some friendly ... read more

After Palenque we traveled to the highland town of San Cristobal De Las Casas, another 6 hour coach ride and probably the worst journey to date! Due to the town being in the mountains there was switch back after switch back and the driver seemed to be under the impression he was a formula 1 driver! It was like being on a roller coaster for 6 hours and we both felt very travel sick. For the last hour I had to concentrate very hard on not being sick, it didn’t help that others behind us were pucking. I couldn’t hold it any longer, luckily Michelle had a plastic bag (without holes!) into which I spewed as discreetly as I could, anybody who´s seen/heard me being sick, should know that’s not something I do very easily! I ... read more

What can I say, I can´t think of anything right now. Palenque was some time ago now. The pictures may have to do most of the talking for me. I only stayed in Palenque for two nights and three days. One night in the town, which wasn´t very interesting, just as the guidebooks said. I stayed one night in a hotel within the grounds of the site, it was really nice but quite expensive. The site was amazing and surrounded in the most amazing array of green (trees and plants) truely beautiful. This is where I also started to notice red flowers everywhere. Walking back from the ruins we got caught in a serious downpour, got truely soaked to the bone. I really enjoyed the experience being surrounded by the green and soaked in the warm ... read more

San Cristóbal de las Casas San Cristóbal sits high up in the mountains in the southerly state of Chiapas, just a few hours from the Guatamalan border and it´s cool climate so different from other ´nearby´towns in Mexico that it´s like a different country. The overnight bus - 12 hours from Puerto Esconidido - was no where near as traumatic as it had threatened to be, although I am glad it was too dark to see the cause of the winding roads. Actually, despite the near-arctic conditions on board, I slept a lot better than I did the last 2 nights in the horrible, sweaty, busy youth hostel. The town is full of little low colourful, cobbled streets and being in a gentle valley means that there a quite a lot of nice views without any ... read more