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Published: January 28th 2011
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Palenque
My hut - luxury! 5.30am-the alarm went off.
I can't say I leapt out of bed... But the only just warm shower woke me up and I was gone before 6.00. It took me 15 minutes to walk to the bus station and by the time I got there, I was ready for another shower! My bus to Palenque was at 6.30 so I sat down in wait. Just before half past, I asked one of the workers where was the bus and he said it would pull in at the front. Pull in, it did... At 6.45! Will I ever get used to this?
I got on the bus, ready to carry on with my night's sleep. 2 hours later, when I opened my eyes and looked outside, it was raining, foggy and we were surrounded by luscious green forest. (I took lots of pics but most were blurry). I managed to get some more kip, which was lucky because the road was very twisty and turny, but every time I looked outside, the landscape took my breath away. There were so many trees and plants I had never seen before. I could also feel the humidity in the air (despite the air conditioning
Palenque
The camp being on) and imagined that outside it would be hot and uncomfortable.
Palenque, I was told, was the jungle. It would be where the mosquitoes would start and the place where I was hoping to stay at was on the edge of the national park, surrounded by a jungle landscape and howling monkeys. We pulled in to the town at lunch time and I got a 10 pesos colectivo to take me to “El Panchan” - allegedly the place to be – 4km away. I was slightly worried that it might be full as I'd looked online the night before and it advised me that there was no availability. But I was arriving early enough so I wasn't worrying too much. When I got there, there was plenty of space and I was taken to my own private hut with a double bed and fan. All that for 80 pesos. I was impressed (despite the bed sheets not looking too clean – that's why I have a sleeping bag!) as this felt like luxury compared to the dorms I'd been getting used to. Here, the walls were only half way up and the top half was mosquito netting. I guess
that confirmed what I had been told about that subject. It had been raining all along, but it wasn't too bad, so I dumped my stuff and wandered “outside”. The temperature was perfectly pleasant but the humidity made me feel sweaty and sticky. I took a few pictures around the camp and then the heavens opened so I quickly retreated to my cabin. This was a serious downpour but it didn't last for too long and about half an hour later, it had gone back to light rain, so it was time to venture out.
I knew the thing to do in Palenque was to go to the national park, which contains Mayan ruins. The receptionist advised me that the walk would take 45 minutes. I thought that was a good idea as I wanted to have a look at the vegetation (and hopefully the animals) around. I paid my 25 pesos to enter the park and started the walk up, with plenty of pictures stops. Then I saw a little path leading into the forest and I decided to follow it. It led me to some small waterfalls and there I bumped into a guide and his group who
told me I would need 3 hours minimum to go around the ruins. It was about 2.45 by that point and the site closed at 5pm, so it was time to hurry a little. I got there by 3pm and quickly paid the 51 pesos entrance.
There were as always, many street sellers and some guys having a very good day selling plastic ponchos. A 2 hours guided tour was 600 pesos for up to 6 people, so that wasn't going to be the one for me and I hurried into the site.
As soon as I saw the first stones, I was impressed. Not only the ruins were the most impressive I had seen on the trip so far, the whole scenery around it gave it some sort of mysterious atmosphere, especially with the rain and slight fog.. All the different structures were really well preserved, tall and close together, so you really felt like there was a lot to see. I was trying to hurry and so was everybody else, not just because of the time but also because of the rain. About half way through the visit, the torrential downpour started again and you could see that
nobody was quite sure whether to carry on or take cover. I thought there was no way I was going to let the rain get the better of me and soldiered on. This helped me discover that my waterproof jacket is indeed very waterproof. It is also terribly unbreathable so I was feeling as wet inside from the sweat as my jacket was on the outside...
At 4.30, as I was just about finished, I heard someone shout my name. I turned round and saw the Dutch couple from 2 days earlier. We had a quick catch up as the rain stopped, exchanging a few details of what we had done in the previous city and then went our own way, hoping to catch up later as they were considering staying in the same camp as I was (only there are different parts to the camp and I didn't tell them which part I was in so we didn't catch up at all!). As I started walking out, I could hear people blowing whistles, indicating that it was nearly closing time and that visitors had to get a move on. I jumped on a 10 pesos colectivo that took me
back to camp in minutes and was so glad when I got back and took my soaked clothes off. It was only 5pm and with nothing else I wanted to do around, I decided it was a good time to unpack and repack my bag, just to reorganise things around a bit. That took rather longer than expected as I discovered that some of my mosquito repellent had leaked at the bottom of the bag. This stuff is so vicious that it had managed to attack and pretty much melt anything made of plastic in the vicinity. That meant a few of my electrical stuff got damaged, the main victim being my camera charger adaptor... I wasn't a happy bunny, but hopefully, it's only cosmetic and will still work (otherwise I'll have to find a new one to fit the sockets in South America). Then, still while repacking, I realised my hairbrush was nowhere to be seen and that I had probably left it in the previous hostel. Double unhappy as it was a really clever folding piece of kit... In the end, everything got cleaned up as best as I could and careful repacking ensued.
I had a delicious
Palenque
You can't tell on the picture but this was massive tuna, tomatoes, cucumber and onion sandwich for my tea (I had prepared for the lack of kitchen facilities) and then went to ask around about buses to Campeche for the next day. The girl at reception didn't know anything other than “they're probably at night”, but my hut neighbours said they thought there was one bus at 8am and then none until 6pm. As it's a 6 hours journey, the 6pm isn't really an option, so another early awakening was going to be inevitable.
I concluded my evening catching up on all the blogging and checking out my latest photos. No internet access here. Come on! It's the jungle after all.
I hope you enjoy the pictures but they are nothing compared to the real deal...
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delphine
non-member comment
sublime
coucou, c'est vraiment beau, j'adore la vegetation luxuriante et elle me rappelle l'Oz. ta chambre est geniale, c'est le luxe ma grande!!! peut etre (a mes yeux) ta plus belle destination. ca donne envie. bises