The Wandering Chocoholic

Early morning start

We left San Cristobal at the painfully early hour of 6am this morning. The ostensible reason was to have as much time to see the sights on the way to Palenque as possible, though Milton also told us that it was in order to avoid potential road closures by revolutionary gangs in the area. Nice. In any case, we dragged our tired and sleepy selves to the nice private van, loaded everything on, and off we went.

Two and a half hours of winding roads later, we stopped off at a roadside breakfast buffet. I’d taken some tablets and slept most of the way so I wasn’t all that hungry, so I just bought a one-peso banana from a woman selling fruit on the side of the road. After breakfast, we all started to wake up a little, and got energized for the day ahead.

That’s one popular waterfall

Our lunch stop was at Agua Azul, a famous waterfall in the area. It has many levels, and there are multiple pools where you can swim and take a dip.

A few minutes away from the entrance, we were stopped by about four dozen people wearing ski masks and insignias and carrying very big guns. Uh-oh, this can’t possibly be good. Many parts of Chiapas are controlled by various Zapatista or other offshoots, and this had to be one of them. Luckily, like good socialist revolutionaries everywhere, they were simply looking to make a bit of a profit: Twenty pesos per person as an “entrance fee” to the waterfalls. Given the thousands of people at the falls today, they must have made out like, well, bandits. Nice work if you can get it.

We entered the national park site, paid the real entrance fee, and set off to explore. The waterfalls must have been nice in quieter times, but they were so crowded and packed with families, tour groups, market stalls and people selling food and wares, that it was hard to tell. We hiked up about fifteen minutes to one of the upper levels where it was slightly less crowded, and we all had a swim in the refreshing crystal blue waters. Swimming in a Mexican waterfall? Check.

For lunch, we got some fire-grilled chicken from one of the many street vendors selling it, and gamely ate it with our fingers like the locals do. Refreshed and fed, we got back on the bus towards Palenque.

Jungleland retreat

Palenque is definitely different from every climate we’ve seen so far in Mexico. We’ve traded high elevations, dry cool temperatures, and cactus for near-sea level rainforest-like conditions: Heat, humidity and lush vegetation. We’re actually staying a few kilometres outside Palenque town, at a jungle retreat in the national park. Our hotel is really just a camping and RV park with some rooms, but it includes a swimming pool, an open-air restaurant with live music and large pink drinks with umbrellas in them. The rooms smell like sewage and the water pressure is iffy, but who cares? This feels like vacation.

We checked in, dumped our bags, and quickly reassembled for our afternoon visit to the highlight of the area: The Mayan ruins and temples of Palenque.

Spectacular Mayan ruins in the jungle

A short walk into the national park brought us to the entrance to the Palenque ruins. From there, it was a steep fifteen-minute climb uphill, which, in this humidity, meant I probably sweated out about a full bucket’s worth. I know, I know, too much information. But hey, it was worth it: We got to the main area where there were amazing pyramids, temples and structures. Unfortunately, we were pressed for time: With only an hour or so until the site closed, we only had a chance to see some of the main sites, and not to hike out to see the dozens of other ruins on the grounds. But even so, there was plenty to see and we had fun taking cheesy photos doing handstands, human pyramids and other various acrobatics in front of the ruins.

I know everyone talks about Teotihuacan, which was really cool, or Chichen Itza, which I haven’t been to yet. But for my money, Palenque is where it’s at in terms of ruins. Definitely a trip highlight.

Feeling like an idiot

We got back to the hotel around 5:30 and had some time to shower and change before dinner. Unfortunately, this was the moment I discovered what an idiot I’d been: Amidst the rush of our early morning departure from San Cristobal this morning, it seems I accidentally left my laptop charger behind in the last hotel.

This wouldn’t normally be a major problem except for the fact that: 1) Palenque is in the middle of nowhere, with little in the way of phone reception and definitely no internet, 2) my laptop uses a discontinued proprietary charger that can’t be replaced, and 3) the laptop is my link to the outside world — not just my blogging or my photo backups, important as those are, but also my way of accessing any information about anything or sorting out any trip details.
Needless to say, I was equally angry at myself and stressed out about it. I managed to get a couple of bars of phone reception, and with Milton’s help, I phoned the hotel in San Cristobal, but they claimed to have no sign of my charger. Milton said he’d try again tomorrow, but I’m not at all hopeful. All this to say, this might be the last blog entry you’ll see on this trip until I get home, because I can’t blog or upload photos from my phone.

I had dinner with the group at the hotel, and turned in early, partly because tomorrow is another 6am departure, and partly because I was too annoyed at myself for the loss of my charger to be in the mood to party. I have 84% left on my battery’s current (possibly last) charge, so I backed up everything I could onto my USB key and powered down for the night, listening to the live music and cursing myself for being such an idiot.

New blog feature: Gao quote of the day

Milton: “We have to leave early, because sometimes the revolutionary gangs close the roads.”
Gao; “Can I join them?”