After a peaceful sleep in our semi-jungle abode (we were promised howling monkeys to keep us awake! But it was just me snoring!), we had our fruit and headed off in a taxi ordered by Adriana at Villas Adriana. Palenque ruins are 10 minutes drive away and we had a very fast speaking Mexican driver trying to sell us every tour or recorridos going! Think he’d have found us one to Narnia if I’d asked. He wasn’t so jolly the other end when he wanted double the money we’d been told. It was awkward to say the least – resulting in me ringing Adriana to confirm the price. Felt like one of those school moments where you just have to confirm with the Head of Behaviour that this ‘unregulated’ student isn’t meant to be wandering the corridors and then they ‘umm’ and ‘ahh’ while both you and the student wait to see who will be victorious! I compromised and gave him half extra as Adrienne’s assistant didn’t give me a definite ‘no way’. Irritating but minor.
Palenque is bold. As soon as you enter it gives you several beautifully broken ruins in a jungle setting, just for starters. It’s very different to Chichén Itzá which is smart with distinct edges in a big open space.
The site is dense with ruins and there are even more still under the surface that have only been recorded by a laser survey. We didn’t take a tour this time as I’d got the gist in Chichén itzá and Stewart is now an aficionado of ruins! I prefer the jungle and its inhabitants.
We then descended a million steps that we’d only just walked up (got to love a ‘Learoyd’ walk!) and set off for the museum – only to find it shut for cleaning on Mondays. A win for me – sad for Stewart!
We decided that walking back to get a collectivo seemed like hard work and we’d make our way back on foot. After a few hundred yards we came across a sign for the Maya Bell at the end of a dust road. Thinking we’d stop for a drink as we had no water, I expected a very basic cafe outside someone’s house. But no, it was a beautiful, quite classic hotel. We made the most of it for a good while, using the WiFi, recharging phones and bodies before our 2.5 mile walk back.
It was lovely! We saw lots of farm animals like oxen with their oddly-shaped necks; cattle, accompanied by very attentive white egrets (possibly?) and pretty butterflies, but the pinnacle was approaching a tree with 3-4 monkeys in the top branches who seemed to be making the most horrendous sound. Think big wild cat howling deeply! I was smiling but seriously jittery on the inside. Stewart went back to take some photos of them out of the sun whilst I waited slightly ahead literally calculating their every move, wondering how long it would take for them to get down to our level. Every time Stewart got closer the grasping howl got louder. It was terrifying. I was busy recalling an odd look from a Mexican guard a bit earlier down the road, imagining that he was puzzled about why we would be walking into the territory of wild animals, as Stewart returned pointing to a speaker attached to a pole in the hedge where the noise was coming from. Doh!
Detouring off the road for a short while led us through some farms and ranches and after some stream hopping, we found ourselves close to our villa.
We took the rest of the afternoon to just chill, have some dinner and play cards to ready ourselves for the 8 hour bus journey to San Cristóbal de la Casas the next day. It is only 67 miles but the roads are not suitable most of the time so you have to do 276 miles to get there via several central hubs … cry!
