after living it up and relaxing in style in Puerto Escondido it was time to get back to basics and begin our backpacking adventures again. Goodbye maids, pool and home style cooking. We kicked it off with our favourite budget style option, an overnight bus to San Cristobel, a beautiful colonial town up in the mountains of mexico, which, surrounded by mountains and with beautiful clear autumn like days, reminded us of tassie. It was jumpers and jeans weather, but nice not to be wiping sweat off for a few days. We met an australian couple Pete and Bec on our first day at the hostel who we ended up travelling with for the following week. Our first day we walked the streets, checked out a few market stalls (to Kim's complete delight!) and the old churches, which are partly what San Cristobel is so famous for. Very impressive. Afterwards it was time for a nap, followed by dinner and drinks with Bec and Pete. As Nick and Jess had also followed the road to San Cristobel, we 6 Australians decided to head off on a river cruise the next day, which promised monkyes, crocodiles and kilometre high cliffs through what was described as a pretty impressive canyon. It was incredible. We saw monkeys playing in the trees, countles birds etc, cliffs that looked pretty damm high so we had to conclude that perhaps they were actually 1km, and then, on the way back we saw crocodiles. Some were floating like logs, others on the shore, stretched out in the sun, one even posing with his mouth open and teeth on full display (CHEESE!). We were pretty damm close and conversations were all very hypothetical, what if..... imagine..... how did steve irwin actually work up the guts to jump on these things! Then the best bit came, our driver took us to a few `secret' spots where baby crocodiles lived, about 50 - 60 of them, they were adorable and would have made beautiful wallets - settle, i'm joking!! - we were all so busy squealing with delight that it took us a minute to think, babies = mum. We looked about and saw eyes, bubbles and then we were out of there!! We saw a couple of nests on the way back to dock and the croc babies were a definte highlight.
After this we wanted to head to a jungle zoo which is said to unnerve visitors as it is set in very `real' surroundings. We met a guy who offered to take us, and assured us the zoo was open, despite the lonely planet saying it was shut on mondays. We drove along, about 20mins and he was a funny guy, teaching us spanish etc, then, in a very over the top manner he slapped his head and exclaimed, oh, it's monday, the zoo is shut. We weren't impressed and jumped out, refused his requests for money and walked off, catching a collectivo into town and heading to the local market for some delicious lamb tacos before catching a second collectivo back up to San Cristobel, about 45mins away. We were in the middle of a massive downpour when the collectivo broke down, so we all bailed out to try and help the 18year old driver fix the overheating problem, while letting off some firecrackers the boys had purchased at the market earlier. Eventually we got going and made it to the outskirts of San Cristobel when it completely died, so we walked back to our hostel, via a bottleshop before settling down to enjoy some amazing freshly made hummus dip and pita bread and lots of drinks. Our little group of 4 stretched into about 12 people as more and more come to join us, and the conversation was one of the best on our trip as a 60 year old taxi driver from the US started debates on all the various conspiracy theories. A great night and we ended up drinking our hostel bar dry.
The next day Kim and I decided to explore San Cristobel, as we were both knackered from the night bus on our first day and didn't take much in. We walked to the Mayan Medicine Centre where showcase the methods and medicines used by the ancient tribes. It was very interesting, especially watching a video on which a Mayan women gave birth, Kim particulary enjoyed this! We enjoyed corn on the cob on our way home and then stopped for a economica, a three course meal for roughly $2. We purchsed our bus tickets and packed, ready to head off to Palenque for our first ruins experience with Bec and Pete. Out our way home we had our first run in with street terrorists and were basically mugged, in a sense ..... two little kids had noticed we had a shopping bag with some apples in it, and came up to kim pointing and asking for an apple. Kim gave them one to share, and then sent them on their way after forcing a `thank you' from them, but the younger of the two followed us and kept pointing and asking and then he looked up at us, his big brown eyes and rubbed his belly to show how hungry he was. How can you deny a kid an apple.
It was an early start but we strapped our backpacks on and walked to the bus station, probably the first time we have actually walked any decent distance with our bags! Jumped on the bus and strapped in for what was a very very windy road. It was horrid, and I felt ordinary when we arrived at Palenque.
We grabbed a taxi out of the main town and headed to El Panchan, an accommodation village set in dense jungle and fairly self contained. We arrived, found a place to stay, grabbed some delicious lunch and then chilled for a while, taking in the sounds of the jungle, which was wet and muggy from recent rain. Pete wondered into our room commenting on the frog sitting outside, I looked up, expecting to see a cute green tree frog only to spot a horrid toad like creature hoping into our room and under our bed! I screamed and jumped on the bed while the boys, in hysterics tried to catch it.
We decided to take in a waterfall tour the next day and keep the ruins for the following day, and headed off to the local for a few drinks and dinner. After a few quiet ones we were told the fire dancers were coming on soon, so we stayed and watched an amazing show. Without a doubt the best we have seen yet. Afterwards I started chatting to a couple of the performers and they invited us back to a party in the jungle. We decided to head along and found ourselves walking through the jungle to a empty bar with a few other travellers and lots of mexican locals. Fears of cannobalism and organ harvesting were spoken of quietly! It turned out to be a fabulous evening, Bec and I had some salsa lessons, we met some interesting travellers and enjoyed a great party, stumbling home at 4.30am to wake at 7am to head off on our waterfall tour but not before being yelled at by our hostess who was pretty annoyed that we had woken her when we arrived home. ``I have the menapause,'' she screamed at Kim, ``I am hot and sweaty and sleep important.'' She asked us to leave but we promised to be on our best behaviour and I think she fell for Kim's dimpled smile.
Our waterfall tour bus driver was a complete an utter maniac, and voluptuous, highlighting his curves with tight black jeans and a tucked in tshirt. The four of us were feeling pretty silly still, and for the first section of our trip kept the bus amused with tales of our evening and by poking fun at the driver. It was his driving that soon kept us quiet, as he tore around corner after corner, we were glad to get out for our first waterfall experience. Msi Hai was fairly impressive, you could walk underneath it, but we noticed you came out soaked so we passed. Got some cool pics and then jumped, reluctantly, back on the bus for our next destination. It was this stretch that saw the end of Kim and Bec. Kim was very ill when we stopped, as was Bec who refused to cross the bridge before us that looked like something out of an indianna jones movie, complete with missing slats, rotting wood and barb wore on the hand rails. It was scary, especially when Pete and Kim started jumping up and down. Lots of kids kept trying to sell us bananas which we declined, but did give them some money to take pics of them, as this was this poorest region on mexico.
Our next stop was the main attraction waterfall Agua Azul. We had 3 hours to spend at this waterfall, and as we were starving, we decided to order lunch first. We waited an hour for our meal which annoyed us, especially when we realised old mate driver had taken us to his mates restaurant and there were countless others just around the corner, complete with waterfall views. We learnt a valuable lesson not to jump in on the first thing on offer.
After lunch we walked up to the waterfall, which was very very impressive. It just kept winding its way up the hill, waterfall after waterfall. We found a good spot for a swim, and jumped in, it was freezing, but the refreshing dip was just what we needed to wake us up. We swam around for a bit and then headed back to the bus for what was a horrid trip home and the day ended with a very early night.
Another early start to try and beat the crowds at the Palenque ruins. Which we managed to do. It was thankfully a cool morning and we were greatful to have done the waterfalls the day before, as it was hotter and our lack of sleep state would have made climbing ruins rather unbearable.
The ruins were breathtaking, majestic, grand, ancient and beautiful. We went inside a couple of the temples and could image mayans carrying candles and scurrying through the dark and dank passages. We didn't hire a guide, instead taking it in turns to read out the descriptions in the lonely planet. The howler monkeys were a constant background noise, but they kept themselves fairly well hidden. We spent an entire morning taking it in, climbing to the top of the tallest temple, a sweaty job, and watching over the entire site from there. A very special place. Our tour finished with the unrestored sites, still covered by jungle and moss and it made us realise the gravity of the evacuation that has gone on at the restored section of the site. Afterwards we headed to the mayan museum and gained a greater understanding of what we had been looking at, all agreeing it would have been better to perhaps do this prior to visiting the site itself.
That afternoon we headed into town for a swim at the local river, sneaking in on the opposite side of the river so we didn't have to pay to get in. We had a great time soaking up some sun, having a swim, jumping off the bridge and interacting with the locals. We decided to hitch back to the main town to save us paying for a taxi, and managed to score a lift in a luxury tour bus that we tried to pull over mostly as a joke! bonus.
Our last evening in Palenque was spent having a quiet dinner and then an early night, as we had a 5am pick up to head to Guatemala.
Having joked about old mate waterfall driver being our driver again, we nearly cried at 5am when he screamed to a halt and jumped out of the van. Good times.
