I left Oaxaca on Sunday morning with mixed feelings. It's funny how much a place means to you can depend on the friends you share it with. I made some good friends (both travelers and locals) in my six weeks there.
My 12-hour bus ride from Oaxaca to Palenque took 17 hours! The bus broke down about an hour or so out of Oaxaca, and we had to wait for a replacement. What is this, Fung Wah! I sat next to a Japanese tourist, who only had one camera around his neck. It was a long and winding road to Palenque, and thankfully I did not pull a Daddy George Bush and throw-up on my Japanese neighbor! The actual Town of Palenque is a bit of a dump. However, about 10 minutes out of town, en route to the Mayan ruins, is El Panchan: a collection of cabañas and hammock spaces in the middle of the rainforest. At the center of El Panchan lies Don Muchos (:)), a restaurant that serves the little traveling community. In addition to the nightly live music, the sounds of the jungle fill El Panchan constantly. It was a bit like a long fight scene from one of the Star Wars movies. During the day, it was primarily the call and response of hundreds of birds that I hardly ever saw. They sounded like a million different versions of R2D2. At night it was the howler monkeys, whose howl is somewhere between a shriek and a roar; sort of a cross between Chewbacca and my Aunt Petunia on days when she hasn't met her fiber requirement.
I spent my first day at the Palenque ruins. The ruins consist of hundreds of ancient buildings from the Mayan period, which cover about five square-miles of jungle. The buildings were constructed sometime between 100 B.C. and 740 A.D. Only some have yet been excavated. The tallest temple reaches about 80 feet in height. The theories pertaining to the fall of the Mayan civilization point to a combination of wars, over-population, and the squandering of natural resources. Sounds a little too familiar, doesn't it?
I visited two incredible waterfalls on my second day. The first was Misol-Ha, a cascade that falls about 115 feet into a huge pool surrounded by lush forest. A path behind the waterfall leads to a cave that eventually ends up at a smaller interior waterfall, with bats covering the ceiling. Agua Azul is another beautiful casade, which is more long than high, and seems to continue forever. There was a funny sign/translation on the walk along the falls that said, "Dangerous Not to Swim!" :)
Later today I head off to San Cristòbal de las Casas, which lies at about 7,100 feet above sea level. Guess I should bring a jacket!
