Activity Summary
Friday 28th April - Day 239
Travel to Palenque
Dinner at Tropi Tacos
Saturday 29th April - Day 240
Zona Arqueológica Palenque ruin
‘Jungle’ walk
Dinner at antojitos sopes morelos
Summary
Palenque
Certainly doesn’t have any touristy feel to the city and is much more rough and ready, even in the main central area. It didn’t feel rough at all but certainly wasn’t a pretty place.
The flame grilled Nandos style chicken, one of the local specialties here, was great however. Some of Luke’s favourite Mexican food so far, although with his stomach issues that wasn’t hard.
Zona Arqueológica Palenque
It was a very nice ruin site. The backdrop of the trees and hills with the ruins and temples was really nice and with the ease of transport was well worth the visit. It was slightly more expensive than usual, the standard $90 for the ruin entrance but also a National park fee of ~$100 made it a fair amount more.
Transport
Palenque
San Cristobal Hostel -> [walk] -> bus terminal -> [ADO bus] -> bus terminal -> [walk] -> Hostel
The ADO bus from San Christobal to Palenque goes completely around the houses to avoid Ocasinga and potential trouble with roadblocks. The 9 hour journey was a slog but it was safe.
Zona Arqueológica Palenque
It was pretty easy to get to and from. Collectivos (aka group minivans) run from outside the ADO bus station and have a sign on front that says ‘Ruinas’. It’s $25 each and drop offs go to the ticket office. From there it’s either get another collectivo up the hill or walk the 1km or 2km road.
Similarly the return is the same.
Accommodation
Palenque - Posada Nacha`n - Ka`an
Number of nights - 2
Price per night per person - £13
We found choosing a place in Palenque last minute a little more challenging and our decision after San Cristobal to go somewhere without AC was a complete error as it was pushing 40 degrees here. Fortunately the room did have an AC unit but the additional cost of $100 a night was a bitter pill to swallow.
Basics were there at least with a private bathroom, hot water and alright WIFI. A double and a single bed was very nice to have given the heat and the room was comfortable enough. The street however was loud at night, loud from 6am and the room was not padded enough to stop any of this so it was headphones for both of us.
Diary
Our bus left at 10.30am so we weren’t in a rush in the morning. Luke’s stomach was cramping up all day which may or may not have been because of the booze but at this point it seems everything in Mexico sets him off. On the walk to the bus Nicola got a takeaway subway for the long bus ride whereas Luke, having lost his appetite again, settled for some bakery goods instead. A last ditch attempt to recover his hat at the tour company's office amounted to nothing sadly.
We were at the station with plenty of time so sat around for a while before boarding. Then began our near enough 9 hour bus journey to Palenque; Luke powering through master chef while Nicola just stared out of a window like a crazy. The most notable thing that happened was Luke sitting across the aisle from a local that would not stop coughing who took to leaning into the aisle and Luke’s airspace thinking his facemask was enough of a reason for him to not cover his mouth while dying everywhere. People are the worst.
Once finally in Palenque we donned our bags and walked the 10 minutes down the road to the hostel. First thoughts of Palenque at night - a bit of a shit hole and the hostel wasn’t really much better. Our room was like a furnace when we arrived but before we could focus on that we took off for food in town.
Luke found a cheap-ish and alright rated place called Tropi Tacos that was pretty bad in all. Luke’s appetite hadn’t really returned but the two dry Al Pastor (pork kebab style) tacos didn’t inspire his recovery. Nicolas veg platter was as unseasoned and uninspired as if it was trying to punish non-meat eaters.
In town we also found out that the BBVA charges an absolute fortune for cash withdrawals ($175) compared to other banks. Fortunately we found one around the corner called Citibannax which was reasonable ($30) to draw out the next day. Savage withdrawal cost.
It was super hot outside so we were still really uncomfortable by the time we got back to our sauna room. The fan was really not cutting the mustard. Luke was determined to suffer through but at 11.30pm Nicola had had enough and got the AC remote and power turned on for an additional $100 per night charge. It was needed.
Nicola got up pretty early from a combination of being cold, the loud noise from a shouting man outside the room and a desire to get up and out before the day had a chance to reach 40 degrees and cook us. While Luke rose a little slower she did the 3 b’s run: bank, banana and bakery. Very important.
To get to the Palenque ruins (Zona Arqueológica Palenque) we needed to get a Collectivo from outside the ADO bus station to the ticket office. This was all pretty straight forward and one turned up after 5/10 minutes of waiting, the worst part of it was trying to ignore a hustling cab driver that would have been a lot more dollar than the $25ea it cost in our van.
It was a short bus ride to the ticket office where we met Steve and Lee again. Tickets purchased, we walked along the uphill and winding road to the ruin entrance. Not a particularly nice walk, especially with minivans and coaches tearing it down but we didn’t get squished.
Despite not being 40 degrees just yet it was feckin wam. We clearly had been spoiled with ‘English appropriate weather’ for a long time and the memory of hot muggy days from SE Asia came flooding back. The hanky in Luke’s day bag has long been dormant until today and Nicola was upset she had left hers in her big bag.
We spent the next hour or so walking around the ruins which again offered temples with something slightly different, this time set in a nice green backdrop of the forest. It was warm but still nice to look around and allowed access to the top of some of the taller pyramids for great views of the area.
Once done we went through the ‘jungle’ walk track which was essentially a path cut through the forest next to the road. It had a couple of alright river crossings but otherwise the track was largely uneventful.
Back at the ticket office area we had a walk through the museum which had a wicked sarcophagus. The thing was huge, like a super king size bed for dead people minus the comfort of a mattress. The second best bit was probably the cold room that was storing something of importance using temperature regulation but turned into a Brit cool-down box, of which Nicola started by standing over the cool vents to chill some burning loins. Naturally others followed. As Luke writes this he has zero recollection of what was in the room bar an outfit on a mannequin lying down.
We got a collectivo from the ticket office back to the bus station, said goodbye to Steve and Lee and purchased our bus tickets to Campeche for the next day.
On the way to the hostel we stopped off for lunch at a Nandos style flame grilled chicken place called Pollos La Brasa. The place wasn’t overly inspiring to look at from the outside but it was rated pretty well on Google and from our experience, the food was banging. ¾ of a grilled chicken, wraps, refried beans, cabbage and spicy salsa made for a great lunch and Luke’s relationship with Mexican cooking was partly mended. Although he then spent the next few hours with an almighty ring of fire to reward him for his overambitious spice eating. Worth it though.
Nicola napped while Luke spent the afternoon researching the next 2 months of what to do in Central America. This was also when we found out it was $100 a day for the AC which we weren’t overly happy about.
We had some underwhelming dinner at antojitos sopes morelos where we ordered the morelos soup and it was more chicken than soup. Lastly we had a short walk through the town where we stumbled on a young person's dance performance in the city centre so watched that for a bit before Luke replaced his hat and Nicola her lost water bottle.
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