Month in Mexico: Part 3

I wasn't gonna write ahead today but I can't sleep. So here goes.

I took the bus to Palenque and reached there early in the morning. I was just getting into a taxi to get to my hostel when this collectivo guy comes up and offers a marginally cheaper ride. What I didn't know at the time is that I would spend the next 2 hours stuck in the collectivo while he waits for other passengers. Also, I was stuck between paying the full price and leaving or trying to communicate with him that I wasn't paying and then leave. Both sounded unfeasible so I just chilled in the van outside hotels in Palenque. After I finally made it to my hostel which was 20 mins away, in about 2 hours, it was well worth it. So it's really hard to describe but there is a small group of hostels and restaurants inside the forest which lie right outside the ruins in Palenque. The cool thing about the Palenque ruins is that it's set right against the lush emerald forest with only 5% of it being properly excavated. Infact, many parts of the ruins didn't have ANYONE around so I really felt like I was living some Hollywood fantasy and exploring the dense jungles by myself.

The hostel area within the jungle is called El Panchan (locals laughed at me when I said "El Panchan" instead of  simply Panchan). I was super skeptical cos the rooms in Panchan didn't have A/Cs but the cabanas were totally adorable. Cabanas (the n has an accent in many such words. I can't be bothered to add it) are small cottages basically and the word is used very flexibly so I've realized that it could be something luxurious or totally crappy. This was luxurious enough by backpacker standards. The common bathrooms were not that luxurious. So the bathroom had no light. At all. So the first shower seemed pleasant enough at night. However, the next morning, I had the biggest shocker when I saw the state of the bathrooms. The problem was however quickly solved by just postponing the shower to the night. It also solved the problem that the shower curtains wouldn't really close. So it was definitely more modest to shower in the dark at night. My cabana was right on the edge of a stream so it was really nice to just step out on the porch and have a tiny bit of water trickling down. The second cool thing that happened to me in Palenque was that I met Jess. Sometimes it happens that you meet someone and just click. I really felt that with Jess. We started talking on a bus ride from the ruins and didn't stop talking until days later. We weren't actually that similar as people. But we loved to travel the same way. Also, she was way more disciplined than me so my budget owed a lot to Jess.

Porch outside my cabana

Cabana side view

Just walkway leading to the cottage

Jess posing in the cabana

Right in the heart of nature baby

Hitching a ride in an open air collectivo

I met Jess on the way back to the ruins. Another co-incidence (which apparently is not that rare in Mexico), I met these two English guys who were with me in the shitty hostel in Tulum, then were around with my bus meltdown to Palenque and then I again bumped into them at the ruins. I finally went and talked to them and they were pretty nice. From the ruins we went to these waterfalls, Azul Agua (I think) they were called. No wait, I don't remember the names. Let's call them Fall1 and Fall2. Fall1 was pretty standard waterfall. And to be honest, I am not a big fan of waterfalls where you can't get into the water. Sometimes, I might choose not to get into the water but I always want that option. Fall2 was pretty neat. It was a waterfall with many many layers and you could keep hiking up and checking out more layers. It was a very pretty bright turquoise color. (Note: I hate that all the water so far has been turquoise. That word is a bitch to spell). Along the waterfall was all markets and food places. Most of the food was pretty expensive so Jess ate healthy bananas and I ate empanadas. What was cool about this place is that it had more locals than foreigners. After a longgg day at the waterfalls, Jess and I headed back to Panchan. She was gonna be sleeping in a hammock at a nearby hostel. We just walked around the forest and it was really magical. We were the only people there, the golden sun was hitting the trees at the perfect angle and if the moment couldn't have been any better, we saw a rainbow. It was one of those very very frequent moments in the trip where I just sat back and sighed at how lucky I was to be there.  We decided to have a nice dinner and ordered giant ass burritos and she treated me to a beer.  We talked for a long time about boys and relationships, in the middle of the forest. It was pretty great.

The next day we walked all over the town, mostly to find me an ATM and I think it was a pretty cute little town. Not too bad at all. However, lunch kinda sucked. I got this chicken torta (torta = sandwich) and there was a bottle of ranch on the table. I assumed that the ranch would have the inside lid as it ALWAYS has been for the past 5 years. Nope. I turned the bottle and squeezed hard and the whole bottle's ranch fell into my plate. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept trying to put it back in the bottle. Oh and the ranch was kept out in the sun so it was rancid : / . Thankfully they kinda had an open sandwich toppings bar so I just ate a whole bunch of sandwich toppings for lunch. I just remembered another funny food related mishap. Until I met Jess, who rescued me with her Spanish, I didn't know what Asada means. I knew that Pollo means chicken so I thought that all the signs that say "Pollo Asada" was probably chicken with something. But it wasn't so. Asada means beef. And Pollo and Asada were the two options. So I completely understand why every single Mexican gave me dirty looks when I walked up and asked for "chicken beef" god knows how many times.

Fall2 in all it's splendour

Walking under Fall1

Forests of Gold

With a little color added

From Palenque we decided to head to San Cristobal de la casas. This place has my heart. This was the place where I truly fell in love. The place was my favorite. The hostel was my favorite. And even though I didn't know it at the time, some of the people that I met there would later become my favorite :)