A Long Unexpected Day Trip
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2007
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25
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Trip End
Aug 31, 2008
Palenque,
Mexico
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The day started at 6:00am about 3 hrs earlier than usual. A packed econoline full of backpackers from Switzerland, Holland, America, Columbia, Spain and Germany started out from San Cristobal. A Dutch/Swiss couple merrily entered the van, ¨Should we speak Spanish, English, German or Dutch...Ja?¨ It was too early in the morning for these two.
Two and a half hours later we found ourselves at Agua Azul. We had 1.5 hours to explore the waterfalls and limestone pools. We were expecting crystal blue water but it was a bit murky due to the recent heavy rainfall
Misol-Ha Waterfalls
. It was beautiful however.Next was Misol-Ha, a 35 meter waterfall dropping into a small pool in the lush jungle. We had 30 minutes to sneek-a-peek. The setting was gorgeous, but unfortunately for us the Eastern Europeans arrived in flocks and our view was obstructed by older barrel-chested men in Speedos butter-flying through the pool and dropping drawers behind the rocks.
Palenque was the 7th Mayan ruin we´ve hit, so one could consider us experts (of course we would argue their intelligence). Since we had hired guides previously and had become increasingly disappointed, we opted out of the group tour and tackled the ruins on our own...we had our Mayan guide book so we were set. Only two hours allotted for exploration and we were famished so for us, after eating a nice club sandwich, we had 1.5 hours. The guide book said to truly appreciate Palenque you need about 2-4 days. The race was on. Needless to say, we hit all the highlights and in record time.
Sweaty and exhausted from running steps of the numerous temples we hopped into the van for our 5 trip back to San Cristobal.
Comments
Regarding your Palenque trip
Hey, I was reading your blog about your trip to Palenque, Misol Ha and Aqua Azul. My girlfriend (ex now) traveled to Mexico last year in Aug, and did the same the trip you did. Our destination was also Tabasco (Villahermosa) A very large city, but we didn't actually get to travel around the city. Before heading we also did a tour to all three places, and by far I agree with you with the experiences. For Agua Azul, we too got the Murky dirty water also expecting crystal blue, and the season wasn't right. Misol Ha, did you get the chance to go under and behind the waterfall? It was absolutely breathtaking. Palenque was probably one of my favorite ruins I visited while travelling around Mexico. The second best I thought was Monte Alban, Oaxaca. Beautiful place. Anywasy I just wanted to share the same experienced you did, and hope you guys had a blast as much as I did. I would love share stories soemtimes since I am just getting into the traveling world. My name is Su btw, nice to meet you!
Take care,