My favourite pile of rocks

Trip Start Apr 09, 2008
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Trip End Apr 19, 2009


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Flag of Mexico  , Central Mexico and Gulf Coast,
Thursday, August 21, 2008

I arrived early morning exhausted from the bus but with a clear list of things to do. I left my big bag in the bus station. I bought a ticket on to San Christobal that night. I asked about how to get to the ruins ( there was a collectivo I could take from out side the bus station ). I asked if I had time to do anything else in Palenque ( I would pass the national park and jungles on my way to the ruins but otherwise no ). I found a place to have breakfast. I ate cornflakes which came with banana and cream. Really filling. And then took the collectivo to the ruins.
I got off the colectivo early because I asked the guy next to me if we had arrived and he said yes. I forgot the rule that sometimes latinos if they don't know the answer or don't understand the question will just say yes. Anyway, I soon realised my mistake and found that I could just walk along the roadside through the jungle to reach the ruins. The road took me steadily up hill and soom of the views were incredible Jungle
Jungle
 . I reached the gate quite soon after the ruins were opened and learning from my mistake as soon as I had my ticket I walked as far as  I could to the furthest corner of the site. I had the place to myself for about half an hour and really loved the place. It was so tranquil and this area hadn't been restored at all. I felt more of a relationship with the past than at Chichen Itza.
I spent the whole day wandering around the site. Looking at everything.
By about one it was getting stupidly hot so I sat under a tree drinking water and reading a book. By about 3 the heat was disappearing but so were the crowds. I was just preparing to look around the part of the site closest to the gate, most popular and busiest but found very few people around at all. After I had seen everything I walked down through the back exit to the road and found there by the ticket office a beautiful museum. It contained a lot of great artifacts from the site and some explaination of the site itself. It really completed the experience and I took the collectivo back to town completely satisfied with my day. I had dinner in the town and went back to the bus station. I met a nice English guy there, a Londoner heading the same way as me. He was a good laugh so we agreed to find a hostel together when we arrived in San Christobal.
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