Monkeys in the Jungle
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
69
119
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
El Panchan/Palenque,
Mexico
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Eventually got on the bus...another luxury bus...probably the last. Sat under the TV and had to endure movie after movie in spanish. Did get one in english about native indians...very odd choice but quite good!!!! The road was very twisty and the bus seemed unable to stop! Was very glad to get off on reaching palenque. (scenery was quite cool....lots of little houses...with the usual chicken and other farm animals wandering the streets!)
Had no idea where to get a bus to El Panchan...were wandering the streets aimlessly when a bus pulled over and asked if we wanted a lift...quite handy really! Well i say bus it was what they call a collectivo...a minibus in fact! Put our bags on the roof, only to stop just down the road and take them off again cause it was raining!
Arrived at El Panchan, was now dark, and we couldnīt seem to see anywhere to check in! Ended up at a bar....where they offered us a cabana...was reasonable so thought why not. Dumped our stuff and headed to the bar for food.
Was really cool place, in the middle of the jungle...an outside bar with thatched (i saw thatchted but it actually made with plam leaves), and good food. Had pizzas made in a real wood oven....damn good and a few beers, and even got treated to cool latin american music for free. Looks like a cool place to hang out!!
The next day it was time to explore the ruins. Had breakfast in the same bar...more good food. Then decided to walk to the ruins which were only supposed to be about 1km away. Entered the park, had to pay, and got a groovy wristband from the man with his gun. But then the walking got tough, it was all uphill and sooo damn hot. Nearly died! Well actually i didnīt but i complained i did!!
Had to rest when we got there.
Then went exploring. The place was dead, no real surprise there! Loads of cool temples...and nicely cut grass!!! Very impressive structures, many of which still had temples on top unlike those of the last place. Neil had to climb them all, i soon got bored it was so damn hot!!!! There were loads of people selling amazingly colourful painting of the local art on bits of suede. Decided we had to have one, and got down to some serious bargaining. Wasnīt easy but kinda fun and we got a good deal in the end!!
That done, we explored the palace with its hundreds of tiny rooms and cool carvings, then neil climbed the remaining buildings, just in case there was some amazing carvings up there - which there werent!!!! I climbed the last one, which had amazing views of the whole site...and we sat and chilled for a while taking it all in! Thats when we first heard the monkeys, i mistook them for dinasaurs at first, but since that possibilty was pretty unlikely even in the mostly undiscovered jungle....we decided they must be howler monkeys. Man are they loud. Pretty scary to be honest...still not sure how something that small can make that much noise! Couldnīt see them though.
And we were done. Managed to convince Neil to let us get a collectivo back, thank god, i was whacked.
For the rest of the day we just chilled. Neil put up his hammock outside the cabana, then he realised he had no money so had to go to Palenque to get some...i chilled in the hammock, no point in spending too lots of bus fare!!!
Then we ate lunch, cause neil decided he was hungry....it was more like dinner though as it was so late. Saw some actual howler monkeys in the trees at the entrance to our place. They were tiny!! Even saw a baby! Who nneds jungle tours when they are on your doorstep! Chilled some more, then deciding there was nothing else to do we went to the bar. Spent some time discussing or arguing about money, got a bottle of wine, then decided we should get some food, still werenīt that hungry we had eaten so late. Had amazing pasta...but couldnīt eat it all. Had more music, and then got kicked out of the bar at about 11, after they had packed away the whole bar, literally around us!!!!!
Next day we decided to take a tour to some local waterfalls that sounded cool. Had breakfast before we left...yes more food. Then waited for our lift.
Got picked up in a mini bus...picked more people up, then had to change to another minibus cause there were too many people! Was quite cosy!
Wasnīt long till we arrived at the first stop, a really cute waterfall. Had no idea what was going on cause our driver didnīt speak english, but just followed the others!!!
Checked out the falls, which were really cool, cause you could actually walk behind them, where you got really wet!! Then it was onto the next place.
Was a reasonable drive, but not too bad. The next place was a nature reserve. A pretty little lake, with an amazing looking wooden bridge. Again had no idea what we were supposed to do, so went off walking. Crossed the bridge, which was pretty damn scary. It was basically 3 bits of wire with wooden slats, most of which were missing or broken! And man did it sway. Was kinda cool though. Walked a little way further, and then cause we had no idea how long we had, headed back. A pretty pointless stop, but also kind cool.
Then it was more bus journey! We were basically heading back the way we had come from San Cristobal, the falls being somewhere between the two, so had to endure the twisty road again, was a little bumpier in the minibus too!!
Finally arrived at out third and final stop. More waterfalls! These were a series of falls that went on for like 7KM!! All uphill too!!
The first part was the most impressive, not that we saw them all, was far too hot to walk 7KM. It was wide and rocky, and the water was all white!! Went a little way up, were really cool, but it was so hot!!!
Chilled back at the bottom, where you could swim. Water looked so tempting, so in we went. Was so refreshing...and was kinda fun trying to swim against the strong currents. God knows how powerful it must have been at the base of the actual falls! Sunbathed for a while, got a snack and watched all the local people selling their mini bananas!
Was a long drive back, everyone fell asleep!
Back at El Panchan we were so tired. chilled in the hammock, then headed to our fav restaurant again for more food!!!!
Decided to have the mexican as it was our last night in Mexico (boo hoo). Were just about to order, when some americans asked us to join them for dinner, cause they wanted some poeple to talk to!! Was kinda fun discussing America with them. Enjoyed some amazing encilladas and fajitas, listened to more cool latin american music...and some even cooler peruvian music ( a whole orchestra, with an amazing array of instruments, then headed off to bed, as we have a ridiculously early get up in the morning. Went to sleep to the sound of music and howler monkeys!! Being in the jungle is cool!!!!!
