Mexico (Part 10) Dinner in Palenque Town, Chiapas
Our goal was to not experience all of our meals at the hotel, so we decided to go into the town of Palenque for dinner. Since I wasn’t sure exactly where the “colectivos” dropped off its passengers in town, we opted to be big spenders and have the hotel call a taxi. . Cost to town was 40 Pesos (USD $4).
Once we were in town, we walked around for 6-7 blocks until we finally found an ATM where we got some Pesos to buy dinner. The town of Palenque is pretty bland, sort of a hodge-podge of buildings. Ok, it’s a little dodgy! Seemed like an assembly place for backpackers who are heading off for other parts of Mexico. It reminded me a lot of Tena, Ecuador that sits at the bottom on the east side of the Andes.
Saturday night downtown in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
Using our trusty Lonely Planet guide book we headed for the best restaurant in town, a beautiful open air place named Restaurant Maya Cañada. The service was great. We both had steak for around $10 USD each. Before we left, the restaurant had filled to capacity. We knew we had made the right choice.
Steak Dinner
The dessert was the best part. Check this out:
Half a coconut shell filled with coconut ice cream topped off with a chocolate bar.
After dinner, we walked to the bus station to pick up our tickets for the bus the next day to San Cristobal de las Casas. Since I had originally purchased them on line before leaving the states it was just a matter of getting our boarding passes printed. I didn’t want to chance having to stand in a long line the next day. We would spend the next a.m. visiting the musuem at the ruins before leaving for San Cristobal in the afternoon.
Next-A brief visit to the Musuem of the Ruins in Palenque
View my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com
Colombia: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/
Mexico: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/
Caribbean island of Barbuda http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/
San Juan with a 5 hour layover http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/
Fly around the U.S. for the day: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/
Mexico (Part 9) Chan-Kah Resort Poolside, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
The pool at Chan-Kah Resort Village in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico is an absolutely beautiful, free form, rock lined pool.
There were a few other guests around the pool. We didn’t see or hear any other Americans. All seemed to be from Europe. We struck up a conversation with several of them. Most were just traveling around Mexico on buses somewhat like us.
We hung around the pool until a lightning storm drove us back into the casita.
Next-Dinner in Palenque Town
View my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com
Colombia: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/
Mexico: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/
Caribbean island of Barbuda http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/
San Juan with a 5 hour layover http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/
Fly around the U.S. for the day: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/
Mexico (Part 8) Chan-Kah Resort, Chiapas, Mexico-The flowers
I have had a number of people ask me about the flora in the jungle on and around the property of the Chan-Kah Resort Village. Carol took the camera out one afternoon and took some pictures so I thought I would post a few of some of the beautiful plants they have on the grounds that she photographed. I don’t know the names so you will just have to enjoy the photos.
All of the casitas have gardens and flowers planted around them like the above picture.
Now, in the next post, I will show you the pool area. Wait until you see it! Beautiful!
Next-The pool of Chan-Kah Resort Village, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
See my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:
Colombia:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/ Mexico:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/
Caribbean
island of
Barbuda: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/ San Juan with a 5 hour layover: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puertorico/ Fly around the U.S. for the day: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/
Mexico (Part 7) Palenque, the Mayan Ruins-Wow!
Having visited the ruins of Tulum, Monte Alban, Tikal, and Copan on previous journeys into Latin America, I was still impressed with these ruins in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico! Take a look for yourself.
Being a Saturday, the ruins were really busy with tourists, most seemed to be Mexican. After the two-hour tour we stayed around for an extra couple of hours shooting photos and climbing around the ruins.
Impressive, huh? Post your comments below if you liked these ruins.
After we finished, we caught another “colectivo” on the highway and headed back to the Chan Kah Resort to take a dip in the pool. But first, I want you to see some photos of the flowers on the property of the hotel in the next post(#8). Then wait until you see the pics of the pool in the post(#9) following the flowers! Stay tuned.
Next-The Flowers of Chan-Kah Resort Village
See my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:
Colombia:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/ Mexico:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/
Caribbean
island of
Barbuda: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/
San Juan with a 5 hour layover: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puertorico/ Fly around the U.S. for the day: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/
Mexico (Part 6) Palenque, Chan-Kah Resort and ready for the ruins!
The next morning we were up early and had a sumptuous buffet breakfast. There were only about 10-12 other people in the beautiful open air dining room. Here is a photo of the outside of the dining room:
Outside of the dining room
Inside the dining room-
All you can eat buffet breakfast-cost was about 12 bucks.
The ruins were about 4 miles away and we needed transportation. We were told to just walk down the road and stand on the highway until a little “colectivo” comes by and wave it down.
This is the road from the resort that leads to the highway-
“Colectivos” are vans that run up and down the highway, hold about 9 people, and function as an ad hoc taxi service.
Flagging down a “colectivo” on the side of the highway
You get on and off wherever you want and pay the driver a token fee. In our case, the 4 miles to the ruins cost $1 each (10 pesos). He had about 13 people in his 9 person van with most of them being backpackers, some of whom were carrying bedrolls, tents, etc. Several of them looked pretty spacey. This area seems to be a magnet for backpackers.
When we arrived at the ruins we were approached by a guide service asking if we wanted a private guide in English. Carol said “we’ve come this far, let’s do it right and hire a guide”. Best thing we ever did. For 2 hours ($85 USD), our guide took us through the ruins and painted a vivid picture in our minds of how this Mayan civilization lived …..It was incredible! You will enjoy the photos in the next post.
Next Time-The ruins of Palenque
See my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:
Colombia:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/ Mexico:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/
Caribbean island of Barbuda: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/
San Juan with a 5 hour layover: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/
Fly around the U.S. for the day: http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/
