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/

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/

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/

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

          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/

all-night buses to far away destinations that had names I couldn’t even pronounce.  

We found a taxi in front of the station and  agreed on the fare of $4 (40 pesos) and away we went, 20 minutes down the highway through the countryside.   When we arrived at Chan-Kah Resort Village near the Mayan ruins there was only a desk clerk and a security guard, neither of which spoke English, but we managed to get everything set up and get to our rooms.

Chan-Kah Resort Village is set is a jungle like setting with lots of little casitas spread out in the trees.  Here are some photos:

                  Look at the vegetation growing from the roof of our room

                 Our sitting porch outside our room

Here are some pics of the walkway through the property.  You can click on them to enlarge

The room was large and very simple.  We were pleased.  We agreed that we had chosen a wonderful property.   Take a look at their web site:

                                  www.chan-kah.com.mx/eng/      

Since we were traveling so light, the first thing we did was wash our clothes by hand and hoped they would dry in the humidty.  This was all part of the master plan:  travel light and wash our clothes as we went.  Once you get used to this system, you will never want to travel any other way–At least I don’t!!

I have to admit, my biggest fear about this trip was: would Carol be able to stand up to the rigors of traveling light, quick, washing clothes by hand, buses, language barriers, and be able to deal with the uncertainties and challenges of a trip like this?  So far, she had received an A+.  It only gets better from here!

Next-The Mayan ruins of Palenque! Incredible!

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/

I decided we had better call the hotel, the Chan-Kah Resort Village, and let them know we would be late. I had the phone number but I couldn’t make the call go through on my cell phone. Finally, I asked two guys sitting behind to help me. They spoke no English. In Spanish, I told them what I was trying to do and showed them the phone number. They started crossing out unnecessary numbers and told me to try the new combination—it worked!!

When the hotel answered the phone I could not understand anything they were saying in Spanish. I finally just stated my problem and on the other end I heard “no problema”. I knew I had gotten my point across!

Inside the waiting room was a little tiny convenience counter that sold some snacks. I bought some water and cookies. In the Villahermosa bus station we ate the romantic dinner we had previously planned to eat in Palenque……cookies and water! Life was good!

Inside the Villahermosa bus station-It’s crowded!

Carol went to use the restroom and came back telling me there was a charge of 3 Pesos to use it. I was running low on Pesos so I had to tell her to quit drinking water!! It was time to board the bus.

Villahermosa bus station-boarding the bus

At 9 p.m. we boarded our bus and were finally on the way to Palenque. I immediately struck up a conversation (in Spanish, of course) with the guy sitting across from me and found out that Villahermosa is the city that was almost completely underwater 8 months ago. They have done a marvelous job in cleaning it up. You never would have known.

 Next-Headin’ for Palenque town!

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/