Mexico (Part 11) Palenque, Mayan Ruins Museum
The next morning after breakfast it was back on the highway flagging down a “colectivo” to head back to the ruins. This time it was to the museum at the entrance to the park. The museum was great. It was very well done.
Musuem grounds, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
Checking out one of the artifacts in the musuem
Inside the Mayan Musuem in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
We spent the morning at the musuem then caught a “colectivo” back to hotel, checked out, said goodbye to the hotel staff and took a taxi to the bus station in town.
Checking out of the Chan-Kah Resort Village
The bus station is open air, small, hot, and crowded with locals and backpackers.
Passengers in the bus station waiting to buy tickets
From inside the bus station in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
We had arrived early, so had extra time. I walked down the street, found a little store, and bought us some water and cookies to tide us over on bus.
Carol waiting to board the bus for San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
At 2 p.m. we left on the 5 hour bus trip from Palenque to San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Next-the winding road to San Cristóbal de las Casas
BTW-If you want to check out some really neat stuff about what is happening on the redesigned Newsok.com then you need to check out Alan Herzberger’s update here
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 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/
Mexico (Part 5)-Palenque and a beautiful hotel-Chan-Kah!
18 hours after leaving Oklahoma City, we finally arrived at a very small bus station in Palenque, Chiapas around midnight. As late as it was, there was a crowd of people boarding a few other
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:
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/
Mexico (Part 4)-Villahermosa-ready to leave!
We went into the packed waiting room of the Villahermosa bus station-it was obvious, we were the only gringos there. By this time we were exhausted. We had been traveling 14 hours.Our original plans had us having a nice leisurely dinner in Palenque by this time of night, but we were still 3 hours away.
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/
Mexico(Part 3)-Villahermosa-Speak Spanish and bring Pesos!
Mexico-Chiapas, Tabasco & the Mayan Ruins of Palenque-cont’d
Unfortunately, there was a major accident on the highway leading from the Villahermosa airport to downtown and we got tied up in a HUGE traffic jam. I watched the time tick by and knew we had missed our 7:30 pm. bus. Unfortunately, I had purchased my bus tickets on-line from the U.S. for the 4:30 p.m. bus so now we had missed two buses. However, before leaving the states I was in telephone contact with my daughter, Stephanie who was advising me as to my options on alternate bus times through the website:
So, I knew there was only one more bus at 9 p.m. that night to Palenque. At 8 p.m. we arrived at the Villahermosa bus station, shook hands with our new best friends, Bruno and his wife, and went inside. It was raining outside, hot inside, and it was a packed, noisy, chaotic bus station with long lines. I finally made it to the ticket window and gave the clerk my reservation number. She spoke no English but my Spanish was passable enough. She told me I had forfeited my original prepaid ticket because I had missed the bus, but she would sell me 2 seats on the 9 p.m. At that point we only wanted to be on our way so agreed to buy two tickets and didn’t argue. They were only $5.50 each.
The neat thing about the Mexican bus system is you get to select your seats at the time of purchase. I selected seats 9 & 10—don’t ask me why, they just looked like good seats! I pulled out my Visa to pay and was told: “we don’t accept credit cards (in Spanish of course). I offered to pay in US Dollars—nope, don’t accept those either! Fortunately, I had stashed a few pesos that were left over from a previous trip to Mexico 3 years ago into my backpack before we left home. It was enough to pay for the tickets.
BTW-I will be adding some interesting photos to these blogs on the trip to Palenque and San Cristobal de las Casas so don’t lose patience with me!
Next-The Villahermosa waiting room! Carol needs pesos for the bathroom!
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/
Mexico (part 2)-flight to Villahermosa-A stranger offers us a ride
Mexico-Chiapas, Tabasco & the Mayan Ruins of Palenque-cont’d
Part 2
There were no seats together on the plane to Villahermosa so I ended up in a different row than Carol. I was in the middle seat between 2 great people: Carlos, a financial analyst for a big construction company in Mexico City and Bruno, a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company who lived in Villahermosa. I bonded with both of them instantly with my limited Spanish and their limited English. For 1.5 hours we conversed like we were old friends.
Our problem was we only had 1 hour to make it in a taxi from the Villahermosa airport to the downtown area to catch a 7:30 p.m. bus to Palenque and that was cutting it close. Plus, I had made my bus reservations on-line in the states and was unfamiliar with the process of checking in at the bus station and claiming my reservation.
Both Bruno and Carlos offered to drive us to the bus station upon landing. Bruno’s wife was already going to be at the airport waiting on him so he insisted we ride with him. Upon landing, Carol was waiting for me inside the airport since she had already gotten off the plane. I introduced my new friend Bruno to Carol, and told her we were riding with him to the bus station. She gave me that “what in the world have you gotten us into now” look. After all, Bruno was a complete stranger and we were taking him up on his offer of a ride? Of course, Bruno also needed to explain to his wife that he had just met me on the plane and they would be taking us to the bus station. It’s part of that great Mexican hospitality. Ya gotta love these different opportunities to meet people when you travel!
Next-an unexpected delay on the highway –
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/
