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/

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:

www.ticketbus.com

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/