dtraCorp - mexico 2008: chiapas - san cristobal de las casas and palenque

mexico 2008: chiapas - san cristobal de las casas and palenque

15th-may-2008 - posted by dtra

we arrived in san cristobal de las casas at about 7.30am on a wednesday, very tired, but at least not sick from the bus ride (i don't know how ozzy got through it ). found a hotel that had a triple room (as well as free internet, thank you lonely planet), and settled in. i was ready to go, but ozzy needed to catch up on sleep (that's right, i'm calling you out ), so by the time we got out and about, about 11am, it was too late to get on any tours (except for one afternoon horse ride, which we declined). i was a bit tired in the afternoon anyway, but we wandered the streets, and checked out the markets and shops.

similar to oaxaca being very touristy, it has a similar vibe, which i have to say, i really liked. it was quite relaxed and chilled out, another good thing, the weather was the mildest we had, clear blue skies, and relatively cool weather (maybe 22-25 degrees). that's pretty much all we did in san cristobal, wandered around the cobbled streets and checked out the markets. it would've been good to stay there longer, but we had to get moving to palenque. so one night, and half a day, it was a bit of a regret after we saw some pictures of the canyon del sumidero, it looked pretty spectacular, a day trip would've been good .

about midday the next day, we got on a bus, and headed for palenque, home to some picturesque mayan ruins located in the middle of a jungle. we got there about 5pm, and felt the heat as soon as we got out, away from the chilled air and mountains of san cristobal, the steamy lowlands of palenque were a big shock. we wandered from the bus station down into town to check out some hotels. we were sweating bad, the first hotel didn't have a triple, the second a block further, did, so we went with it (more info when i do my accommodation post).

we got a colectivo to the ruins the next morning and arrived at 8am (opening time), slightly cooler in the morning and with decent light (an hour earlier would've been awesome, but obviously not possible) we wandered around the ruins for a bit less than three hours (a lot more tourists here than any of the previous ruins sites). i actually ran off at the start to take advantage of the light as much as possible, and pretty much looked around by myself for two hours (half looking for the other two). the ruins were really cool, nothing compared to teotihuacan in terms of size, but the setting and ambience more than matched teotihuacan's dimensions.

the main structures (the most photogenic anyway) were in the southern part, with smaller, less interesting ruins in group b, group c, and the murcielagos group, towards the north exit and museum. there are some nice little waterfalls there though. the museum, which we didn't get to (none of us could find it), was located just to the left as you leave from the north exit, i went out there, and didn't see anything, so went back in, and all the way back to the west entrance/exit (i needed to grab some pictures of the palace still anyway), and waited for alf and ozzy for about twenty minutes.

we got another colectivo back to town, and rested a bit, before heading out to misol ha by taxi, 20km out of town for a swim. the waterfall was pretty spectacular, i've seen niagara falls (but i was too young to appreciate i guess), we took some pictures, but the best part was having a dip in the pool. there are ropes across the pool so that those that aren't great swimmers () can get across to the other side. it was so refreshing, we got away from the heat of palenque for one hour in a beautiful setting, and just chilled out. there is some water than runs down on the opposite side from the entrance, where you can climb up, and just take a shower, or have a running water massage. unbelievably soothing, the water rushing into your back is quite powerful, but relaxing, better than any spa.

we had to leave though, and started sweating it up in the taxi ride back to town. we had an early bus ride the next day, 8am, on our way to xpujil and calakmul, and that's where i will continue next time. oh, and ozzy had finally started to recover ever so slightly by the time we got to palenque.

picture of the temple of the inscriptions (right near the entrance) at palenque, i stuffed this one up, iso 400 (which i left on for several other photos ), not climbable, but a good view nonetheless.