Getting to the jungles of Palenque= Bus Adventures

Nov 23
The quaint town of Campeche with it´s bright pastel colored buildings wasn´t much unlike Merida. It had a nice waterfront (blocked by a wall that at one time kept pirates out of the city)and a charming central plaza, however two days in Campeche was enough and we were edging to get into the jungles of our next destination,Palenque.
Overnight bus to Palenque from Campeche ´supposedly´takes 6 hours and 30 minutes on a bus. Making it to the bus terminal for our 10 pm bus, we thought ´great´we´ll get to Palenque about 5am-wait an hour-and be on our merry way to the area of El Panchen- a hippie commune smack in the middle of a jungle about 4 km from the amazing Palenque Mayan Ruins. So here we are on our night bus where the feature film is the outstanding B movie ¨Direct Action´starring the great Dolph Lundgren. After taking our seats, next to the bathroom nonetheless, we all fall peacefully asleep only to arrive into Palenque at 3am! 3am! What the hell were we supposed to do at 3am?! We were totally unwilling to walk around the city, which was completely shady at this hour, for a place to stay. So we did what we had to. WAIT. We waited for 4 loooong hours on the floor of the bus station falling in and out of dream states. I couldn´t be happier when we finally were able to flag down a collectivo (city van) to drive us to El Panchen. The minute we set eyes on our bed in the jungle bungalow, we were out for the rest of the day.
Nov 24
If you ever have a chance to make it to some Mayan Ruins, make it to Palenque Mexico- where several of the buildings are still standing in their complete and original form. For four hours, we ran through these delightful structures (of course making fun of your average German tourist).After the ruins we were brought to two waterfalls, Misol-ha where I was told a scene in Arnold Shwartzenegger´s(sp?) film Predator was filmed and then to Agua Azul. A pleasant location where several waterfalls came together to form somewhat of a jacuzzi for swimming. We ended the day listening to an amazing reggae band and eating real tasting pizza back at the jungle commune. Tomorrow, we head for the city San Christobal de las Casas- a city that in 1994- was taken over by Zapatistas in order to ¨start a revolution!´Sounds right up my ally.

Getting to the jungles of Palenque= Bus Adventures

Palenque, Mexico