San Cristobal, Palenque y Merida

San Cristobal

From Oaxaca we took an overnight bus to San Cristobal, a quaint town with cobbled, narrow roads and a plethora of churches. We decided to spend a few days here, as it was so pleasant, and because we had a kick-ass room with skylights.

Whilst in San Cristobal we explored the surrounding areas via day trips. On the first trip we spent a fun 2 hours on a boat exploring the Sumidera Canyon, an impressive 25km stretch of dammed river with steep walls that reach a height of 1000m above the river in places. We also got to glimpse some crocodiles and some spider monkeys. The second trip, a couple of days later, saw us take in the colorful lakes of the Lagos Montibello region, right on the Guatamalan border. The afternoon part of the trip was even more spectacular as we got to walk and swim in the El Chiflon waterfall, an impressive, cascading wall of turquoise water.

Cruising through the canyon.

Walking through the pretty streets of San Cristobal.

Overlooking Lago Montebello

Swimming downstream of El Chiflon waterfall

Palenque 

The distance from San Cristobal to Palenque is only about 100km, but it took us almost 6 hours on the bus. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the road is incredibly hilly and windy - our front row, seatbelt-less seats were, in hindisght, not the best call. Secondly, it seemed that there is an ongoing inter-town speedbump competition, in which each municipality's goal is to outdo their neighbours in terms of number of bumps. Marcelle counted 94 speedbumps over the course of just 2 hours. Thirdly, we had a trainee driver who was yet to fully grasp that there were other vehicles on the road, and that both lanes weren't exclusively ours. Our front row seats were once again conducive to white knuckles and a need to send our underwear to the nearest lavanderia. When we finally did disembark in Palenque, kissing the ground as stepped off the death cabin, we were met by a wall of claustrophobic heat that was to be our unwanted companion for the next two days. It was hot and humid, unlike anything we had yet experienced.

But that didn't stop us enjoying Palenque's no. 1 attraction, their Mayan ruins (Palenque ruins). They really are impressive, reminiscent of Machu Picchu but in a low-altitude jungle setting. They have excavated just 2 square kilometers of the old city's 15 square kilometer area, but that is still too much to see in just 1 day. We got to walk through the palace, tombs, houses and even an old ball court, where the losing team were beheaded. Talk about pressure.

Overlooking the Palenque ruins

Palenque

More Palenque

Palenque was also memorable for where we stayed, which was a hippie community in the middle of the jungle. I have never before seen quite so many half-shaved heads and sandals. Fortunately at night time the sound of howler monkeys and the glow of fireflies distracted us from the lentil brigade.

Marcelle working out where best to position her recliner for an afternoon nap and G&T.

And finally finding the right spot.

Merida

From Palenque our next stop was Campeche, a town on the coast. And that last sentence is about as much effort as I can muster to describe our stay here.

Merida, a couple of hours north-east, is a quaint, historic city which was our base for 4 days. On one of our days in Merida we took a bus and visited the futuristic sounding town of Progresso, which is on the coast. This area is very important historically, as it is believed that the meteor responsible for eliminating the dinosaurs 65 million years ago and for bringing in an ice age struck nearby. One of the results of the meteor strike was to produce hundreds of cenotes (sinkholes) on the edge of the 300 km-wide crater. And it was to some of these that we spent time swimming and lounging about, as these cenotes are filled with beautifully clear and pure water. One we swam in was in an underground cave that added to the ambience, and another was in a jungle setting.

Swimming in the underground cenote

The jungle cenote

Marcelle swimming in the crystal clear cenote water.

The hostel we stayed in was a very well-equipped one, offering free yoga, salsa lessons and cooking classes. It was in one of these cooking classes, whilst making fajitas, that one of my Mexican foundations was shaken. It turns out that burritos are, unbelievably, not Mexican. Apparently they were introduced from Texas. We were also educated as to what a fajita refers to (the size of the chunks of meat in the dish). Who would have thought?

Daniel, our cooking instructor, teaching us how to cook local fare.