Palenque, Selva Mexicana

I left Tulum satisfied with the 2 days I had spent there, it is a nice place with a gorgeous beach and great diving, but I was ready to leave and head straight to the jungle. I took the overnight bus from Tulum to Palenque with my new friend Justin, who I had met earlier in Isla and ran into in Tulum. The bus ride was 12hrs long, but I lucked out and got both seats to myself so I was able to rest comfortably and sleep most of the bus ride, waiting anxiously for my new adventure.
As I arrived we got a colectivo from the bus station in the center of the city of Palenque and head to an area between the Palenque ruins and the center of town called El Panchán. El Panchán is an area in the middle of the jungle, with a few open resataurants where people go nigthly for dinners and live music that is surrounded by different hotels.

Well, they are not exactly hotels, actually what you find there are a bunch of raised cabañas that are spread out through the jungle and connected by small paths and bridges that go over a stream. This in jungle paradise, a beautiful magical place and as soon as I got in that morning I could not be happier. It was very hot, but walking through the paths that were covered by trees and hearing the howler monkeys on the trees above me made me forget all about the sweat in my forehead and the huge pack I was carrying. Justin and I made our way to The Jungle Palace and our cabaña, home for the next few days. I decide to walk over to the main restaurant area and get some breakfast before figuring out what I was going to do for the day. At the restaurant I got to talking to a local and some other mexicans from Ciudad del Carmen who were in Palenque for the weekend. Its funny how easy it is to get to know people and start conversations, I met this great group of people and it all started by petting a dog and talking about a book I am reading. It used to be a lot more difficult to talk to people and meet people back home, but while traveling you just meet and talk to so many people that it becomes so natural and I love it!.
After a delicious smoothie for breakfast and meeting the whole group I was invited to join them for the day as they went to this waterfall. We piled up into two cars and follow the directions of the local Juan and after a short walk arrived to a beautiful spot with an amazing waterfall. There we hung out for the rest of day just admiring the beauty around us while Juan served as a spiritual guide to 3 of the people who were eating mushrooms for the first time and had an amazing trip filled with nature and monkeys peeing on them. At the end of the day we all went to dinner and had amazing seafood with lots of tequila and got the party started. We went back to El Panchán and went to get ready to continue the party at the jungle. I layed in bed for a little bit while Justin went to the showers and ended up falling asleep. Justin left and once I woke up I ended up being locked in the cabaña and missing the rest of the festivities.
The next day we joined half of the group including a brazilian to take a tour of the ruins in Palenque. The ruins are huge and spread in a beautiful jungle, there are about 1400 more buildings that have not been excavated and are hidden in the middle of the jungle. We picked up a guide and decided to take a tour of both the jungle and the ruins. The jungle tour was great as we got to climb and hug trees, learn about there history, their mayan names. We learned about berries used for painting by the Mayas, found some of the ruins that have not been excavated and ate live termites from a tree. Yeah I know, I´m eating a lot of bugs in Mexico, but apparently its the thing to do, and as much as I don´t like them, eating them hasn´t been too bad. We finished the jungle tour on top of the Templo de la Calavera and from there went on to explore the rest of the temples. I really do love Palenque because of how the temples are in teh jungle, it is a beautiful and powerfull sight and these people were brilliant with everything they created.

After the tour I parted ways with my new group of friends as it was sunday and they had to be back at work on monday. How weird to think that my life is so different from that right now. I went into the room, read my book and rested in the jungle listening to the sounds of nature. At night I had a light dinner and went to see Juan Carlos play the guitar at the local restaurant. It is such a great environment fulll of backpackers passing by, sharing stories and giving you tips on where to go next. That night I got really sick and have no idea why, but I woke up having to puke and was not feeling good at all. The next day I spent in bed, reading sleeping and drinking water. It was a much needed rest after so many days without stopping. That night I planned our tour and next day trip to Agua Azul, Misol-Ha and finally to San Cristobal in Chiapas.