6: Palenque - Mexico

Days 22-25 (4th-7th Nov): Palenque Ruins, Date Changes, and Giant Waterfalls

(Written just around the 10th Nov, sorry for just publishing!)

So now its the start of the 4th week and time to do things again after having a couple of days not doing a lot!

 

 

The sunday (4th) we went to Palenque Ruins. We started off in the museum where a lot of the artifacts now are and saw the jade death masks and jewelery that they put over their dead royals, and some amazingly detailed carvings and hieroglyphs. Their hieroglyphs are really crazy and weird looking, to write anything must have taken ages! We then had to climb through the jungle up a path to get to the ruins as they are ontop of a mountain. The walk was beautiful through the trees and past waterfalls and we had our first encounter with howler monkeys! They are SO loud and sound more like dinosaurs then monkeys. There was a large group of them in the trees above us and some of the smaller babies climbed down to get a better look at us, they came so close and it was a great! Didn't want to leave them but we got to the ruins and they were quite grand with a large multi-layered palace, a well preserved huge pyramid (where they found the only Maya sarcophagus) and an unusual pagoda looking tower. We spent the afternoon clambering around them and looking in all the buildings at the carvings and finding secret passageways and it was lovely to be surrounded by mountain jungle. This one seemed to have a different/more ancient air about it and we really loved it, maybe its the setting. We also saw some Maya villagers dressed in traditional clothing and all the men grow their hair long. We rounded off the day with the biggest meal we have ever eaten and Liam could hardly walk so it was a brilliant day and made up for the previous week :)

 

The Monday started off badly as we called about changing our flights and found that without paying £450 each the only flights we could have from end Dec through January was the 9th Feb!! So we had to change all our plans and stay in Central America for another 3 months!! It really wasn't what we planned and were a bit miffed but after thinking about it we realised it was probably a good thing as there is too much to see here anyway and we love it! Though it does mean Christmas in Honduras...?

After that fiasco the day was really good as we went off to see our first big waterfalls of the trip. The first one was a huge 45ft single cascade named Miso-ha. It was really beautiful with serveral more small trickily ones and moss covered rocks and ferns, very fairy tale. We walked behind the waterfall and got misted all over, and into the caves there too which were dark and spooky. It really was very pretty place. We then went somewhere where there is a 5km stretch of river that is just waterfall after waterfall, all only a bit smaller than Miso-ha and the number of them is immense. We walked along the river bank for hours coming across new ones and wading into the pools at the bottom of each one (I actually slipped over in one of them fully clothed and got soaked haha!) One the way back we found a mirrador (veiwpoint) over the whole valley and it was gorgeous. This part of Mexico is lovely, being more mountainous and a lot less busy. After an hour and a half in a minivan along incredibily narrow windy roads and a sick Liam, we cooked vegi rice and had yummy sugary rolls from a bakery, as well as watching one of my favourite films (Muppets Treasure Island!) so what started as a bad day turned out pretty good!

The next 2 days we had picnics on the grass, lots of tacos, ice cream and fried bananas in the plazas, did a bit of shopping and sorted out our new plan for central America. Once we wrote down all we wanted to do it was actually too much even until Feb so it is a good thing we have that long! We also saw a crazy tattooed group of men doing stange dancing and drumming around a fire one evening.

And then it was time to leave Palenque and hopefully all the problems we've had lol. The next part of our trip gets more tricky though as we go to a really remote part of Mexico as we want to see more of the jungle and maya village life, and we cross the Guatamalan border.... fingers crossed it'll all go to plan!

 

 

 

 

5: Tulum, Bacalar, Palenque - Mexico

Days 14-21: Snorkling with Turtles, Bacalar Fort, Kayaking, and Day of the Dead

So its been a while since my last blog and I'm slacking behind so I'm going to have to do a whole week in one go! Bare with me :D

The 3rd week started with our snorkeling trip with the Turtles and it was the most amazing thing I have ever done! We only had to swim 25m out from the beach and they started to appear, about 3 foot below you! They were huge, and graceful although seeing them chomp on the sea grass made them look a bit cow-like haha! They have to come up for air and when they do, if you keep still, they practically bump into you! It was so awesome to see them right there, not on the TV lol. We then swam out to the reef which is a lot bigger and brighter and more diverse than the one before and we saw huge colourful fish and the water was clearer so that was rele kwl, tho by the time we got back to the beach I think Liam was a bit tired of all the swimming! We next headed off to Dos Ojos (Two Eyes) Cenote, which is a massive underground network of connected pools. It was quite scary actually because we snorkeled in the dark with torches and stalactites kept bumping you from above and you'd swim into stalagmites from below, and you could see huge underwater caves going soooo far into the darkness with no idea what was in them and caverns beneath you! We went through

tunnels where the snorkle was scraping against the roof and into 'the batcave' which sounds kwl and it was filled with hundreds of bats! Not good if your clostrophobic though! We were kinda glad to get out of there cos it was great but a bit freaky! Such a good day though and we even went and bought our own snorkels so we can go without a tour next time :D

The next day we moved onto a tiny village called Bacalar on the edge of a lagoon. It was beautiful there, with reeds and birds and Palapas hut piers, although we did have a scare when we turned up and they had no rooms despite us booking one! Luckily the most helpful/lovely man ever came to our rescue (as he was Mexican and could speak Spanish) and sorted it out. We ended up going to dinner with him and a Canadian couple that night too. The next day we had the biggest meal ever for about £3 each, Liam nearly couldn't finish it, and then went to see Bacalar's Fort which was built to fend off Pirates! It was awesome because this area was where real British pirate ships would come in from the Carribbean and sack the town and steal all its wealth, its sounds geeky but the museum about it was pretty kwl :)

 

On halloween, after a breakfast of bananas and cookies by the lagoon, we went to town where the ATM machine SWALLOWED LIAMS CARD!! We had a bit of a panic but once again Fernando came to the rescue and called the spanish bank. We've ended up having to have a new one sent (via my mum) to the British Embassy in Guatelmala. Its the first major thing to go wrong on our trip, very glad it got sorted! After that we decided to chill out and go for a kayak. We went all the way across the lagoon and rowed between the mangroves with the wildlife and had a paddle and followed the river that the priates came down. It was really nice and so quiet with just the two of us, and we watched another beautiful sunset over the water :) We also went to a halloween celebration in the plaza which had Day of the Dead artwork around the square and it was kinda creepy but beautiful. That night we stayed in a campervan in the garden which was pretty kwl too.

Thursday was travel day and it was 7 hours to our next destination. We had orginally planned to go by overnight bus but Fernando very kindly offered to drive us all the way as he was going in that direction anyway!! Was so much nicer than the bus and saved us a fortune so if your reading this Fernando, thank you again! First we stopped at our last ever cenote (as it is only that part of mexico that has them) which was a huge open air one where we had a quick swim, then set off. We learnt a lot about Mexico and some Spanish on the journey which was awesome,
although the roads to Palenque are AWEFUL! We have moved into a different state now too; Chiapas, which is actually very different and mountain-y. After a goodbye drink with Fernando and a noisey hotel rooms sleep, we woke up on the Day of the Dead! We changed to a lovely hostel on the edge of town in the jungle and skyped home which was nice :) Liam also saw how to make the palapas so is now determinded to do one when we have a house lol. We then went off to see what the town was doing for Día de Muetos. In the main plaza there were shrines up all around to dead family members with their favorite food and drink, and scary masks everywhere and music in the square. It was rele kwl, if a bit creepy, and we sat all night watching and eating helado and fried bananas which are really yummy!

Finally, on the Saturday we decided to use the hostels laundry service to wash our clothes, thinking it would be fine as it was the one in the hostel, and that was the biggest mistake EVER! When we got our clothes back everything was ORANGE!! We had even separated things into white and colours for them but they were all covered in orange stains and I was so upset, we complained and they re-washed the worst things but it didn't really help, so im pretty pissed off tbh, tho there is nothing we can do now :(

So it has been a busy week with some things that have been amazing, although its the first week a lot seems to have gone wrong and its kinda bummed us out a bit. But its a new week soon so hopefully less will mess up. Although we are planning on going to a very remote Mayan village tribe and cross the Guatamalan border so we'll wait and see!

Love to all,
Beth and Liam

4: Tullum - Mexico

Days 8-13: Tulum's Beaches and Maya Ruins, Snorkeling and Kayaking
Beth, Written 26/10/12

Hola from Tulum, a lovely little beach town 3 hours down the coast from Cancun. Well the town is not so lovely but the beach is, quite like Cancun really! We are staying in a hostel that is by far the most hippy-ish place we have stayed in and even has a resident old hippy called 'rain-water-bob'- need I say more?!

We spent the first few days here on the beach relaxing and swimming (even Liam!), it is a beautiful white-sand beach again and much quieter than Isla Mujeres so we prefer it :) We have come to the conclusion that we kinda tried to do a lot in one week last week and that we can't keep up that pace, so we're staying here for a bit to ground ourselves. It was such a rushed last few weeks in UK that we didn't really have time to prepare ourselves for coming away and all we are trying to do, so we're taking a bit of Mexican me-time to figure it all out, and here is a great place to do it :)

 

 

Tuesday we went to see Tulum's Maya Ruins, which is the main reason we came here. These are different from the others as they are the only ones bulit on cliffs-tops and so they make for stunning views. You can really see the changes in architecture between the different time periods of the Mayans as these are smaller, less ornate and built from different stone, none-the-less still impressive and beautiful :) The view from the top over the sea really was amazing though and we loved wandering around the sight.

 

Most nights we have either hand scrubbed our washing in a bowl (!!!) or been chatting to people in the hostel, got talking to a guy who makes hammocks, one who gave us salsa lessons and people from ALL over the world :) One night we bothered to make meatballs from scratch for 2 hours, only to find the next day someone had stolen them from the fridge! Damn hippies!The next morning I woke up with SHIT LOADS of bites! I counted 42 in total and Liam had NONE! Something must have got in my sleepsheet and gone crazy, I spent the whole day constantly itching, arghhh! We spent some time in the hammocks that day and went to the beach quite late at night, when a storm blew over and it started to rain for the first time since we got here! It was alrite though and warm and being on the beach makes everything seem nice lol. The storm was over the ocean and we watched the lightening hit the sea and it was quite a thing to witness, I heard the UK had some snow!? Haha :D

The Friday we decided to try snorkeling for the first time, was SO excited! We went to a nature reserve called the Sian Ka'an biosphere with a man who lived there (René), he had a pretty sweet life doing this all day! We had to sea kayak out to the coral reef and we were both a bit scared at first, but after 5 minutes were having the BEST time and wondering how we hadn't done this before! Due to the storm the water was sandy and visibility wasn't great, but it was amazing to be snorkeling around the reef and I saw the most beautiful/strange corals and brightly coloured/weird fish and so many new things, I was like a little kid! I even dived to the bottom to get a closer look :) After learning about corals for years seeing one for real was incredible! Liam was initially worried about all the swimming and sea-sickness but he loved it so much he didn't even think about any of that :D 






Back on shore we went to the lagoon, a very different environment again! Mangroves growing everywhere with so many huge birds and fish beneath you. We rowed miles (after sorting the logistics of being in a double kayak lol) out to an osprey nest, which was rele kwl to see, and even saw a crocodile too (great but scary when your in
 a little kayak!) We stayed until sunset which was beautiful to watch over the lagoon. It really was one of the best days we've had so far, and even got offered the chance to go back anytime to help with conservation there so will probably take him up on that!
 



That's really all we did in 6 days lol, its been rele good to sort of relax and we're ready to get on and see the world now =) We have a bit more planned for here before moving on to Bacalar next week! Still can't believe its only been 13 days.... :D

Will post about the rest soon,

Love Beth and Liam x x x x