I heeded my fellow backpacker’s warnings about the night buses through the north eastern Chiapas region (I know I already did a night bus and sure it would have been fine but when you hear first accounts of stories you learn along the way), and opted for an early 6:00am bus to get to Palenque which was a leisurely 9 hours away. I’m lucky to have time on my side so spending a day on the bus was not a big deal. The advice given by other travellers is absolutely invaluable, way better than any guide book. You meet people at breakfast that have just arrived from the other direction and they give you the tips on where to stay or not to stay, how to get around for cheap, where to get cheap tacos, all the most important things when on budget and you are trying to save the equivalent of a couple of bucks. It all adds up is my motto everyday!

So advice taken for Palenque is to not stay in the town of Palenque but a small jungle village called El Panchan about 20 minutes by colectivo. Here you can stay in your own cabana right in the jungle for only $100 pesos and easily walk to the ruins from there. I’m sold straight away at the thought of having a double bed and my own space for a night or 2. So Jungle Palace had these cute little cabanas right on the river (and by river I mean stagnant stream crawling with bugs) with mosquito nets for windows and I could lie on my bed and look out into the jungle. It was amazing hearing the howler monkeys and birds and there were no holes in the netting so I felt safe from any bugs!

There isn’t much going on in the jungle except for one place called Don Muchos where they always have live music and a fire show and even one night an acroyoga show. With the only supermarket back in Palenque and no facilities to cook even if I wanted to it was a big breakfast and dinner there for the next 3 nights. And of course some beers as met back up with some peeps from SC. The humidity here in the jungle was pretty next level so we decided to head to Roberto Barrios. This is a small indigenous town about 1 hour away and home to some of the most amazing cascades I’ve ever seen. Your entry fee also goes back into the community and not just the park which is choice! From one big blue pool there are so many pools and little tracks to explore to find your own secluded area. Natural slides down into another pool saw us ripping our togs and bums but the bruises were worth the fun of making big splashes.

have just figured out how to put video 🙂

Ok so the main reason for staying a few nights in the jungle is to visit the famous Palenque Mayan Ruins, so I called it an early night at Don Muchos ready to kick off the next day with an early start to beat the crowds and the sun. Of course I have not created much urgency during this trip and with an 11am checkout I found myself only getting some breakfast (at Don Muchos once again) at about 11am. I love when I make decisions that change the day. By being late I ended up talking with this guy Alex from Colorado who actually lives in Te Anau and for the last few years been trapping Stoats. Small world huh?! So in the heat of the mid afternoon sun we went on a mission to explore the ruins. Taking our time we clambered over the ruins and I really enjoyed the contrast of these ruins compared to Teotihuacan in Mexico City. Exploring the many jungle tracks to find the crumbling structures and was cool seeing the men still working on excavating certain parts of them.

After a couple of hours we were feeling the effects of the sun and Alex was told off for picking up that massive leaf (promise it was already broken off) so we headed out and grabbed a refreshing coconut and went exploring along some other jungle paths to find somewhere for a cool dip. Led off the path by the sound of the howler monkeys which we didn’t find we found a stream and jumped in. So refreshing!!

Made it back to the hostel and of course one more meal at Don Muchos was on the cards, I mean it’d be rude not to. I had also gone against previous advice and booked a night bus to Merida. Both stories that first scared me I believe there was not a lot of commonsense involved. Like of course your passport and wallet will get stolen from your money belt if you are not ‘wearing’ your money belt. And rule number 1 of night buses is never put anything of value in the overhead compartment, especially DSLR cameras and laptops, both of which were nicked. Can happen anywhere!

Wish me luck x