San Cristobal was next on the list, this seemed to be the destination that most people headed to next, at some point, it had great reviews so we thought we´d check it out. We took a 1st class night bus as it was a 13hr journey, this saved on accomodation for the night and actually is the only way to do these big journeys. With a bag of treats to see us through, we boarded the bus and of we went into the night, soon to awake in our new exciting destination, and even though you get there a bit tired and groggy, this soon lifts, helped by the excitement and buzz of being somewhere new, and not being able to wait to explore.
We had heard San Cristobal was cold as it was up in the mountains, but on arrival at 11am seemed nice and warm, the cold was to come later, in the afternoons and evenings, ooh after 3 months of summer sunshine and hot hot heat, my little body doesn´t feel equipped for for the drop in temperature - I don´t know how I will ever adjust to living back in cold climates of the UK eek!!
After 1 night in a sweet, but cold hotel, we explored and discovered these great apartments which over looked the whole city, we´d have our own terrace too, the price was high, well, for our budgets anyway, (actually half the price of a travel lodge in England!) but we decided this was too great to pass up so treated our selves and ended up staying 3 nights. We cooked ourselves spicy pasta in our cute little kitchen, ate frsh fruit and pastries for breakfast in the warm morning sun on our private terrace and curled up and watched films in bed in the evening, sipping on good wine, ahh bliss!! Its so lovely to have a base like this for a few days, this is something I miss a bit, my things spread around me, having complete privacy, being able to go to the supermarket and then cook a lovely meal in my own kitchen.
There was some kind of festival happening over the weekend we were there and the main sq was filled with a huge stage and live music and djs playing into the night. One evening we happened to bump into Craig again, randomly, so the 3 of us eneded up enjoying a few drinks together inthis funky little bar, shared some great food and danced in the main sq till nearly 1am.
Me and Age have this habbit of being able to bumble around places for days without actually planning anything or really seeing all of the sights, so we decided it was about time to go an explore behond the confines of the city and see what else was there. An amazing trip to a Canyon followed, (again the pictures will be posted shortly when Age wakes up and shows me how) there we were at miday on a Wednesday flying up this Huge incredible canyon, in a speed boat, spotting crocadiles, monkeys and pelicans on the way, what a wonderful life!! It was such a fantastic sight, and I had been really sick (food poisoning I think) earlier in the night but this re charged me and put the fresh air back in my sails horray!
We ended up staying in San C a bit longer, (not in the nice apartment but a cheapy, and bit smelly hostel) than expected due to us both being sick, but now that was all out of our system it was time to head on to Palenque and absorb ourselves in Mayan culture.
I had heard about a super place to stay called El Panchan nr Palenque, from a mexican guy id met in Juayua El Salvador, it was in the jungle, I wanted to find this place. After a couple of nights in town, we headed out to the jungle and found El Panchan, a fantastic, peaceful, calm place consisting of little groups of cabins, a great italian-mexican restaurant and not much else. Our cabins were run my Margarita, a lovely chatty lady who kept very spic and span cabins and rooms. Once settled, all you could hear was the buzz of the jungle insects, trickling water from the nearby river and the distant call of monkeys and gheckos, bloomin brilliant and tranquill!
So so lovely to enjoy really good home made pasta, by candle light, listening to local bands as we people watch and chat about our days exploring.
I´ll tell you more about the ruins later, but now, breakfast beckons and a stroll by the sea front, as weve moved on to a place called Campeche, a small colonial town by the sea on the mexican gulf coast in the Yucatan, its a complete mixture of very old town, 80´s beach front and pastel colours, and some slightly modern buildings thrown into the mix.
Hasta luego amigos xxxx
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