We made it to our 14th Mexican state – Chiapas! I have re-united with my wife M who spent the last week back in Seattle, and I am very happy to be back to our normal “couple traveling” instead of solo traveling. I really prefer being able to share everything again with her. This includes the fun adventures but also the mundane “chores” part of traveling. I have a head start on being acclimated to the hot and humid Mexico weather after traveling through Tabasco without M. It is winter, but this part of Mexico always seems to be a bit muggy and takes a bit of getting used to. We have learned that we need air conditioning and pools and this will be our last accommodation without a beach or pool until we return home for Xmas.
My parents visited Palenque on their Mexico road trip in 1967 so it has been on my bucket list for a while. The Mayan ruins in the middle of a mountainous jungle is quite a site. It reminds us of the Tikal ruins in Guatemala which actually isn’t that far from here. As usual, I enjoyed seeing the difference between my parents 1967 photos and ours from 2024. They don’t let you climb all the temples like my Dad did in 1967 but I was able to match up some of the photos. There has been some excavation and reconstruction in the last 57 years but the site is still 90 percent still covered by jungle.
After seeing the big temples we found a trail through some of the unexcavated ruins and along a jungle stream. It was really cool being almost alone in this surreal jungle atmosphere where Mayans lived over a thousand years ago. We followed the trail down to the museum where we could see some of the treasures that they have found in the ruins.
Palenque is famous for the Mayan ruin site but it is also close to some wonderful waterfalls. The day after our ruins trip, we took a waterfall tour to see 2 of the best. The first stop was the Misol Ha waterfall. This one has a ledge formed into the rock so you can walk behind the waterfalls. Really cool!! Yes, I have seen the “back side of water” at the Disneyland Jungle Cruise but this was a bit more real. It was also nice to walk through the mist on this very hot day.
The next waterfalls on our tour was the famous Agua Azul. It is a series of mineral deposited terraces that were really impressive. We have been to a lot of waterfalls all around the world and this was definitely one of the best. We walked up stream past several sets of the pillowy waterfalls until we found a place where they allowed you to swim. The cool water plunge was very much appreciated in the afternoon heat.
We chose to stay 5 nights in the small town of Palenque which was way more time than we needed. Many people were only staying 1 or 2 nights and doing the ruins and waterfalls on the same day. But, we like slowing down a bit, and small Mexican towns have their charm. It is a bit difficult to find restaurants that serve wine, but eating like the locals is part of the appeal. We didn’t find too many other attractions around so we were able to spend some time travel planning and dreaming of 2025. We are really saddened by the US elections, and even more motivated to spend our future travel time in different countries. Our next stop in our Mexican Mayan adventure – Campeche!!