TO PALENQUE

Arriving in Palenque we were confronted by two aspects of Mexican life from the outset.  Apparently 24^th October is United Nations Day and the local infants were being lined up in the street for a celebratory parade.  Arranged in cohorts to represent the continents, each child carried a flag to represent the various countries and various banners proclaiming peace and love. 

All except the UK that is; the only union jacks I could see were part of the Australian and New Zealand flags.  As they processed around the Zocalo they passed an army truck with a machine gun mounted on the front which contained soldiers all carrying automatic rifles. 

Close by, were two different classes of police, also armed to the teeth.  I started to photograph them but got some dirty looks and decided it would be sensible not to upset a man with a machine gun.

The journey here was a somewhat hair-raising affair given the high number of hairpin bends with switchbacks thrown in as well as the numerous speed bumps that seem to guard all Mexican villages as well as those placed more randomly in the road.  This is perhaps unfair; they are there to slow vehicles down on these massively winding roads.  The vegetation seemed to change almost as soon as we left San Cristobal, with trees growing higher and more densely and soon we were clearly in Rainforest.  This is a significant change after some 6 weeks in desert or semi-desert.  Before long the small clearings were hosting banana and plantain crops, and by the time we reached Palenque, coconuts and oil palm were growing.  I also thought I saw sugar cane but this could be my imagination running away.  In many of the villages there were turkeys picking around in the dust along with the chickens; fine specimens some of them!  Although the forest was growing thickly in most places considerable clearance was in progress and from time to time, fires were still burning.

Our transport was a Mauricio organised upgrade that, being a private hire would give us the chance to visit two waterfalls on the way.  The public bus service would not be so accommodating.  The first stop was the ‘Cascades de Agua Azul’ – Blue Water - where a series of rapids made for attractive scenery and provided the opportunity for swimming that most of us took.

The path by the river was closed in by trees and if it weren’t for the many food and tourist directed stalls, one might imagine oneself to be in the forest.  The weather has been very rainy recently so we were lucky that the water had cleared sufficiently to make it evident that the name was appropriate.  The next one was Misol-Ha, an impressive smallish fall which it was possible to walk right behind. 

It was also possible to swim there but we weren’t able to as the hire for the bus ran out at five o’ clock.   Pity the driver who then had to make his way back to San Cristobal!

The Hotel Shalom proved to be basic in the sense that it provided only rooms and although smallish the beds were comfortable, the fan fanned and the shower emitted so much hot water that the cold had to be used as well.  This was a first!