PALENQUE
and
Chiapas
Palenque is one of the most beautiful Maya ruins in Mexico. When I am there,
I like to stay at the Mayabel. If you know anyone who has ever been there, they probably have stayed there too, as it is really a fun place to stay on the
"shoe-string budget" tourist's route. It is the closest place to stay near the ruins, walking distance by the road. It's also close enough to sneak in through the jungle at night, which is what many like to do, but I cannot recommend it! There is also a new place to stay just a bit further down the road I haven't tried yet, but has received rave reviews by everyone I know who has been there. Not sure, but I think the name of it is El Pan Chan. Both of these places have nice restaurants, and cost about $3 a night to camp or hang up your hamaca in a palapa. One of the best things about these places is being able to meet cool people from all around the world who visit there.
The ruins of Palenque extend for a long ways out into the jungle, much more than most tourists ever see in the main "downtown" area. All throughout the area are many streams with beautiful waterfalls. This makes for some great fun exploring, but really, unless you want to go off hiking in the jungle, you can see all of it in one day.
Nice thing about this place though, is that it is nicely centrally located for taking other day trips to see other places on the bus. About two hours away, Cascadas de Agua Azul is spectacular - the picture on the top of this page does not do it justice. The water there is an amazing color of blue if you go at the right time; if you go after some heavy rains, you will see "cascadas de agua cafe" instead. About one hour away in the same direction is Misol Ha, another beautiful waterfall, with a cave up on the side of the hill. When the water isn't too high, you can climb up into it, through a narrow passageway, into a large chamber that has another waterfall inside it.
Depending on the political situation at the time, you may want to take a few longer trips. San Cristobal de las Casas, where the Zapatistas first took over several years ago, is a beautiful Spanish colonial city up high in the mountains about four hours away. A bit closer, near Ocosingo are the ruins of Tonina, and if you have the time and money a trip to Yaxchilan and Bonampak would be a great thing to do. These last two are way out in the Lacondon Rain Forest, and require a long trip of about 8 hours into the jungle in a 4-wheel drive, and then a trip by boat to get to Yaxchilan. But this area is the Zapatista's strong hold, and it may not be possible to go out there if there has been any recent action out there. If you do make it there, it is gonna be quite an adventure anyway!
Also, given the two weeks we are planning to be there, you might like to take a trip to the nearby town of Villa Hermosa for Olmec ruins, or even make a longer trip up into the Yucatan for a few days.
You can find out more info by entering "palenque" in the search engine below. Also you can try "misol ha", "agua azul", etc., and do a little surfing around on a few sites and get a whole lot more.
All this, and not even a single mention of the "honguitos" there!!!
