Jungle fever!

Broadcasting semi-live from the overgrown depths of the Chiapas jungly/rainforesty bit!

Here we are in Palenque, just about to head off to San Cristobal de las Casas after a thoroughly enjoyable 2 day stay. We rented a cabaña just outside the entrance to the Palenque forest/park/ruins in a place called El Panchan - a group of cool little thatched cabins in the middle of the jungle with a great set of restaurants and bars in the middle. Our cabaña was part of the Jungle Palace group, and was called Toronja, which babelfish tells me means grapefruit. Described by the awesome Lonely Planet Mexico book as "rudimentary", it was a square room with a bed, a thatched roof and mosquito screens all the way round. Initial bug worries were soon dispelled, and, having patched a couple of holes with gaffer tape, we had a great time there. The best bits were on Thursday night, when a super heavy rain came down for hours, and we were snuggled in our cabin in our silk sleeping bag liner (luxury!) and not a care in the world.

Anyway, we´re here for the Palenque ruins, and they are super, super impressive. We got up nice and early on Friday to avoid the heat and the busloads of tourists, and were viewing our first ruined, overgrown temple at about 08.30 yesterday. It´s a majestic site, really nicely preserved, with a decent balance of super-crumbly/taken over by the jungle/imposing edifice type ruins.

Also, and this was Deb´s favourite bit, they had real avocado and lime trees in there, one of which dropped a lime for her - very generous, thank you very much!

Debs also spotted some sort of large rodent creeping around in the bush, and later, what I think was a squirrel, but she is convinced was a tiny monkey: "I even saw its little face!"

Just in case of any attacks by wildlife, Ben demonstrated his defensive technique:


We had an awesome time here, and are really starting to feel comfortable being on the road and doing the whole travelling thing, although we´re avoiding the hordes of dreadlocked gap year public school kids like the plague ;-)

OK, time to catch a bus. Seeya!


Ben

P.S. Old joke:

Q: Why did the monkey get lost?
A: Because Jungle is massive!

Older folks may not understand this one. Er... young people too.