tikal to mexico

I'm in Chiapas, Mexico!!!

Tikal was gorgeous. Before going there, I read that it was in the middle of the jungle but that didn't make much sense to me until I experienced it. It really is in the middle of nowhere. From the main entrance to the main plaza is about a 20 minute walk through a created path. The stuctures were amazing and climbing pyramids was thrilling (and frightening) but the coolest part for me was all the animals. I saw so many monkeys, turkeys, toucans and a handful of other birds that I don't know the names of...I was foolish though and did not have a good breakfast and was burned out by midday. I wish that I had stayed an extra day to go again because there is just so much to see there that I don't think a day visit did it justice. But Tikal is expensive ($20), though well worth the money. Besides, I had already purchased my ticket to Mexico by then.

The trip to Mexico was quite the adventure. As I said, Tikal is in the middle of nowhere, Guatemala so the minibus that I took rode horrible dirt roads for about 2 hours. And it was just farmland everywhere. No houses, no people, just land. The road ends at a river and from there, I took a speedboat to get to the Mexican border. It was fun. From there, another minibus but on a paved road (thank goodness!).

So I arrived to Palenque yesterday and am staying in the town of El Panchán, which is about 4 km out of town. It's a cool village with cabins set up throughout the jungle and am staying in a cute cabin that is costing me $8/night. Later today (after a good meal), I will head out to the ruins, spend one more night here and head to the Zapatista capital, San Cristóbal de las Casas, tomorrow morning.