Palenque, Travel Diary

After a little more than four hours of travel, the bus took us to the town of Palenque. Perhaps it doesn't even deserve to be called a city but rather a "small village". In fact, it's a settlement carved out of the dense jungle, with a square hardly worth noting, whose only reason for being lies in the Maya ruins a few kilometres away. Having arrived at the bus station and collected our luggage, we went straight to negotiating the price of the taxi we'd need to go and check out some cheap guesthouses whose addresses we had obtained beforehand. In reality, the options were limited to two guesthouses, located opposite each other. As usual, the choice fell on the "cheapest" one, a word that rarely goes hand in hand with terms like comfortable, elegant and clean.

It was a very sad room with plaster falling to the floor, on which three beds had been placed as best they could, giving off a pungent smell of mould. The bathroom had no structure of its own, but consisted of a makeshift partition with the bedroom... the shower barely worked and the sink looked like it might detach from the wall at any moment. Just what we didn't need, especially considering that the short bus journey, probably with the help of the previous dinner, had seriously endangered the health of most of the "Return to the Zero Parallel" crew. Without naming names, suffice it to say that two thirds of our little group were forced to keep popping back and forth between the bed and the bathroom, thanks to a sudden and arrogant attack of diarrhoea.

The following day, thanks to the help of two little "pills", we were back on our feet to face the day. To be honest, we preferred to take a precautionary rest day. So we lazed about on the bed, going out now and then to get some cold drinks to combat a killer heat. In the late afternoon we reached the nearest tour agency to find out about timings and prices for a visit to the Maya ruins and the legendary Agua Azul waterfalls that everyone had told us about. Having gathered all the necessary information, we opted for a visit that packed everything into a single day, also because it allowed us to save a few pennies. Once the ticket was booked, we headed back to the guesthouse to take a shower and then go out for a bite to eat.

After a quick nap and having recovered our strength as best we could when the alarm went off, we were ready to face another day as tourists. The minibus we had booked was waiting for us outside the guesthouse; having climbed aboard we met our fellow adventurers, two Dutch people who were later joined by a Mexican family. A short journey retracing the road that had brought us to Palenque and here we were at the gates of the archaeological site located in the middle of the jungle. The driver had given us some information about the route within the ruins, mainly concerned with making sure we were punctual in meeting back at the car park at lunchtime. We had a good four hours to spend among pyramids, temples and squares that the Maya had skilfully built and that time had equally skilfully preserved, still making us today participants in the extraordinary culture of this people.

Having paid the entrance ticket, we unanimously decided not to use guides but to continue the visit on our own, also because the guide service on offer certainly couldn't be considered cheap. The spectacle you can admire while walking among these buildings is one of those you don't easily forget, also dictated by the setting in which these structures stand. We were in the middle of the most lush jungle made up of very tall trees and characterised by a humidity level that was nothing short of suffocating. Of course, out of all the places there were, these Maya just had to decide to settle right in the jungle!?! Climbing the very steep and very tall steps was progressively robbing us of years of life and litres of sweat, under the usual blazing sun that by nine in the morning was already scorching to say the least.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, about two thousand temples still remain hidden in the jungle waiting to be brought to light; the site nevertheless turned out to be of considerable size, which forced us to rush to respect the times agreed with the driver. After wandering through the corridors of a palace located at the entrance to the ancient city, we climbed a hill up to its summit where a temple still partially shrouded in dense vegetation stood. Following the signs along the route faithfully, we then found ourselves in the main square of the city, characterised by three enormous buildings facing each other. These were the inevitable temples and residences reserved for housing priests and people of high rank.

It's probably precisely because they were intended for "important" people that we gave up climbing them one by one, limiting ourselves to the tallest of the three, the one offering the best view over the entire city. Exhausted and thirsty, it was time to meet up with the driver, but not before a quick visit to the museum located at the exit of the site and an inevitable stop at the café for a healthy and always welcome coffee break. The driver was waiting for us in the car park, punctual as a Swiss watch; having loaded his passengers he set off again to reach the second objective of the day.

In just forty minutes we had reached the waterfalls of Mi Sol Ha (or something like that); here too the driver immediately worried about the meeting time. We were granted only about fifteen minutes, just enough time to get off the van and reach the centre of the waterfalls. It was in fact possible to slip between the wet rocks down to the point where the water, following the force of gravity, formed a lush and equally fascinating endless trail destined to then plunge with all its impetuosity into the pool below. Time is a tyrant but we knew the best was yet to come, so having taken our places in the vehicle again and closed the doors, we were back on the road towards the Agua Azul waterfalls.

This time the journey was longer but decidedly enchanting, since from the window you could admire green hills and valleys stretching as far as the eye could see, where unchecked vegetation and cows reigned supreme. The moment we had been waiting for since the morning had arrived: a regenerating dip in the famous and crystal-clear Agua Azul waterfalls; we barely had time to park before our feet were already in the water. Unfortunately, like any self-respecting tourist spot, it was crowded with a tide of people, but on the driver's advice we pushed further north to a point where most tourists didn't venture. The van man was absolutely right; at that point the water was calmer and it was easier to dive in, and we didn't need to be told twice, also because, after a day spent walking under the sun, we certainly didn't smell of rose water.

A few minutes in the water were enough and we were like new; having climbed back out we dried off and comfortably settled on a bench to enjoy the cool and the shade offered by the majestic trees lining the waterfalls. To our great displeasure, since we had found perfect peace, we realised it was time to head off, and having left the benches we made our way back down the waterfalls to the car park, but not before a stop for the usual refreshment. Back in the minibus, though the departure wasn't immediate due to the lateness of some members of the group who, strange as it may seem, weren't us. With a bit of delay the descent towards Palenque began, just enough time to reach the guesthouse and discover that the promise the lady had made us of a shower on our return was nothing short of unachievable (given the state of the bathroom).

Having shouldered our backpacks we headed to the station again because, a few minutes later, the bus that would take us this time to Merida was departing.