Ruins in the Jungle
From Rich in the Americas! in Palenque, Mexico on Feb 25 '06
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Headed to El Panchan, which is a 'hippy hangout in the jungle'. It's out of town but close to the ruins and it supposedly a better place to stay than in town. El Panchan is a group of cabanas centred around a restaurant (Don Muchos). Maragarita and Ed's, Rakshita's, Chato's and Jungle Palace are all right next to each other. The are other places to stay up and down and over the road. When we arrived there was no water for some reason. We paid 120 peso for a twin room with bathroom at Jungle Palace (the Jungle bit is accurate, but I have my doubts about the use of the word 'Palace'). Still, at 60 peso each you can't complain.
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Still feeling very rough, I went for a drink in Don Muchos (not bad prices, but bad for someone a budget). There are about 3 tour agencies next to the restaurant all offering exactly the same tours at (probably) the same prices. Booked a tour to Misol-Ha, Agua Azul and Agua Clara for the next day.
Misol-Ha is the place were Predator was filmed and is a decent sized waterfall and a cave with another waterfall in it. It's pretty good but mainly just because of the Predator connection.
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Agua Clara (Clear Water) is a big river/lake thing with a rope bridge across. Seeing as it had rained for the past day and night, the water was anything but Clear. Not the most exciting of places.
Agua Azul (Blue Water) is a series of waterfalls that look stunning if they're blue but when it's rained and turned the water brown, they're just OK. You can walk a long way up the waterfalls and there are lookout points. Not bad, but better with good weather.
The next day we got up early and went to the ruins. Got a collectivo for 10 peso each which drops you off at the main entrance. Wanted to avoid all the tour groups but they all seem to be able to beat us there for some reason. Spent about 4 hours walking around the ruins, which are pretty interesting and the jungle setting makes them more so. It's damn hot and humid so climbing up and down the things is pretty tiring. Having the jungle mist hanging around some of the buildings would have added to the experience. We walked from the main entrance to the minor entrance near the museum and the went to the musuem, which is interesting and has most of the signs in English too.
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