Palenque`s hippy community

The bus ride from San Cristobal to Palenque took about 4-5 hours. The public buses are a really good way to get around Mexico. Cheap, very comfortable, clean, safe, friendly staff.

We got a taxi from the bus station to El Panchan which took 20 mins. The place is made up of lodges which are spread about in a tropical rainforest with a central dining area set up near the entrance.

These were the most amazing waterfalls I´ve seen anywhere in the world

After we´d got settled into our little hut we booked ourselves onto a trip out to see some of the local sights. We set out as a group to go and see a waterfall and a rock pool and we we´re, some Aztec jungle ruins then going on to see a series of waterfalls. The van that came to pick us up was tiny though. The 14 of us just about managed to squeeze in but there wasn´t room to swing a pasta spiral was we were loaded in. The journey between sites was about an hour and the heat was stifling in the back but we all just made the best of. I don´t understand people who pay money to go on holiday to moan about everything?

The sites waterfalls were spectacular and well worth the trip out. The first falls we went to see fell from about 150-200 foot up into a a crystal clear blue pool. The pool was surrounded by all these little caves and grottos that Jo and I spent some time exploring. It was like being in the advert for bounty chocolate or the timoti shampoo adverts. After here we went to the astounding ruins at Palenque and spent a couple of hours on a guided tour getting shown around. It was the only time that we´ve paid for a guide and it made all the difference. He explained what all the different temples were for how they were built and why they were eventually abandonded. We got some fantastic photos (see Jo´s blog for these though. I have better things to do than sitting for 40 minutes while 10 photos load up) of the surrounding area and temple complex.

From here our next, and last stop was the waterfalls and pools at Aguas Azules. These were the most amazing waterfalls I´ve seen anywhere in the world (you would love them Neil). The waterfalls cascade down all these steps from hundreds of feet up and at every level there are different sived pools you can swim in. some of the pools are really small and can fit 1-6 people in and seem to work like natures own jacuzzis. Some of the falls are natural water slides. We could´ve spent the full day just at this place, but it started to throw it down and the majority of people that we were with wanted to head off.

Every night we were at El Panchan we ate top grub and were entertained with live traditional music, belly dancers, fire dancers etc. We didn´t really get a chance to have a look around the town of Palenque because everything we needed was at the hippy place. If you are planning on staying here do make sure that you take a lot of bug spray, bug repellant, insect coils and a mosquito net. Be careful about putting your clothes on in the morning as one of the girls in our room found a massive scorpian in the toilet and they ilike to hide in, and under, stuff. Also if you´re going to the restaurant and having a few beers take a torch. On the way back from the bar one night one of the lads in our group fell straight into the river that runs throgh the site and was nearly followed by our Jo. There are the snakes and the howler monkeys as well but I won´t go on about them. It is the jungle after all.....