Today we headed via bus to Palanque . We made a day out of it and hired a private small bus to take us there allowing us to stop at a few sites on the way. This included Agua Azul and Misol- Ha . Initially I was like why the heck are we stoping at some lame waterfalls .. But I must say I was quite Impressed . They were massive and beautiful ! The first waterfall Agua Azul we actually got to swim there. I tried some local fruit including drinking and eating a coconut . It was soo good.
I must say the bus ride was not so pleasant. Our tour guide had informed us the previous day that the ride would be mostly on a mountain and that we would likely get motion sickness in the bus. I said to myself hell no I'll be right . But yes I got sick to start the trip , thankfully not enough to make me vomit .
We arrived in Palenque at around 6 pm . Palenque is a small town of only 43,000 people . It is mainly jungle area and is famous for its ancient Maya temple ruins. Our accommodation / lodging is in the middle of a jungle which is so cool. While the rooms are relatively s*** house (including having a cold shower with hardly any pressure and a bed that is as flat as an iron) I do thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere here . It has it's own bar and a restaurant . The restaurant has live music every night . Now when I was in Oaxaca I asked our tour guide about whether she had seen any groups go through that experienced really bad food poisoning . She mentioned a smaller tour group of 9 people and 7 of them getting really sick. One of them actually ended up going to hospital . She wasn't going to tell me where it was but I found out when someone else guessed that It was good ol Palenque and at the very restaurant we would be eating at for the next two days. Good times !
I guess it didn't stop me from eating there though cause when u gotta eat , you gotta eat . My first meal there tonight was a pizza . Vegetarian mind you. And so far so good I'm alive no vomiting and no diarrhoea. Woo hoo !
Before I go to bed let me just say that mosquito repellant with DEET in it .. Worst smell EVER! And like my guide said your basically rubbing poison into your skin. Hmmm malaria or poison into skin ... Guess poison will win this time I don't want malaria .