Campeche to Palenque via Edzná

This post is about yesterday - we got in about 8 p.m. last night and I was just exhausted - never known anything like it - just went straight to bed, no dinner!

So, our hotel is VERY nice - although I barely noticed last night. It is set on the edge of a jungle - humid! And I could hear animal noises during the night ... howler monkeys.

Yesterday was WAY too long. We went to the ruins at Edzná near Campeche (60 kms) when we were picked up yesterday by (another!) Jorge, PLUS a driver (Julio) who turned out to be very competent. The roads were not autopistas today and they were good in the main but very busy: lots of trucks.

Edzná was very pleasant as there was almost no-one else there when we arrived at 9 a.m. It was the perfect time of day and we had the place pretty much to ourselves; perfect time of year too (as we keep being told - winter - best time to visit Mexico: lower temperatures, lower humidity, dry).

But we are just about 'over' Mayan ruins! These ones are from the Classic period so are earlier than Chichén Itzá. It is a huge Acroplis that housed 70,000 Maya. The massive Five-Storey Building (as it is known) is the centrepiece along with the usual array of limestone and stucco temples, ball-court. A complex network of canals was used to transport goods and people and to defend them from outside attack.

We leave Edzná after a thorough tour of the site - about 11:30 a.m.

We have a long drive now to Isla Aguada.

We pass through small villages, one with a fair being set up (tomorrow - 2 February - is the celebration in honour of the Virgin of Candelaria (aka Candelmas) and in some parts of Mexico is a major fiesta). There are papaya, mango and sugar cane plantations - the soil is good here and there is irrigation.

We arrive at the Gulf of Mexico: nice beaches, very calm water, lots of palm trees.

We stop at Champotón for gas and a quick roadside lunch of fresh seafood at a cocteleria: shrimp, crab with chopped onion, ketchup, avocado, child peppers. Vendors alongside the road were selling cocos frios in the shells. A big river lined with mangroves enters the sea here. My Friend had his WITHOUT the beer! He was looking pretty dubious for some reason (worried about getting sick???) even though he loves seafood. Very spicy (picante)!

Great spot - took a boat out onto the Laguna de Termino and saw dolphins; the boat also took us out to an island with masses of birds. Frankly, we could have done without this - we have seen dolphins before and it was nice but we would have been better having a lovely lunch and drink on the very pretty beach and just having 'time out'. And without someone to tell us a bit more about the birds, the trip to the island was somewhat pointless also. And it all just made it too long a day. 

Another 3 hours (285 kms) to Palenque: a very busy road, lots of roadworks. Often a vehicle is on the wrong side of the centre line or poorly lit - it is lucky there is a very wide sealed shoulder. Wonderful sunset.

Some time after, we pass the state border from Campeche to Tabasco over a major river (I think this is the Rio Usumacinta which is 1000 kms long; it is named after the howler monkey and serves as the border between Mexico and Guatemala; many refugees crossed this in the 1980s from Guatemala) - it is dark now; nearly 6:30 p.m.

We cross the same river later and we pass through a ridiculously complicated state border going from Tabasco to Chiapas. At last we arrive in Palenque about 8 p.m. and change money.