Jungle Livin'

I am at an internet cafe in the town of Palenque getting some internet time and stalking up on sugar. I have been so addicted to sugar in Mexico. They have little treats all over and I just can't say no to 5 peso homemade donuts on the street. Palenque is a pretty big town with the basic Mexican requirements for a town. Giant markets! -just like we have the Safeway, and whenever you find a giant market there is always a farmer's market type situation in the vicinity with more local produce and all the necessities for everyday living, so I usually go to the mercados instead. I bought avocados and habeneros and cilantro for my guacamole tomorrow! Anyways, Palenque! And El Panchan! I am staying in a small village , El Panchan. Its at the entrance to the national park where the Palenque archeological site is. I have a sweet deal. My first day here I met an ex'pat, Steve, who offered me a space at his house for free as long as I cook. I had a room to myself until Anna joined the party, now Anna and I are sharing. Its cool and takes the pressure off having to cook every meal plus she is easy to be around. she set her tent up in the room which takes up most the space which is kinda annoying since i like to organize and clean and the tent doesn't allow for that. The room is technically outdoors so there's a bit of a mosquito situation, i light incense or coverup so that seems to work. Anna is riding her bicycle from Alaska to Argentina, has been on the road for 1.5 years, and that's just this trip. Honestly, I'm envious. It makes me want to go home and get my bike! Don't worry, Mom, I'm not going to.

My day today consisted of making hotcakes for Steve and Anna. Anna made me coffee- Yes, I am drinking coffee now too! AH! Then I showered over the river at the canbaña lodge, they have great showers with hot water. My walk to town took a long time, its over 4 kilometers and its not a simple path, lots of pulling over for cars to pass or stopping to take photos of weird ants and whatnots. I got a bit lost in town but found the internet!

I will now go back in time to when I left Campeche, on the 26th.

I wanted to go to Palenque but I read to bus times wrong and turned out I couldn't get there unless I waited 10 hours in Campeche and then arrived at 3am or something so instead I chose a destination on the list that wasn't too expensive to get to- Villahermosa! I got on the bus 1 hour later after eating huevos motuleños across the street. I love huevos motuleños, I will make them for you when I get home. I didn't even know where in Mexico Villahermosa was when getting on the bus. Turned out it was 7 hours away! I got in at 9pm and walked around until I found a hotel for cheap. I put my stuff down and went to the center of town where I watched a salsa band, ate flan and drank coffee. Then wandered around town a bit to find places I'd like to see the next day since I had a bus toPalenque at 1pm and wouldn't have much time in Villahermosa. I gathered its a big town with cowboys and typical Mexican life that you think of when thinking what Mexico is like, definitely different than the Carribean. Lots of cowboy boots and big belt buckles holding in bear bellies. Hot sauce was for sale in most shopes, Villahermosa is in Tobasco!

It was only a 2 hour bus ride to Palenque. I spent my first night in El Panchan, the tourist town close to the ruins, at Jungle Palace. Cabañas on a river! So wonderful. I got my barings and then ended up eating dinner with a Panamanian dude who travels around selling his jewelry. That night was interesting, talked to people from El Salvador and Guatemala and spent a lot of time writing in my journal or just being alone.
The next morning my waiter at the local restaraunt, Walter, asked if I want to go with him to his friends house for the night and next day because it was his day off tomorrow. It sounded rather strange that he'd ask me but I was interested so I agreed to meet him when he got off work at 3pm. We go to Walter's house in Palenque first and then drive 2 hours farther into the junglely farm towns to a place called Palestina.

Palestina has 20,000 people but live in a farming lifestyle. Most homes have pigs, chickens, geese, dogs, maybe a cow or 2 and some veges.  The house I stayed at didn't have cows or very many planted veges. I don't know anyones' name from Palestina! There was grandmother, probably 50-55, who has 9 children. 5 boys, 4 girls and then tons of kids from there. It was difficult to keep straight. They were so welcoming and fun. Always laughing together at something someone said or did. Oh, best part! On our drive we came across a armadillo that was recently killed by a car so Modestar (Walter's Friend who was driving) uturned to check it out. Turns out he wanted to take it home. So into a plastic bag the armadillo goes and first thing when we get to the house...prep the armadillo for grilling! That night consisted of sitting around the fire with the roasting armadillo. The next days food....armadillo. I had a great time but towards the end of the second day I was eager to get out...I ate very little food while there (tortillas and vege soup) and was getting frustrated trying to communicate. I just didn't want to talk or explain myself but they kept asking questions and speaking in Spanish and expecting me to unerstand and respond. There were times I just wanted to say, ¨Stop talking,we can't communicate!¨ and walk away. Ofcourse I did not do that, I already offended them enough by not eating the armadillo.  Walter was the only one drinking tequila that night and got super drunk where he threw up all over and almost fell in the fire. Nice.

The next morning I woke late, there was nothing going on...besides the tortilla maker on the other side of my head. We got a ride to some waterfalls from Modestar. So beautiful. Walter and I were, unforntuntately, the only ones there. That was rather awkward, we ate lots of oranges and I did a lot of walking around to get away from him. The latinos!! We went back to the farm house and chilled with the family for a bit until Modestar got home from work. Then 8 of us, Modestar has 4 children and his ¨big wife¨ drive about 1 mile, traveling at no more than 5 mph to a protected lagoon undergoing restoration. It was a lovely spot but by that time I just needed to be alone so it dragged on...eating the armadillo with the lemonade, swimming, yadda.

I got back to El Panchan around 9pm that day and went to Steve's to check out that situation. His offer was still open so I made a home there and we cleaned out my room a bit. Steve and I ended up talking until pretty late in the night. Steve is an interesting person, he has a sense of humor so that makes up for some of what he says. He is a bit crazy (his addiction to his ¨friends¨on Fox News, is 1 example), from living in the jungle alone for 10 years and various other stories, libertarian type personality.  But for some reason we get along and have some great dicussions about topics from Mexicans owning internet cafes to stem cell research to the music of Bach.

I went hiking around the jungle the other day to find some waterfalls Steve told me about. And as usual, its difficult to avoid seeing someone you know or meeting a local who wants to show you around. I entered the park the back way so I didn't have to pay admission and see Raul driving home from work, he's a tourguide in the ruins. Raul tells me he will show me the waterfalls and a trail to the ruins from the jungle. We end up hiking for a couple hours together until we reached the ruins where I explored alone.  And I got in the ruins for free too. Whew, I'm saving loads of money right now!

Its been pretty relaxed at El Panchan. Steve puts on  a movie most nights. I am reading a fun book; something like,The unforuntate event of the dog at night...that's not it at all I'll write the real name later. Oh the rain! The night I returned from Palestina the rain started and did not stop for 30 hours. It was a downpour constantly. The people staying in cabañas had to leave because water was up to their beds. The whole town was flooded for hours and it took at least a day for the trails to be visable again. I thought it was rather fun. I put on my poncho and walked around, even walked with Pacheca...Steve's dog. She's so sweet but has no manners and has her own agenda when released outside!

That brings us to persent time. I think I will stay here a couple more days. Work on the room a bit to help Steve out and then heading south!
¡Nos vemos despues!