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All we had read was how Palenque Town was a polluted, stuffy, noisy place which existed solely as somewhere for the travellers to Palenque ruins to stay.  Actually, I think that might be a little harsh; we had to go through Palenque Town to get the bus to the border (see the next post), and although it was certainly manically busy, it was also incredibly colourful.  Kind of interesting, perhaps, had we been there to see more, but as it was we’d heard only bad things so we got a taxi immediately on arriving at Palenque Town to the legendary El Panchan.

I say legendary because that’s what every single guidebook – the same ones that condemn Palenque Town – call it.  But have you heard of it?  I hadn’t.  Nonetheless, it’s a very cool concept: a man buys a plot of land right on the edge of the Palenque Ruins National Park, right in the middle of the jungle, and

sets it up as a lodge for backpackers.  Years later, his kids have inherited plots and businesses within El Panchan, and it’s a full-blown community.  It’s got a whole range of cabanas to stay in, or there might be somewhere to camp.

It’s got a couple of restaurants, one of which was easily the best of our trip so far and also happened to have live bands and a fire-poi show later on in the evening. Then there are salsa classes, yoga classes… there used to be a meditation centre, but apparently the hippies have all gone.  Still, the vibe remains.  It’s a great place to stay, even going from the chilly-ish air of 2300m to the humidity of about 80m above sea level.

However, the point to the place is somewhere to base yourself on the road to Palenque, and it’s all about the ruins.  Palenque is the site of the ruins of vast Mayan city from the height of the Classic period, and it’s in great shape.

You can duck through tunnels and climb up pyramids and generally explore the place to your heart’s content.  You can also get your German friend to eavesdrop on the billions of German tour groups and learn that the Mayans had an air-conditioning system.  You can even step on a stone that looks exactly like every other stone and certainly not off-limits and have a guard blow a whistle at you, so that everyone looks around to see who is desecrating the unique archeological site.

And after Palenque we went to check out a couple of the local famous waterfalls, Agua Azul (wasn’t very azul – we had a storm and the water gets all churned up for three days afterwards, apparently) and Misol-Ha, a single-drop waterfall which thunders over a cliff and soaks you when you walk behind it.  Both absolutely amazing; both very worth seeing.

It was actually quite sad to leave El Panchan.  It was another kind of sanctuary; kind and friendly people.  But we decided that if we didn’t leave soon then we never would, and we only stayed two nights before heading to the border of Guatemala.  And then the fun began.