Hola from Mexico

I spent my last evening in Sayaxche watching two local basketball teams battle it out in the central park.  They had nice uniforms and everything, but it's clear that no one takes basketball very seriously here.  The highlight for me was that the ref was wearing a completely over-the-top ridiculous Star Wars t-shirt.  In a franchise that spawns some stunningly dorky shirts, this one stood out.

The immigration office on the Guatemala side

I hopped the first bus north I could find in the morning with the hope of crossing the border into Mexico and making my way to the town of Palenque by early afternoon.  As I expected, it proved to be a long day of uncomfortable travel.  Google maps doesn't actually show there being a crossing, or even a road there, but the internet provided some extremely vague hint that maybe it could be done, and I was ready to get out of Guatemala and make my way north.

The bus was one of the more crowded that I had been on, and I finally got to live the dream of spending the four hour ride hanging out the door because we just couldn´t fit any more people.  I was hoping they'd ask for volunteers to ride on the roof, but unfortunately it never came to that.  Anyway, the border crossing was quick and painless, though I did discover that my watch had been taken off my pack on the bus ride.  Not a big loss, as it was a cheapo watch, but it's been quite inconvenient since never knowing what time it is.

On the mexican side, I started walking the 8 blocks through the empty streets of Frontera Corazal to the bus terminal where I could catch a ride to Palenque.  I knew that Mexico was going to be great when a cab driver stopped and offered to give me a lift to the bus station.  For free!  First nice thing anyone had done for me in three days.  I instantly felt better, and booked a very reasonably priced ticket on an air conditioned, new van headed to Palenque.  A big change from the beat up old VW bus type vans in Guatemala.  Each of the 4 riders was assigned their own seat (a big deal after one ride that crammed 32 people into a vehicle only slightly larger than a minivan) and the bus flew off down the well maintained road.  Yay Mexico!

Ruins of Palenque

Palenque was much nicer than I expected, though everywhere I checked described it as being kind of a dump.  I stopped at a roadside taco vendor, and the guy next to me randomly bought my meal for me (ok...only $1.75, but still!).  Yay Mexico again!  I visited the Palenque ruins, got there early, took a nice nap on top of a pyramid.  Probably the oldest place I've ever slept (700 AD).  I sure wished I had my camera here, as the jungle-backed ruins were just perfect in the morning sun. The best part about these, in my opinion, is that you can go pretty much any

where you want.  They don't seem to be concerned about people climbing all over everything, napping where ever they want, and generally exploring every nook and cranny.  My kind of place.  There's even more as yet uncovered ruins in the jungle behind, and I took the opportunity to go explore those as well.  Especially in the early morning, before the tour bus crowds arrived, it definitely felt like an Indiana Jones moment.