Woke up around 830 and read my book outside the cabana for a little bit. I lazed around and finally started packing around 10 for 11 checkout. I got a message from the place I was going that the roads were all blocked going into Ocosingo. *sigh
Hard *sigh
So I went to the owner ladies at jungle palace and asked if they knew anything about it. They called someone and said the way was clear but I had no idea who to believe. I figured I’d give it a shot so I jumped on the motorcycle and started riding. The roads are a pain here as there is a lot of construction and they will just block things off for large periods of time. Like 30+ minutes in the middle of the day.
My plan if I couldn’t get through was to head very begrudgingly to the Cancun area and drive down through Belize. I am desperately trying to avoid Belize. While the islands and water are the most gorgeous I have seen anywhere the Caribbean the spliff chain-smoking vibe was one I was trying to avoid on this trip.
Very happily, I made it all the way to Tonina and had the nicest day ever. I stayed at the prettiest little farmstay, run by a family that sell cows and rooms in their house. Casita Tonina. I caught up on some stuff on my computer and did a lot of reading. It was super relaxing and the universe gave me exactly what I needed that day.
My last morning in San Cristobal de las Casas I woke up early to climb the steps to the Cathedral. The sunrise was a little less than spectacular as it rises behind the mountains but it was a nice walk. I headed back to the hostel, had breakfast, and had some coffee before I packed my things to leave. As I was packing up the other hostel-goers started telling me I was going to get robbed out on the road I wanted to take. They were showing me some app that clearly said not to go the way I wanted to go. I didn’t believe them and didn’t really want to hear about it so I just jumped on Donkey and went for it.
Off to Palenque!
What an adventure. My plan was to get all the way to Palenque which was about 6 hours driving the way I wanted to go. About 2 hours in I started seeing swarms of people walking in the road and I knew something was up. I saw a blockade of cars up ahead and they all told me to turn around. One guy said they would shoot me, as he pointed his fake gun at me and said, “pow, pow.”
Riding views
I continued forward to find two big trees that had been cut to block the road and one little piece of the first one was cut out where people could walk under. I walked up to it to see if the bike would fit and figured if I just took the mirrors off it would. So I took them off and more people walked by and stared sadly at me as they told me not to go. I was just about to submit to my feelings of terror and turn back when the sweetest old guy hopped up to me and offered to help me pull the bike under the tree. I asked him what to expect ahead and he said, “oh no problem, they will just ask you for 50 pesos of maybe 100 because you are gringo.”
The happy old guy started pulling my bike for me, so I got at the rear and pushed. Once under the first tree he pointed to the way I should go to get around the next tree. He then said he had to get going because he was going for medicine for his wife in San Cristobal. He hopped away. The happiness I felt from his smile and warmth immediately faded at the dread of the uncertainty of what awaited me.
The video is awful because I was feeling incredibly terrified at the time
I started Donkey, drove the 2nd tree and continued forward until I saw more big rocks in the road blocking the way. I drove around the rocks and noted the burn marks all over the pavement.
Then I approached a little bamboo hut and as they heard the thump thump of Donkey some boys with guns crawled out and surrounded me. They looked mildly surprised and entertained as they said, “50 pesos.” I had hidden money in 6 different pockets of cash in different amounts so that whatever they charged I could pull it out in exact change because I knew there would be no change exchanged. They they waved me on and saluted me. The entire area was burnt with ash and had glass all over as if they broke or burned someone’s car there the night before. Man I wish I had filmed it.
As I pushed the throttle and Donkey responded my heart started to beat normally again.
I continued on and ran into some amber stores and bought some amber. Pretty cheap and some really cool pieces. A lot of pieces with bugs inside. The amber guy told me the way ahead was open and when I saw some big trucks I was relieved. I asked him what the hell was up with the roadblock and asked if it was mafia. He just whispered, “something like that,” as he shook his head and told me the way ahead was clear as far as he knew. I really didn’t want to deal with any more roadblocks.
Some amazing and cheap amber earrings. I ended up buying about 7 things including one stone with a bug in it for about $40 total.
After more rough hours of riding I finally arrived at Palenque. Immediately Palenque felt like an incredibly humid amazon town, the complete opposite of San Crisobal de las Casas. For the first time on the trip it just started to pour. Buckets and buckets fell from the sky. I felt myself get soaked to the bone.
Entering Palenque
My cabin in Palenque. Costs $12 per night.
Tomorrow I plan on driving around and exploring some local waterfalls.
My plan for my last day in San Cristobal de Las Casas was to go to a meditation thing recommended by my tour guide Ana(I think in like a sweat lodge). But Ana called us and said it was canceled due to the rain.
So instead I went to Chamula with a couple people from the hostel. And thank God we did, it was an experience unlike any I’ve ever had before. We rode in the colectivo for 20 pesos and it took about 30 minutes to get there from San Cristobal. We sat next to some nice Mexicans and I kept offering my bag of chicharrón to them and they thought it was hilarious, but although they didn’t actually seem to want it, they refused to say no.
Colectivo lyfe
Once we got off the colectivo we went down the main strip which was a sprawling market where you could buy anything from tacos, to fruits, to the black skirts they all wear made out of some type of black sheep. The market street led us to the main church there which was originally a catholic church, but now is very much dedicated to pagan rituals. Apparently the Spanish allowed the rituals in order to keep the peace in the area.
Iglesia San Juan Batista AKA creepy ass catholic church.
We payed 60 pesos to get in and as soon as we entered the church I felt an awful and strange vibe. The ground was covered in huge pine needles, The sides of the churches were covered in bloody, terrifying Jesus’s and saints, and there had to be 10,000 lit candles littering the floor and sides. There were also 2 kids playing instruments. One hitting a drum and one playing an accordion. I swear they were playing the song from the red wedding in Game of Thrones and it gave the entire church the creepiest vibe.
There were people spread around the church drinking alternatingly pox(their alcohol) and coca cola. They believe that when they burp after drinking the coca cola that that is the evil spirits leaving their body.
So many candles
We walked up to the main alter area and saw this lady rubbing a chicken all over this man who was kneeling down. Then she pressed it to the ground and snapped its poor little chicken neck. It was pretty wild. She held it there while it did some of its last movements. I breathed in thick clouds of incense as I stared in shock at the dead ass chicken on the catholic alter still twitching occasionally.
I’ve never seen anything like it before.
We then went walking around a little bit, found some tacos and headed back to San Cristobal by colectivo. We stopped at a wine bar where we ordered a wine and got sleepy and I headed to bed. My plan was to wake up super early the next morning to climb the cathedral steps for the sunrise and then leave for the thick jungles of Palenque.
