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.
For the second time on my trip I met someone else traveling by motorcycle. I found Jeanette on couchsurfing. She is doing a solo trip as well, and I have to say her trip seems much more impressive as she is a tiny lady from Singapore. She told me she already dropped her bike 5 times and is at the mercy of the Latinos around her 100% of the time as she is incapable of working on her own bike, much less even picking it up if she drops it. Not exactly a great place to be. So for the third time in my life I actually rode with another motorcyclist.
We rode to Roberto Barrios which was quite nice. 40 minutes and 30 pesos later we arrived. You could spend all day exploring the various waterfall pools scattered throughout the area.
We also ate there where I had some of the best tortillas I’ve ever tasted. How is there so much variety in flavor from something as simple as smashing corn into a circle? I don’t know. There were a lot of stray skinny dogs so we threw them our leftover meat.
Pointing at a spiky tree
The ride out was quite nice and quite easy. All pavement with your usual amount of topes in Mexico. When we got back we went out to eat at the same place Jeanette had eaten snails the day before. We wanted to try some quesadilla thing that ended up being exceedingly awful. It was called Chapay.
Me moving Jeanette’s motorcycle as she refuses to drive on anything but concrete. She has no idea what’s coming for her in Guatemala and beyond
The next day we met at the market to try some Palenque market food. It was pretty meh to be honest. The plantains with cream were awful. Incredibly bitter.
Fooooooood. It was awful.
I took burro to a motorcycle shop to get a tire changed and it was only 1700 pesos to throw a new front tire on. I am so happy to have the new tire, it was getting pretty sketchy on the old one and i was going to try to make it to Guatemala city on it which would have probably been a supremely awful decision.
We are going our separate ways in the morning. Me driving south towards road closures, horrendous rain, and Guatemalan narcos and Jeanette going north towards the burnt gringo skin of Cancun.
Moving the bike
My trip thus far, although I have met multitudes of amazing people, has felt supremely lonely. The vast majority of the time I am riding totally alone, entirely unsure of what amazing or awful thing waits for me just past the next bend. And it requires mental maintenance 100% of the time to prune back the dark wet roots of loneliness that are always seeping into my moments of peaceful solitary bliss. I cannot help but think all the time about the quote by Chris McCandless. “Happiness is only real when shared.” And while I realize that I must go on alone, and that I would prefer to go on alone, I can’t help but let the absolute terror I have felt in various circumstances in Chiapas and Mexico as a whole boil up to my ears. And when I close my eyes I feel as if I am jumping into a tank of sharks with only people to stare at me from below through 1 way mirrors.
So tomorrow I continue as the words, “it is what it is,” constantly echo in my mind. As things break and tear and as beautiful flowers come out of nowhere to remind me of love long past. I sit on the bike doing whatever it takes to always inch forward wearing an apathetic smile, but sometimes a smile exploding with beauty and happiness, and sometimes tears rolling down my face. It somehow seems fitting that through it all, the kids that wave to me from the side of the road just see a guy in a shiny grey helmet moving by them for just a moment headed on the road south flashing the peace sign with his fingers.
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.
