after thirteen hours on an overnight bus (with nothing but the hannah montana movie to entertain us), we arrived in san cristobal around 10am. the region of chiapas is a lot different from where we had previously been in, with mountains literally everywhere, and a much colder climat (especially in the higher areas.) it is a much more traditional region, with many mayan communities which dot the landscape. we marched through the hundreds of market stalls that are found through the entire town, admiring the artisanal goods of the mayan people and being asked to buy bric-a-brac made by people dressed in traditional costume. we went to a mayan medical centre/museum to learn about how the local mayan doctors use plants to cure illnesses, and i bought a herbal treatment for asthma, which i've yet to try but i'm hopeful that it'll have some form of effect!
we also went horseback riding to the next town over, san juan, a town that is even more traditional than san cristobal. we ended up staying for three nights in a very nice hostel, and it is on the last morning that we parted with laura, who continued on her own adventure.
on the next bus to palenque, we met somebody who would have a massive impact on our journey and become a very good friend very quickly, but we'll tell you more about kat in a later post. the journey to palenque was a windey one, leaving us all feeling a bit sick, arriving five hours later with nowhere to stay. we ended up getting a cheap hostel with kat and two other boys, jordan and harry, and spending the night on the terrace of the building, having a few drinks and getting to know each other, a very cool evening!
the next day we went to check out some waterfalls, the first being misol-ha, the second agua azul. we had a very nice time, and i was particularly impressed, as they are the first big waterfalls that i've ever seen. it's in agua azul that we run into kat and jordan (them having left the hostel before us), and who we then go to stay with in el panchan, 4,5km along the route to the palenque ruins. the little tourist village made up but nothing of cabins and two restaurants was to be our home for the next three nights, sleeping in the middle of the jungle and exploring the immense vegetation surrounding us. the ruins are exceptional, much more impressive than the teotihuacan ruins that we saw in mexico city. between funnelweb spiders (huge red tarantulas) and hurler monkeys that live in the trees, it was an amazing experience, discovering the varied flora and fauna of the region (still in the state of chiapas but a lot further down, where it's very hot)
not having the funds to go to discover the cities of campeche and merida, where we would have continued into yucatan state, we decided to go directly to playa del carmen, situated on the yucatan peninsula but in the state of quintana roo, finally arriving after a fourteen hour bus journey. we're very happy to get back to the sea, and are excited to join kat in tulum in a few days, as she has stayed in palenque.
staying in playa del carmen and tulum, along what is called the riviera maya, was a much different experience from what we had been doing before - two weeks of sun, sea and sand, which we'll tell you about in our next post.
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Nous sommes partis de Puerto Escondido avec des bons souvenirs plein la tête, et c'est avec plaisir que nous partons avec laura, notre amie française vers San Cristobal de las Casas.
Dans le bus, nous ferons une rencontre vraiment inoubliable, et nous parlerons de Kat vers la suite. Le trajet dans les montagne est sublime, les paysages me laissent éveillé. La route est longue et sinueuse dans les montagnes, et nous arrivons de nuit, et avec Jordan et Kat 2 australiens et Harry un british rencontrés dans le bus nous partons à la recherche d'un hotel dans la ville. La nuit sur la terrasse à boire des verres et faire connaissance fut sympatique. Nous décidons de rester 1 nuit de plus a faire la logistique, internet, linge et se reposer, eux sont partis le matin.
Nous faisons une éxcursion pour visiter les chutes de Agua Azul et Misol-ha. Nous passons un bon moment, et ce sont les premieres cascades pour Simon. Malgré l'ampleur de agua azul nous avons préféré la cascade plus sauvage de Misol-ha. C'est lors de notre excursion que nous tombons sur Kat et Jordan qui nous suivrons à El Panchan au km 4,5 des ruines de Palenque. Les 3 jours qui suivent sont extraordinaires dans la jungle!! Les ruines sont magnifiques; perdues dans la végétation , Nous faisons plus connaissance avec Kat qui est une personne extraordinaire, découvrons la jungle avec les tarantules, les cascades, les singes hurleurs.... Définitivement la région du Chiapas est magnifique et nous avons donc prolongé notre séjour dans la jungle.
Aprés ce périple, nous voulions aller vers Campeche et Merida pour continuer vers le Yucatan mais le prix des billets de bus sont cher donc nous décidons d'aller vers Playa del Carmen directement dans le Quintana Roo - un voyage de 14h de nuit. Nous partons content de retrouver la mer et sommes heureux car nous avons planifiés de retrouver Kat dans quelques jours à Tulum.
Notre vie au bord de la mer étaient vraiment des vacances! 2 semaines voir plus entre amis le temps passe très très vite mais le Quintana Roo sera la prochaine poste.
