Mexico Day 11

Our hotel last night was pretty. The rooms were in blocks of two, spaced out amid luxuriant vegetation. When we arrived for breakfast at 7 am a Polish group were having a little religious service in an adjoining room, perhaps because of the 3 Polish people killed by a Russian missile.

It was a short drive to the Mayan site at Palenque where we spent 1.5 hours. There was plenty to see. Most of the excavation was done from 1951 onwards and the jungle site, on the foothills of the mountains crossed yesterday, is still being worked on. It is considered to be one of Mexico’s most impressive ruins, with temples, sanctuaries and pyramids. Their sculptured walls and ceilings are some of the best-preserved and finest examples of Mayan buildings, despite the city-state having peaked over 1300 years ago. We saw some of the treasures from the site in the museum in Mexico City. Quite a bit of climbing was involved to see some of the walls and we climbed one steeply stepped building in order to get a view of most of the extensive site. Even though it was only around 9.30am I was dripping with sweat due to the humidity and temperature of 30C - climbing was an effort!

It was a long drive to Campeche but we stopped at a ranch en route for lunch. (The land was now flat and the jungle had been cleared to make way for cattle.) The food was various forms of BBQ steaks so I had to have guacamole yet again and a baked potato. Mr C’s steak was mostly inedible which was a shame as everyone else was lucky and enjoyed it.

The stop on the afternoon was unexpected - the National Guard stopped us but instead of having a cursory look into the minibus as on previous occasions, this time they wanted to see our passports. The driver was cross as most people had left theirs in their cases so he had to unload everything. (Ours were in my bag.)

The hotel for one night is the worst by far, with peeling plaster and a musty smell. However the aircon works so that’s a bonus.

We had an hour to turn round before we had a walk to the cathedral in the dark, and a look at the city walls build to protect the town from constant attacks by English and Dutch pirates in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. The others went off for an early dinner but we came back to the hotel, not able to face any more food. There’s a lot of fried stuff, bland and heavy, or fiery with chilli.