Pan American Trip: Week Eight, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Week 8

Quintana Roo, Mexico

May 11^th-17^th, 2009

(View from where we camped in Catemaco)

Day 50, Mon.: Catemaco, Mexico

The drive to Catemaco was amazing; it was apparent that we had finally entered a tropical zone. Mango trees were everywhere and the humidity was kicking! We were both awestruck by the rolling hills, the most beautiful deep green forest, views of the jungle and mountain farms. Kindra and I both agreed it was some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip thus far. We stayed in a small lake town called Catemaco where we camped one night next to a small restaurant with a grassy lot for campers. Catemaco was a little higher in elevation and gave us a break from the humidity of the beach.

(John's b-day at the ruins in Palanque)

D 51-54, Tues-Fri: Palenque, Mexico

We woke the next morning to the sound of a thousand birds screeching and calling in the huge tree above us. I took Wallace for a nice morning walk on the malecon (boardwalk) and we packed up and headed out. Although it we were next to a lake it wasn’t as tranquil as we had thought. We decided to head out towards Villahermosa… when we discovered that the place to stay that was recommended in our travel book was a spooky parking lot at a fairground! We decided to drive the extra 100 plus miles to Palenque where we encountered our first Mayan ruins of the trip. Again the drive was full of wonderful jungle scenery and extreme sticky humidity; love that AC in the truck (although we only use it 5 percent of the time… when Wallace looks like he is going to pass out from so much panting)! We are scared to think that it is only May, what will June be like?!!!! We arrived late afternoon in Palenque and found a nice camping spot called Mayabell’s Campground that was snuggled back in the jungle and surrounded by palms, huge jungle and ginormous trees. We passed out early as the drive from Catemaco to Palenque was one of the longest days we’ve had.

(Mayabelles campground)

So this next part is really cool, we had read in our travel books that this place was special and some interesting things usually happen at night time. I was woken out of a dead sleep to the eeriest most exotic sound I had ever heard. Around 1am, I woke Kindra up (she had her earplugs in) to hear these sounds I thought for sure to be Aliens coming to take us away or the Mayan gods calling out to us for our sacrifice. I seriously have never heard anything even close to these sounds; it was like a cross between a huge mountain cat screaming, a dog howling and an alien spaceship landing, in stereo, coming out of a rotary speaker, all around us, going on for at least an hour. We had read about the howler monkeys at night in this area, but had no idea it would sound like this….what a way to start my Birthday!!!! The next day Kindra and I hiked up to the Ruins, walked all around and took pictures of the amazing structures, temples, tombs and residences. Palenque is said to be some of the most impressive of the Mayan ruins in Mexico and we were glad to have caught them, even if we did sweat more than either of us ever have in our lives! After coming back to the camp that afternoon, we went into town to get water and Kindra surprised me with some b-day pastries from the market yummy… ‘fatties must eat’ on their birthday!!! Then again later that afternoon we heard the monkeys up in the trees and were actually able to catch a glimpse of a baby and one of the larger males, moving from tree to tree. This was my first experience seeing monkeys in the wild and on my birthday to boot! There was live music every night at the Mayabell campground in Palenque, Kindra and I mostly enjoyed the music from the camper. The nights in the jungle were extremely hot and humid but thanks to our new fan we managed to stay ventilated. Because we would be crossing into Belize soon I decided to try and re-head my Asiko drum with the goat skins from Ramon in Guadalajara. The skins had a lot of small holes all throughout them and I was unable to use the one I soaked. The other two I gave to one of the worker/volunteers at the camp ground because he said he had been looking for some and wanted to make a drum. It would have been too much of a hassle to try and bring the skins into Belize.

Day 55 & 56, Sat. & Sun: Bacalar, Mexico

We left Palenque around 10am that day and headed towards Chetumal. It was a 300 mile drive, but it went surprisingly fast. It was so worth the trip; we arrived around 7pm and happened to find the most amazing camping spot we have seen yet!! While searching for a place in one of our Mexican camping books, we stopped to ask a local a good place to camp. He directed us to an unmarked lot on the “lagoon of seven colors”. We pulled in and were amazed at the small grassy lot, surrounded by palms and covered in grass. The lagoon was fresh crystal clear, refreshing, blue water. The sun was beginning to set and there was an amazing cooling breeze coming off the water. The two of us enjoyed the rest of the daylight and the tranquility of our jewel of a camping spot!! Sunday is a crowded day for any beautiful spot in Mexico. All the locals seem to know where all the good public swimming holes are. The beach/campground was buzzing with Sunday picnickers and day-trippers. Kindra and I busted our snorkel gear out and took Wallace out for his first boogie board ride while we checked out the underwater life. There are 2 large shade structures on a small peninsula where people hung their hammocks and had lunch. It was a lazy day for all of us and a great way to end the week! Sorry for the delay on the last 2 weeks of bogging it has been difficult finding internet. Also, we have read that the internet in Belize is few and far between and supper expensive when you find it. We will most likely post when we get into Guatemala.