'Palenque' was the name this time round. A jungle paradise with some funny stories to come out of it.
Lucky for me i was fortunate enough to meet a lovely couple on the bus on the way to town. Scott (from Brissie) and Leanne (originaly from Scotland but had been living in Brissie for a while too). Cool couple who took me under their wings for the next couple of days.
The bus trip there was one of the worst of MY LIFE, even after popping a few kwells to ease the travel sickness. It just SUCKED! We stopped halfway which gave us all a bit of a breather but then it didn't comfort us too much knowing we were only half way.
We finally arrived and made our way out to the 'jungle' accommodations. These were actually really nice and provided me with the first chance since leaving Texas to have my own room. Who would have known how much of an hoo haa this would turn into.
Our first day, well afternoon, was just spent chilling at the hotel with a couple of drinks, dinner and a live band. We thought we would take it easy so as to get up early to go visit the ruins early in the morning.
So here's the situation..... The place we were staying at had Cabana's spread out all across a big open field. The Cabana i was put in was a little way off from my friends and i thought i was out on my own up the other end of the field.
This kind of freaked me out a little (and i dont ge sketched out too easily) as there was just some fly screens around the room and a flimsy door. Someone i had met earlier on in my trip had told me someone had been raped there only a couple of days before which also obviously didn't put me at ease. So here i am, excited to be able to throw my stuff in the room, any which way i like but also nervous im about to get murdered. Oh the scenario's that were playing in my head are probably too gruesome to put on here but im sure you get the gist of it. I finally past out to sleep around 10pm and then suddenly woke up when i heard a rattling at the door. Assuming that it must be my door and being in a slumbered haze, i start to freak
out immediately. I sit up in bed with my Swiss Army knife ready to attack. I try to calm myself down and think logically but all that runs through my head is 'IM GOING TO DIE'. Something which i tend to take quite seriously.
I settle for that it must have been my imagination or just a dream and lay my head back down. THEN, i hear footsteps and see a shadow move in the light under my door.... Now its serious freak out time. I KNOW i saw that. Ok, Ok, it could be an animal right? One that can turn door handles? Surely!
Now the next thing that happens im still not sure why or how but this 'crazed, im not going to die, Tamara' came out to play. Instead of playing the helpless victim i decide to go on the attack. It may not have been the best idea at the time but i figured it was that or wait until they broke my door down. At least if i attack first, i have the element of surpise to my advantage. Three big breaths and i swing open the door in a phsycotic ramage, waving my knife around like a lunatic. I see that the door next to mine is open and decide that, thats where my killers are. I push open the door still with my knife flailing about and find the Manager there getting ready for bed.
Oh the look on his face, summed up exactly what i was feeling only moments before. I drop the knife and apologise profuselfy. Between his poor English and my poor Spanish we both agree that we thought we were trying to kill eachother and enjoy a good chuckle over it all.
What a loser!!!! It didn't even register to me that something so logical could be taking place. Oh well, at least i know how i would react in a 'Fight or Flight' situation :)
Finaly i got some sleep an could't wait to share this with my new mates in the morning.
The morning and day ahead was a lot less eventful, in the terms that i didn't think i was going to die. My friends got a good giggle out of it too.
We headed up to the ruins for the morning which turned out to be AMAZING. Truly! They very much reminded me of the Angkor Temples in Cambodia (which are one of my favourite thing i have EVER seen). Leanne and her lonely planet guide became our tour guide for the day and informed us of all the intricate details, facts and history of the site. So many great photos and a great day out.
We hit the 'downtown' area for lunch that day, enjoying a cooked chook and rice. Mmmmm Delicious...until we saw the preparation. Now this is something i learnt to never look into. Never ask what your eating and NEVER check out how something is prepared and made. I think the following photo speaks a thousand words. None of us seemed to get sick though which was great news. I think someone must have been looking out for us.
Another quite night in for us. Not quite the adventurous as the one before but i did manage to tell the manager (in my poor spanish yet again and his poor english) that 'i like it better when he slept with me' hahahaha What i was actually trying to say was i felt safer when he was in the room next to mine. Just another 'Tamaraism'.
We had the day to kill before our overnight bus trip to Cancun so we went to a waterfall a little way out of town. Ofcoarse it would have been a lot easier, had of we caught a tour but we like to do things the most difficult (and cheapest) way possible. Therefore we caught a local colelctivo out there and hiked for about 3 kms down to the falls. Scott decided it was hilarious that i was scared of snakes and after out mission to get there, i was in and out of the water in 1 minute flat thanks to Scotts taunts of snakes near by. All turned out ok and our adventure to Cancun was set to begin.
We had agreed to catch the cheaper bus rather than the typical ADO as were were all on a pretty tight budget. Surely it couldn't be too much different right? Oh how we were wrong. We had to catch a collectivo to another town in order to get onto our 'coach'. That in itself was an adventure as our collectivo broke down in the middle of nowhere and neither of us had any idea of what was going on. When we finally arrived at our coach our seats were reassigned (not such a big deal) but i was shoved up the back on my own near the STINKY toilets. Not much fun for a 12 hour bus ride.
We were stopped several times on route for security checks also. For some reason i must have been looking super dodgy that night, the security/police snooped through ONLY my bags and checked my passports twice. Not sure what they were looking for but i was fine and we kept on going. The bus wasn't so great (if you hadnt figured by this point) and my knees barely fit behind the seat infront of me. No sleep all night on the bus makes for Tamara to be one grumpy girl. Luckily though, all would soon be fixed with our arrival in Cancun.
Lots of adventures to share in the next blog. Keep an eye out for it.
Tam
xoxox
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