Kiichpam K’aax to Palenque

Having spent nearly 2 months at Kiichpam K´aax, it seemed better to spend Christmas day there, with the Mayan part of our family, rather than alone in a random Hostel or Posada. I awoke in the morning, at stupid o’clock Mexican time, and made my way to the restaurant area where they had internet. I needed to video call Mum, Dad, Nanna, Dean and Hollie before they all went to Holie’s parents for Christmas dinner. This meant braving the dogs, which are particularly vicious whilst the owners are still asleep. Fortunately for me, they decided to let me into the restaurant and to the light switches before they came running around the corner. Honey, the mother and leader of the pack, came for a cuddle, whilst Colas, the muscle, looked on jealously from a distance. They even let me into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee without any trouble. Maybe they were finally used to me or maybe they were just being nice because it was Christmas.

I managed to get hold of Dean, who had been arranging the video chat with me, and he told me he would call me once Dad was out of the shower, or had finished doing his hair or something like that. Whilst waiting for the call back, three Mexicans pulled up in a car and wanted cervezas. I thought they wanted it to take away but they decided to come into the restaurant and wanted to chat too. One of them was very drunk and was making absolutely no sense, but he still insisted on trying to talk to me. Fortunately for me, Dad takes ages too put his make-up on, otherwise I might have missed their call. Having spoke to the family, that was about as Christmassy as it got. There were no presents, Christmas trees, decorations or Christmas songs or carols (thankfully).

Once Alex had woken up, we went to go and see the ‘Borrego’, which is a big lamb or goat, which we would be eating for Christmas dinner. He was alive and tied up out the back of Damien’s Dads house. He was really cute for a lamb/goat and we fed him some nice fresh green leaves that he was struggling to reach. It would turn out to be his last meal because as soon as we returned to the restaurant, Damien and Felipe were on their way to ‘prepare the meal’. Being a vegetarian, Alex didn’t agree, but I thought it is important to see how the meat makes it to your plate.

Seeing as I was there, Damien took a backseat role (he fell asleep in a hammock) and let me help Felipe with the process. I will spare you all the details, but it was mostly done by Felipe, I was just holding parts whilst he did all the work. The skinning of the animal is quite an art and Felipe was very skilled at it. I was able to help out the skinning process at one point, his balls, and I was very good at it or so Felipe said. None of the animal is wasted. Everything apart from the freshly digested leaves are cooked up, and I mean everything. If you are thinking of something that we can’t possibly eat, we did. Many hours later Christmas dinner was served with enough food for about 15 of us. Seeing as we were having lamb, I thought it would be a good idea to make a mint sauce so they could sample how it was eaten in England. I even made a spicy mint relish to suit the Mexican taste buds with all ingredients taken from the garden at Kiichpam. I had to force them to try it and it seemed like they were just being polite before they took more habanero sauce that Juanita made (which was much tastier).

Having spent Christmas at Kiichpam, we needed to move on before New Year’s Eve. The plan was to head to Palenque with a stop off at Bacalar to say hello to Carol, the lady from the first volunteering stint. The last we had heard was that she had moved to another venue on the laguna and was managing it. We planned it at short noticed and decided to make it a surprise visit, knowing she would be glad to see us. The one bus a day that goes past Kiichpam, was over an hour late and decided not to stop for us. The driver could clearly see us and had space in the bus but for some reason, he just kept on driving. We waited longer for a Collectivo, which costs a little bit more and we arrived in Bacalar a bit later than we had hoped.

Bacalar seemed different from the last time we were there, it was busy and full of tourists. Luckily we knew Carol would be able to give us somewhere to sleep because most places could have been fully booked. We made our way to see Carol and when we got there, the lady in reception did not have the slightest clue who Carol was. Neither did anyone else there, no one had ever heard of her. I managed to get hold of her and it turned out that she had quit there too and moved on to San Cristobal de la Casa, 8 hours away by bus. We attempted to find somewhere to stay but the only options were expensive private rooms or tents with holes in them. Everywhere was fully booked and we were now stuck in Bacalar. We took an ok, but pricey room for the night and then headed to Chetumal the next day (New Year’s Eve) to get an overnight bus to Palenque.

Once in Chetumal, we headed to the bus station to book some tickets. The plan was to get a little bottle of fizz, see out the New Year on the bus and then sleep until we get to Palenque. As we were booking the tickets, someone elsewhere booked them first, and they vanished of the availability screen. The next bus was at 2:30am, and was our only option, so we took it. We had a bit of time so we made sure we bought a tent and other stuff we needed so weren’t left short in the future. Chetumal isn’t a very nice city, it’s quite industrial and there’s not much happening there so we ended up spending the turning of the New Year, sat in Chetumal bus station, watching Lord of the Rings.

Once we arrived in Palenque we headed to try to find a guy with cheap lodgings that we had been told about by a Mexican friend way back in Tulum. We were unable to find him, as he probably didn’t exist, so went to camp in Mayabell, a well-known place for travellers. After one night there, we realised it had changed more into a resort for affluent travellers and not a social hot spot for backpackers. We search other places and found much cheaper prices everywhere. We walked into one place, called Elementos Naturales, that looked closed but had some signs of life. We encountered a Belgian guy, with his Mexican Wife and two little toddlers, who were rehabilitating the previous cabanas that had been taken over by the Jungle. After speaking to them for over an hour, we decided to pitch our tent up and stay for a couple of nights.

After we arrived, the place got busy with lots of people turning up to stay. This was more the vibe we were after with backpackers and travellers all with similar paths and interesting information and experiences to share. Having seen the main ruins in Palenque, we should have moved on to the next destination, but for some reason, every day we stayed one more day. There was an American guy, John, who had been there from the start of the rehabilitation (2-3 months). He had explored the surrounding Jungle and found waterfalls, caves and a few undiscovered ruins. He took us to all to see the undiscovered ruins one day which involved walking through the jungle and climbing up a river and numerous waterfalls. As soon as we left the campsite, it absolutely bucketed it down with rain and it didn’t stop pelting it down until after we had returned home. Luckily everyone was wearing their swimming gear and the rain was quite refreshing in the daytime heat.

It was a good 2 hour trek to get to these hidden ruins and we were in fairly dense jungle so we had to do it with precaution. We even lathered ourselves up with mud, which supposedly helps your skin (people pay for that kind of treatment) and also stops the mosquitos from getting you. I just liked it as it made me look tanned and reminded me of being a kid playing in the mud. After some epic views and amazing plants and trees, we made it to the ruins. It wasn’t a big structure and it was completely engulfed by the jungle but it was still amazing to see something that has survived this many years and seen by so few people. To get in, there was a small hole in the ground that you had to climb through that led you into a smallish chamber. There was an exit on the other side too but it was a tighter fit and up a slippery slope. Once inside, there was a tiny hole you had to worm yourself through which entered a room, big enough for 2 people to sit. I think it might have been a tomb or a chamber where someone was buried, without their permission, as there was a pretty bad vibe whilst you were inside. You got the feeling that something not very nice had happened there.

Of all the people we met at Elementos Naturales, we briefly met a guy who had been cycling the world for over a year. We also met a Dutch couple who had walked from Holland to Italy and the girl was about to do the Pacific Coast Trail. This made Alex sad that she wasn’t doing anything challenging and this was the catalyst of our next adventure. We had wanted to see the Biosfera de Montes Azules, a jungled area in Chiapas near the Guatemalan border. The Lancandon Jungle is full of indigenous tribes, has a huge percentage of Mexico’s flora and fauna and is one of the last remaining areas of jungle big enough to support the Jaguar in North America. There was not much information on the web about this area and the only thing we could find was a so-called map that showed a road that goes through the middle of it, with a couple of eco-touristic centres on them. This was enough info for Alex to decide that she wanted to walk it and that was enough for me to join her.