Arriving in Chiapas, we initially stayed in the jungle, or the nearest equivalent to it we'll get on this trip, at El Panchán, halfway between the town of Palenque and the Mayan ruins of the same name.
After taking it very easy in Mérida, we risked our hard-won reputation as laid-back travellers by managing to do four tourist sights/activities in two days. Palenque (the ruins) was the first - the heat made climbing the ruins unattractive to all but me, and we only stayed a couple of hours:
Hot and a little bothered, we boarded a minibus to the next two sights - a tall cascade and some falls to swim in. The bus gave us only 40 minutes at the beautiful Misol-Ha, but I got in a swim:
The falls at Agua Azul were also very pretty - and there were lots of local families enjoying the water and the food stalls nearby. Here we met Lleni, a US/Peruvian doctor who was taking a break from her volunteership at a hospital near Altomirano, which had been guarded by the EZLN while it looked after the wounded of both sides during the insurrection of 1994, and is still trusted by the Zapatista community. And we swam.
The next morning, before heading off to San Cristóbal de las Casas, Heather finally got to ride a horse - as did the rest of us. Western-style riding, and on stallions at that, seemed surprisingly more comfortable than European style - after three hours in the saddle we didn't feel a thing. Well, not till the next day, anyway.
I got complemented on my riding, possibly for the first time ever - Terry said I was "natural in the saddle," so there. He was even more impressed that the ornery horse he'd given Heather did everything she wanted, but then she's always the clever one on a horse.
- Mark
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