This has been such a relaxed tour. If distances are too far, I simply get transport to the next town with accommodation. I'm loving this simple and stress-free way to cycle tour. If I was carrying a tent I know I would be fighting with myself about whether it really is too hot to camp and looking for any excuse to continue riding. I can see camping in hot weather for a few days but this heat and high humidity is unrelenting and from what everyone here is telling me, it will get worse in May. I'm sweating so much that having a shower at the end of the day isn't a luxury but a necessity. And luckily, I budgeted for hotels before starting out. Most of the way, so far, has been in touristic areas where hotels are sometimes more expensive than usual in Mexico. Even still, It's been easy to find hotels for less than $50 and my stays haven't been nearly as expensive as, say, staying in the US but sometimes they have been quite expensive for Mexico.  |
| Trike Shadow |
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| 1st Shuttle from Flores |
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| Lake Peten |
So, again, the distance from Flores to the border with Guatemala was too far for me to ride in one day to make it to accommodation. In Flores, I stayed in a fabulous hotel with a wonderful view of Lake Peten for $45. The reception gal spoke English and totally took care of all my transport needs. She arranged for a shuttle to take me to Palenque in Mexico. It arrived in the morning and the door guy helped the driver load Myrtle up on the roof rack. There was only 4 of us taking what turned out to be 2 shuttles. The 1st shuttle drove us to the border with Mexico at El Ceibo where we walked through customs and paid our $30 entrance fee. Guatemala doesn't charge to enter or exit. I, of course, rode Myrtle through the border crossing. Once we all completed the paperwork and got our passports stamped another shuttle was waiting for us. This whole experience was so easy.
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| Approaching Mexico |
The drive from Flores, Guatemala to Palenque, Mexico is about 200 miles and probably took close to 8 hours. The thing that slows drivers down is all the topes, speed bumps, going through every town, big and small. I bet we went over a few hundred topes on this trip. Sometimes they aren't obvious and the driver slams on the breaks because they are harsh to go over at speed.
Riding to Palenque and visiting the ruins
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| Palenque Town |
In Palenque, I really want to find a hotel with better wifi. On Sunday, Gary Solomon had invited me to be on his Laid Back Bike Report show on YouTube. I figured a hotel in the tourist area would have better wifi. The hotel I pulled into was very nice and it was having a promotion offering rooms at $45/night. The next morning I cycled to the famous Mayan ruins of Palenque. The site is about 6 miles from town and there is a great cycle path almost the whole way. After paying the 29 pesos ($1.60) to enter the park, the last 2 km has a good hill with terrific views of the area. Even though I arrived shortly after the park opened it was already very busy. The ticket to enter the ruins is 57 pesos ($3.15). From the moment you enter lots of kids approach selling stuff where ever you walk in the site which I found very annoying. It was also really hot. This experience was completely different from Tikal which is much bigger. I also loved the Tikal ruins. The ruins at Tikal require a map and the map they give out often doesn't match up with the signs on the paths. Palenque only has one path and a map isn't necessary. The ruins at Palenque are completely excavated whereas only the front of some the temples at Tikal have been cleared leaving the back still enveloped by the jungle. At Tikal, you are walking through the jungle and Palenque is mostly open with large expanses of grass. I found the Palenque site to be better organized and a more aesthetically pleasing experience. Even through Tikal is much more expensive ($35) to enter, I feel like Mexico has put more money into the care and maintenance of the Palenque site. Both ruins are outstanding and I throughly enjoyed each experience.
When I returned, I wanted to do a test with Gary for the next day's Youtube show to make sure the connection would be sufficient. So far, I wasn't impressed with the wifi at the hotel and went to find an internet cafe. It wasn't too many years ago that I had to do all my online stuff at internet cafe's while traveling. In those days I was using small PC based computers like the EEEpc and using an ethernet cable at the internet cafes. Now I'm using a MacBook Pro and which doesn't have an ethernet port. Most of the internet cafe now are really for gaming rather than using the internet. The 1st cafe had wifi but it was too poor and I couldn't get anywhere on the internet. The next cafe didn't have wifi so I tried using one of their PC based computers to get onto Youtube. The Mexican keyboard is completely different and I couldn't figure even out where the @ key is. This was too confusing and I went back to the hotel to try their wifi again. Surprisingly, the test went really well.
The next day I worked on my blog until Gary's show started but, wouldn't you know it, the wifi didn't work nearly as well as the day before and the connection wasn't strong enough. I was bummed to not be a part of Gary's show but maybe I can find better wifi for the next show in May. Hopefully.
Up until Palenque I kind of knew where I was going and what I was doing. From here on, the tour is a mystery. Aside from visiting the Mayan ruins of Dzibilchaltun, Ek Balam and Chechen Itza, I really don't know much about the area I'll be visiting for the rest of the tour. I'll be figuring it all out as I go. The next big city will be Villahermosa and then I'll be heading to the coast making my way back to Cancun. I really freed up a lot of time taking transport from Flores to Palenque freed which means I can be super duper relaxed. Being able to do shorter days will also be key as the weather heats up even more.
I'm looking forward to discovering more about the states of Tabasco, Chiapis, Campeche and Yucatan in Mexico.
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