As I type this, I am sitting in the middle of a lush jungle. We spent our finally day here at the resort pool, a giant lagoon shape that begs for you to indulge in the cool water and over priced drinks. We have a private bungalow that gives us reprieve from the heat and the torrential down pours and in normal times, it would shelter us from the dreadful crowds that would normally be here. During covid times, we find ourselves delightfully alone most places! Expensive hotels, which I have mentioned before, are now half price and the two states we have been traveling in, Chiapas and Oaxaca, are in covid green, something so special in these deadly times that we don't want to leave.
I've skipped over San Cristobal de Las Casas and its adorable charm because we have decided to rent a home there for a month. When we return there in another day or so, you will no doubt, hear way too many stories about it. So I will focus on the wild of Palenque.
The drive to get here was a beautiful torture. Beautiful scenery, but the roads required us to drive 20 miles per hour making what should have been a short drive last 6 hours! If there is a hell, it is filled with roads that are like this one and riddled with topes (speedbumps). At home speed bumps scattered here and there, you easily slow glide over them and continue on your way. In Chiapas, it is a small Mount Everest for your car, each one being a unique skill to summit and crest with a certain amount of deadly scrapping anticipated. I am pretty sure we will need to completely refurbish the underside of our still not paid off VW Jetta. Oh that reminds me, we also need to have some body work as some jerk kicked a dent in our door, we can only guess in a protest to our USA plates prior to the election? People have definite views about Trump and assume those of us from the USA are all of one mind.
Where was I? ahhh yes, comparisons to hell. We finally arrive in the town of Palenque, exhausted, and in need of food ASAP. We ventured into the chaos of swirling streets, loud noises, competing music blaring from opposing stores, people yelling over the sounds, babies crying and the sizzle of meat grilling on open flames. At the moment we parked, my daughter, hazy with anti-nausea drugs awoke. Perfect timing to yank the sensory processing disorder teen out into... well, hell. It is hot, humid and a child pissed on the sidewalk in-front of us splashing our flip flop clad feet, just as a clearly drugged homeless person, doused in a shade of shit brown that I've never seen so completely dispersed over a person wove his way toward us. We stumbled into the closest store to grab some simple provisions before heading to our jungle base. We found ourselves in a dark, smelly, cramped mess of a hole in the wall and almost blindly grabbed things from the aisles, then paid and hurried back to the car. In an attempt to carry a bright mood into this leg of our journey, I said "its not so bad!". My husband looked at me sideways and quoted a review we had read claiming "there is nothing charming or good about the town of Palenque". My daughter, having been quite, stunned into silence maybe, laughed loudly and said "ya think?!?" clearly her sarcasm was deeply intact, but at least there hadn't been a panic attack.
Luckily we were booked into a special hotel tucked into the beautiful jungle surrounding the ruins of Palenque... 15 mins from the very special place of Palenque the town; clearly my sarcasm is intact as well.
Oddly, our most incredible experience was at a rehab/ zoo for animals that have been rescued. Those able to return to the wild are and others find a permanent home at this strange island of salvation. Unlike most zoos, where the animal is placed in a cage in our concrete world, this was a heavy jungle setting with enclosures that allow a very natural habitat and being a part of it feels really special. We watched spider monkeys play, panthers pace feet from us, macaws greet you with "hola" and crocodiles swim beneath your feet. It's a very special experience that seems completely removed from the rest of the world and totally unique.
The ruins of Palenque were truly breathtaking, wonderfully preserved and the heat stroke from hiking the easy stroll was well worth it. Especially awesome was being able to jump in the glorious pool at our hotel after. I sound like a brat, I know. Maybe I am? I fell madly in love with the ruins of Tikal years ago and I may be comparing more than I should. Tikal has a mystical atmosphere with a luscious depth of soul that I'm afraid nothing will ever live up to.
I have be honest as well, I've been stewing and it taints my experience. My body is fighting me more and more, home calls and emails are intruding on my peace of mind and I find myself getting testy. I find writing these blog posts actually help me look at my thoughts and flip my thinking around, so thank you for being my sound board. Wins are that my daughter is actually happy sometimes, a relief for me. My husband loves the jungle and relishes each animal he sees and I love soaking in the warm humidity and gorgeous green hues surrounding us. So I sign off remembering to not look at emails incessantly, to leave the phone in the room, to concentrate once again on less stress and more relaxation. I will pour a glass of wine, slather up with sticky menthol gel and tune out the sounds of the world while I tune into the final night in the jungle. I guess sometimes you need to venture to hell and back to remind yourself that you are sitting in paradise.
As a side note, we are in the covid green zone and loving every second of feeling safe. We have decided not to venture into central or northern Mexico that is flaming red right now. We still wear our masks, we still sanitize, we still take precautions and we hope you are too. I know many of you are green with envy as we travel and you are stuck at home, we know you are suffering and I do not take the gift of this trip lightly. I'm deeply appreciative of every day I have here and only tell the negative to share the real truth of my experience, I hope in some small way this actually distracts you from the problems you are facing and brings a smile to your face. And more than anything, I hope you had wine in your glass because... say it with me...before anything else, Wine First.
No comments:
Post a Comment