Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

I thought San Cristobal was a little funky, but that was because I hadn’t been to Palenque yet.  We had heard from other travelers that a place called the Mayabell was the place to stay.  In our camping bible it said that you will find more VW Campers there than anywhere, so we knew we had to stay there.  We were actually the only VW Camper there which was a little surprising since this is hippie central.

The site was great.  It is in the jungle, just 2 km from the Palenque ruins.  We heard howler monkeys and other jungle animals from our campsite.  There was lots of drumming, acoustic guitars and barefoot hippies singing and holding hands.  There were naked toddlers named Luna, hemp and wooden bead necklaces, men in sarongs, pregnant woman without bras, woolen handbags with long straps, a 4 year old with better dreadlocks than any stupid-ass frat boy I’ve even seen in the States, some pretty scraggly facial hair and lots and lots of marijuana. 

We set up camp with our Swiss friend Marcus and we just happened to be right next to another German guy, Dietmar, who has been traveling by motorcycle through South and North America for about 14 months.  Again each one of us had great stories to tell and it was interesting listening to each other’s adventures.  The first morning Marcus and Dietmar set off to the ruins bright and early.  We got up slower, had breakfast, went for a swim and then went to the ruins.  Both kids had fun again climbing up and down the ruins and exploring the tunnels and crumbling stairwells.    The ruins are pretty spectacular.  You just can’t beat the setting in the lush green jungle. 

The next day all 6 of us went to Agua Azul.  This is a river that travels through the jungle and cascades into pools as it comes down the mountain.  The water is turquoise blue and beautiful.  Some people at our campsite gave us some good advice where to go when we got there.  There are lots of restaurants and vendors selling stuff, but we just kept going past all this until there were no more stands.  At that point most people turn around and go back, but we kept going a little ways further and found a nice spot where we could swim.  There current where we were was not that strong so it was possible to walk just a little ways upstream, get in the water and float downstream.  Occasionally a few people would walk by, but for the most part we had the place to ourselves and we were the only ones swimming there for the entire afternoon. 

I was sad to leave since this was one of the nicest settings we’ve stayed at in a long time.  Next we’re off to the coast on the Yucatan Peninsula where we’ll by meeting our 16 year old nephew who is flying in to Cancun in about a week.  He’ll be traveling with us for 2 weeks before flying home to Germany.

We ended up in Huehue and it was quite a bit different than we were expecting.  It was a very raw, real Guatemalan city, with not too much to see and enjoy.  Maybe it was just our anticipation about returning to Mexico, but we high-tailed it out of Huehue the next morning and headed straight to San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico. 

Our first stop in San Cristobal was the campsite.  We picked up a book on our way down to Central America that one could refer to as a bible.  The title of this book is “Mexican Camping,” it is written by a couple whose last name is Church and all the vagabonders follow it religiously when camping in Mexico.  Now that we have our traveling sea legs, we’ve decided to mostly camp in Mexico.  We’ve gotten used to the temperatures, our money is running out, and we have no more excuse to spend big bucks on expensive Mexican hotel rooms. 

San Cristobal is a funky little city high up in the mountains.  The houses in the center of town were painted in bright colors, there is a lively market and lots of there is a lot of Mayan influence.  Our campsite was a short 15 minute walk in a quiet neighborhood outside of the center of town.  What was great about this campsite is that we also met 4 other groups of other travelers who were on similar trips as we were.  One was a group of French-Canadians that gave us great tips about other campsites on the Yucatan.  Another was a Basque couple who have been traveling off and on for years.  We swapped music and movies and they gave us great tips about the Palenque area.  There was a Swiss guy who imported his car and has been traveling through Canada, the US and Mexico (so far) and another couple who were driving a 1985 Westy.  One night when I was returning to the van after brushing my teeth, I looked down on the campsite and realized we are all a bunch of weirdoes sleeping in our cars, but we are all the same type of weirdoes and have a lot to talk about and really enjoyed each other’s company.  It has been really good to connect with other travelers traveling the same way we are.

One of the most unusual acquaintances we made was a guy who has been traveling off and on for over 20 years.  He sustains his travels by working as a clown and a balloon twister in the places he visits.  He even spent 3 years living in a Tibetan monetary.  One day when we left him he was lying on the grass in the sun waiting to figure out where he was headed to next.  “I’m just going to lay here until it comes to me where I should go next. “  Originally he was thinking it would be Guatemala, but two days later he was still there and it turned out his destination did come to him – he was headed to the coast in Oaxaca.  I wish I had had more time to talk to him.

The only problem with San Cristobal was that it was cold.  During the night the temperatures were in the low 40’s.  4 nights of super cold weather caught up with us and we were ready to head out.  We started a mini-caravan with the Swiss guy toward Palenque.  We stopped off at some neat Mayan ruins half way between San Cristobal and Palenque.  The ruins were neat and nearly unrestricted on where we were allowed to climb and we all made it to the top.  It was especially fun for William to be able to climb and climb and climb. 

Now we are in the jungle near Palenque.  The drive here was totally green and amazing.  The temperatures are more like we are used, we’ve thawed out from the near-freezing temperatures and we are looking forward to exploring the area – more Mayan ruins and lots of swimming holes and waterfalls.