Palenque

Well I have a lot of catching up to do so I am going to do it little by little. From Campeche I went to Palenque. My overnight bus arrived at about 8:00 am and I got to the ruins about 8:30. Palenque was by far my favorite ruins that I have been to. All of the others were on flat ground but Palenque was built into the hill and it was just cool. The jungle was screeching, it was hot and humid. I am so glad I decided to go there as it was far from my original plan. Originally I was going to drop down to Guatemala from Belize but because I didn't really want to spend time in belize and because they charge you to exit the country I decided I would go over to the west and come into Guatemala from that side. Once I decided to do that I found out about Palenque. My guidebook said it was rated as the best overall experience and I personally would have to agree.

Ruins of Palenque

It took me a few hours to go through and see Palenque and then I hopped on a bus towards Villahermosa. This was another stop that was not in my plans. For those of you who don't know I have a goal to photograph every LDS temple in the world. I made this goal about 12 years ago (when there were a whole lot less of them by the way) and I didn't realize there were more down here close to me. I was talking to one of the staff at the hostel in Merida and he was asking about the difference between an LDS temple and an LDS church. So as I was explaining to him I pulled up a map of the temples in Mexico and to my surprise there were two just slightly off my path I was heading and so I decided to detour to them. So I headed to Villahermosa, Mexico and got there at about 6 pm. I bought another bus ticket to Tuxtla Gutierrez for 8 pm so I had two hours to run down and take pictures and get back to catch my bus. So like any smart tourist I hopped in a taxi and told the driver where I wanted to go. What I didn't realize is that in Villahermosa the taxi drivers like to pick up additional people whenever they go somewhere. so we drove about 200 feet and he got in a taxi line at a big store equivalent to Costco. There we sat for 10 mintutes so he could let other people in the taxi with me. Then he proceeded to take the lady that got in to her stop. With the traffic and the extra stops I was pushing it to get back to the bus station on time but I got my pictures and made it back to the bus station to catch my 4 hour ride to Tuxtla Gutierrez.

I arrived in Tuxtla at about 12:30 am and didn't really know where to go or stay of course there was a taxi driver who was more than willing to help me...help me pay him 70 pesos for a 5 mintute taxi ride. For those of you who don't know, taxis in Mexico are not metered(with the exception of some in Merida), therefore it is up to the driver to decide how much to charge you. So it is always a good idea to ask BEFORE you get into the cab how much it is going to be to get to your destination. Well I didn't do this that night because A: I was tired, and B: I really had NO idea where I was going. When he told me 70 pesos I knew he was overcharging me but I just wasn't in the mood to care. I got up at about 5 am so the light wouldn't be too harsh and headed to the Tuxtla temple. It was about a mile further than the bus terminal and cost me 20 pesos. So that gives you an idea of just how well the taxi driver did the night before. I got my pictures at Tuxtla and then hopped a short bus ride to San Cristobal de Las Casas Mexico.

Villahermosa Temple

Tuxtla Gutierrez Temple