Putting the land of the pupusa behind us, we boarded a bus headed for Mexico. We had a brief stop off in Guatemala City, which was literally a mere short break for changing buses. Once our bus pulled in, we were greeted by the gunfire of two police officers, aimed apparently at the car of some criminals speeding away. It was a nice welcome back for me, and for Louise, who was to be spending some time here at the end of her trip, a bit of an awakening as to the danger of the country. This small episode aside however, we continued the rest of our journey to Mexico without event, aside from some traffic that we hit due to a number of bodies on the side of the road a couple hours before the border.

We eventually did make it to Mexico however, of course unharmed and somewhat well rested. The city we arrived in around 9 pm was Tapachula. Having no desire to spend any time there, we decided to immediately get a night bus to our first destination, the city of Palenque. By asking around we found the cheapest bus was a bit of a distance away, so we had to hire a taxi to get to the terminal. Once there we shopped around a bit, decided on our line and bought our tickets. With a couple hours to spare we went for tacos, as is customary in Mexico. A bit of wandering around, some time killed reading and eventually we were on our bus.  The journey to Palenque would take all night, and thus we weren’t to arrive in Palenque for a good 9 hours or so. But of course we would eventually get to our destination, and once their our final challenge before we were able to rest after our long journey was finding the best value accommodations in the town. After checking a few different places and comparing prices our prayers were at last answered, and we would be granted our showers and rest.

We didn’t do much that first day, as we spent much time first in transit then relaxing. However the following day we would make our way via colectivo to the ruins. Now I don’t recall how much they were exactly, but I do remember the admission was quite expensive. Of course we weren’t to withdraw now after such a long journey so we conceded and paid our way. The ruins themselves were quite spectacular as is to be expected. Crouched amongst the jungle much in the same way as Tikal, they offered very nice views, though the blistering heat made the ordeal less comfortable than could have been hoped.

We spent a total of two nights in Palenque before moving onto our next destination by the sea, Campeche. A very beautiful walled in seaport, I highly recommend anyone traveling in the Yucatan peninsula to visit Campeche. The castle was quite nice, but more than that the atmosphere was something to travel here for. With narrow stone streets, open air dining and a very sociable square, one could find a nice night out by taking a stroll around the city.

Campeche only represented a day of our tour, so the next morning onward we traveled to the capital of Yucatan, Merida. Another incredibly beautiful city (this will be an ongoing trend), Merida offered much history, art and culture. The city holds daily events at their square, complete with live performances, dancing and music. Here will be probably my first real social commentary in the entirety of my blog, but it’s places like Merida that show what a true community could be. With exceptional organization, it is part of the cities culture to gather in the square on a regular basis and enjoy the company of fellow city-dwellers. This is something that is seen throughout Latin America, and something that would not, in a way could not occur in the suburban cities of Southern California. I was never more upset with my reclusive culture than when traveling among collective ones.

But enough of that. Louise and I enjoyed the streets of Merida immensely, and it was from this base that we traveled to the ruins of Uxmal to the south. Highly impressive and very underrated, the Uxmal ruins were enormous in stature and quite well kept despite their location off the beaten path. For this reason they were also not as crowded as some ruins, such as the ridiculously packed ruins of Tulum, which is where my next blog post will find us.