We decided to have an early night last night as we were leaving San Cristóbal at 5am today. We failed to take into account the firecrakers, and the singing from the processions, and the special siren effects. Oh, and the enthusiastic local on the karaoke machine.
We then had another big procession at 1am, and one at 4.17am which ended up acting as our alarm clock. With our bags ready and waiting for our transport to arrive, we watched procession after procession make their way up to the church at the end of our street.
Even so early in the morning, we continued to come across many processions; all anxious to make good time. Today is the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
As we made our way down the valley, the political slogans and Zapatista propaganda messages increased.
I had hoped to see either the film or the documentary showing on alternate days at Kinoki in San Cristóbal but we were there during the Festival Internacional de Cine de San Cristóbal (!!!) and so normal programmes were suspended.
We stopped for breakfast at a standard tourist place, and soon after we got there, many other mini-buses arrived. We found out that the drivers co-ordinate their journey to travel in convoy, so that they can help each other should something happen. I need to make it absolutely clear at this point that we did not feel unsafe at any point during our journey. Their fight is over seeking indigenous control over resources, and especially land. The various military checkpoints we crossed explained – in English – that they are here to maintain order, and control the traffic of weapons and drugs.
Propaganda. Whichever way you look at it.
Anyway, the good news is that there were no activities planned for today (I wondered briefly whether they have a Twitter account which announces these things) and we were able to travel the shorter route, which means that we reached Palenque just after 2pm. Taking the long route would have added another two to three hours to our journey.
The extra time gave us the opportunity to visit Agua Azul. The limestone waterfalls are multi-layered, and the colour is an extraordinary blue-green. Andy got the tripod out and spent his time taking blurry shots; I walked the path as far up as I could and took in the Zapatista souvenirs for sale – t-shirts and dolls of subcomandante Marcos. The place is a busy tourist destination with many food, drink and souvenir stalls. You can swim in designated areas and it is free for Mexicans.
Once in Palenque, we hopped across the road from our hotel to K’inich Kan Balam for lunch. By spending 100 pesos each, we got to use the pool, which wasn’t too much of a hardship since it was happy hour (two beers for 50 pesos).
A walk around town shown Palenque to be a small town. It very much reminded me of a frontier town; isolated, and slightly edgy. The inflatable snowman in the Zócalo looked slightly incredulous.
I was impressed by the incredible range of chillies and Tequila in the local supermarket.
Wound down the evening back in K’inich Kan Balam for Margaritas.