Tour of the Yucatan: June 28 ❤ El Panchan, Misol-Ha, and Agua Azul

We got into Palenque at around 3:30 AM and after getting a taxi to El Panchan, the area where there are multiple different groups of cabañas to choose from, we were dropped off at Margarita and Ed's Cabañas.  No one was awake there, so we sat on the porch and tried to sleep.  

The patio area where we tried to sleep.  I got the blue chair with the swan on it in the corner and Juan was sitting in the one with the yellow cushions.

I slept more than Juan - he was a bit anxious for someone to come by or for a monkey to attack us.  :)  Someone came by at 6 AM (we thought we'd have to wait until the office opened at 7:30 AM).  We were so happy.  The guy was turning off the porch light where we were attempting to sleep.  Juan was sleeping but when I called to him, he jumped up to talk to the guy about a room.  While we were waiting for the bus in Campeche, I asked Juan where the craziest place he's slept was.  He said, "The floor."  :)  I told him that I had slept on the cathedral steps in Siena the night before the horse race the Palio.  Now that he had a better "craziest place I've slept" story, he told everyone later that day what we went through.  

We got a room that had a toilet an shower for only $250 pesos plus a $50 peso deposit (a total of around $27).  We tried to get some sleep and woke up at 8 AM.  I have to admit I was a bit cranky from the unrestful sleep and because my stomach had started to hurt.  We decided to go get breakfast in town after I got money out of the ATM.  We paid for the trip to see Misol-Ha and Agua Azul, both waterfalls.

Our cabaña at Margarita and Ed's cabañas in El Panchan.

Misol-Ha was really huge and we got to walk behind it.  The pool below was brown though since it's the rainy season and it has been raining a bit every day.  

The Misol-Ha waterfall.

Juan and I standing on a rock in front of the Misol-Ha waterfall.

Behind the Misol-Ha waterfall.

Agua Azul is a long string of waterfalls.  It too was brown from the rain and we decided not to swim in it like we'd planned.  We had three hours there which was about an hour and a half too long for us.  We didn't trust the restaurants there, and besides the waterfall and shops, there wasn't much else to do.  We sat with the other people from the tour waiting for our guide to come back.

Some of the waterfalls at Agua Azul.

We found this part of the Agua Azul waterfalls that looked like a fish.  See the eyes and the mouth???  :)

Looking down on the Agua Azul waterfalls.

When we got back to El Panchan, we were tired and hungry.  We showered since we hadn't showered since the morning in Campeche a couple days before and then we went to dinner at Don Mucho's.  The restaurant was linked to another set of nearby cabañas.  I got a salad and chicken soup since my stomach was bugging me.  Juan got salad and a pizza.  The ambience was really nice.  A band played songs in Spanish and we looked at some jewelry on display nearby when we finished eating.  I got a bracelet from a woman there and she fixed it so it would fit me better.  While she was fixing it, it started to rain really hard and she ran off to find the plastic to cover her table.  We went back to the room after that and crashed.  It was only 9 PM but we were exhausted.

The band playing at Don Mucho's restaurant.

Happy to eat some good food at Don Mucho's!!!  :)

Tour of the Yucatan: June 27 ❤ Campeche

We slept in, ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant (it was included :) ), and then went back to the room.  We got our stuff together, relaxed a bit, and took pictures on the beach outside of the room before we left. 

Our beachfront room at the Tucan Siho Playa hotel in Campeche.

The patio and beach area outside of our hotel room.

Overlooking the beach outside of our room in Campeche.

The dock outside of our hotel room in Campeche.

We ate lunch at the hotel restaurant too and decided to go to the hotel beach and pool since we could see it from the window in the restaurant.  We asked to take a picture of a tequila rifle since I wanted to show my landlord.  :)  They picked it up and put it in our hands and then ran to get a sombrero for us to wear in the picture.

The tequila rifle at the Tucan Siho Playa restaurant.

Sombrero and tequila gun.  How much more Mexican can you get???  ;)

After leaving the hotel restaurant, we asked for towels at the front desk, changed into our suits, and went out to the beach.  The water wasn't as warm and clear as in Cancun, so we ended up just swimming in the pool.  I showed Juan some of the tricks that my sister and I used to do in the pool when we were little.  After that we sat in the lounge chairs to dry off and told each other stories from our childhoods.  It sprinkled on and off, but it wasn't raining too much like it had in the morning.  We played pool for a bit until we decided to catch the bus back to the downtown area.  I won the first game and I ended the second game when we both could have won right at the end because I had to run to the bathroom before our bus came.  The woman at the front desk suggested the restaurant La Pigua, so after we stored our luggage at the ADO station, we took a taxi to the restaurant since it was raining hard.

La Pigua was fancy and more expensive than any other place we had eaten, but since it was raining, we stayed there to eat.  I got pampano en salsa de mariscos (a whole fish with seafood salsa), and Juan ordered filete relleno de mariscos (fish filet stuffed with seafood).  Mine was a whole fish and Juan showed me where all the best meat was.  He said the most flavorful meat was in the cheeks.  I tried it but it tasted way too fishy for me.  The meals were really good though.  

My yummy dinner at La Pigua.  This was the first time I ate snail!!!  It was good!!!

Juan and his filet at the Pigua.

I wanted to eat something chocolatey and the waiter recommended a place called Italian Coffee.  We went in a taxi and he gave us an inadvertent tour of the Malecon before going to the place in the downtown area.  He thought there was an Italian Coffee on the Malecon but was mistaken.  I was glad to have seen it even if it was from a taxi.  Italian coffee was good, but we ate too much sugar and my stomach never recovered.  Juan ordered a caramel frappe and a turtle cake and I got a hot chocolate with panna and an oreo cheesecake.

We walked around the downtown area of Campeche, popping into shops to look around.  I really liked the area, but it was raining too much to really enjoy it.  The cathedral and a nearby park were lit up and really pretty.  

The cathedral in downtown Campeche.

The park in downtown Campeche.

After a bit, we caught a taxi back to the ADO station before the luggage storage closed at 10 PM.  We got our tickets for earlier than planned.  I was a bit worried what we were going to do getting into Palenque at 3 or 4 AM, but Juan didn't think it would be a problem.  He thought hotels were all open 24 hours.  The bus ride to Palenque is rough an we slept about 3 hours straight, but the other two were interrupted by bumps and rough road.  

Next stop: Palenque...

Tour of the Yucatan: June 26 ❤ Merida, Uxmal, and Kabah

We woke up at 6:30 AM to go eat breakfast at the same place, Bisquets Bisquets Obregon.  Today Juan ordered an omelette since we hadn't eaten nearly as much at the Chaya Maya the night before as we had a couple nights before.  I had about the same: carrot juice, yogurt/melon/granola, and a chocolate croissant.  We split a cheese danish.  I got hungry much earlier- apparently it wasn't enough food for a hot day.  We got all our stuff packed at the hotel and left it at the front before the van arrived to take us to Uxmal and Kabah.  We drove by a henequen hacienda that's non-functioning and run-down.  They were prepping for a baseball game in the courtyard.  Sotuta de Peon was much more interesting.

When we got to Uxmal, the sky was threatening rain.  Juan and I were spoiled yesterday, being blessed with a good tour group.  Today one of the girls was a bit of a diva.  She was eating something at a restaurant when we all wanted to start the tour.  I was glad our guide started without her.  We walked all around the ruins and we were actually able to walk up many parts of it unlike at Chichen Itza.  It was really hot and humid though, so it made me really tired, especially walking up the ruins even though there really weren't very many steps.  We saw a hoop for a ball game like we did at Chichen Itza.  We also learned that Uxmal means three times built.  Uxmal was built in seven periods of 52 years.  One layer was built every period of 52 years.  

We went all around the ruins and then our guide gave us a half an hour to do what we wanted.  We took some pictures and then I looked at a shirt I had seen when we arrived.  I got one for me and a dress like it for my niece.  It started to rain then and so we went back to the entry area to wait for the rest of the group.  We had to wait more time than was allotted because people were straggling.  

Uxmal ruins.

The decoration on the side is an upside down pyramid made of two-headed snakes.

Overlooking part of the Uxmal ruins.

On the steps at Uxmal.

The ball game hoop at Uxmal.

Awesome view of the ruins at Uxmal.

More wall decoration at Uxmal.

The king's throne is a two-headed jaguar.

Overlooking Uxmal.

When we got back on the van, we drove to Kabah, another small ruin that they think was linked to Uxmal in some way.  Kabah was more in ruins than the others we have seen, but we were able to walk up the steps on all the parts of the ruin.  We didn't stay there long since it was going to rain, but also because it wasn't that big.  Juan was playing with some dogs at the entrance while we were waiting for the others to finish up.  I got a pretty handmade doll there.  

Ruins at Kabah.

I liked the flower design etched into the stone I'm sitting on.

At the top of the steps at Kabah ruins.  They look like they are unwalkable, but they weren't too bad.

Kabah ruins.

Playing with the puppy at the entrance to the Kabah ruins.

After we rounded everyone up, we went to eat lunch at a restaurant nearer to Uxmal.  It was Yucatecan food.  I had pollo pibil, a salad and crema española.  Juan had sopa de lima, pollo yucateca, and crema española.  We sat with the other people on the tour and the girl we weren't so fond of had gone out for a cigarette and didn't come back to eat.  Hugo, the guy she was with said, "Me da mucha pena," which means she gives him grief.  We got in the van again and made our way back to Merida.  Juan and I got our bags from the hotel and went to the Neveria Colon one last time to get a sorbette de mamey and a chambola de chocolate to go.  We grabbed a taxi and went to the bus station - next stop Campeche.

When we got to Campeche it was already 8 PM.  We went walking toward the downtown area to get a bus to Siho Playa.  We got a collectivo bus to the station and then had to wait until 9 PM for the bus to Siho Playa.  It was going to take another hour to get to Siho Playa.  Juan was getting scared that we were going to be in the middle of nowhere with no place to stay.  Most of the way there the road was pitch black.  We finally got to the hotel and it was fancy.  The reviews had given the wrong prices, but for the price we paid, we had a really good experience.  We were a couple of the only people staying there, so we got a very private experience.  There was a restaurant, but it was closed when we got there so we ordered a salad and a club sandwich through room service.  I thought they would charge us an inflated tax and tip, but they didn't.  We were right on the beach and fully enjoyed the air conditioning, shower with shampoo and conditioner, and the really comfortable beds.  :)

Tour of the Yucatan: June 25 ❤ Merida and La Hacienda de Sotuta de Peon

We got up really early to eat breakfast before our tour.  We'd booked two guided tours the night before, before we ate dinner.  We ate at a place called Bisquet Bisquet Obregon and had a light breakfast since we'd eaten so much the night before.  Our tour van came around 9 and we were the only ones going to Sotuta de Peon.  Once we were there, other people joined us.  La Hacienda de Sotuta de Peon was a plantation that produces henequen, a strong fiber used to make rope and other things.  In the early days, it was like slavery almost for the workers because they were paid with money that only had value at the hacienda.  The hacienda was abandoned at one point by the Peon family and was restarted by a man who grew up in the Yucatan but had German roots.  The house was interesting.  The rooms were so small even though a lot of people lived there.  There was a bed in one of the rooms, but when the house was owned by the Peon family, they slept in hammocks throughout the house.  You could still see the hooks where they were hung.  The kitchen was small because our guide told us that if there were big parties, the guests would bring food.  There was a place for a fire under the counter where it would heat the stove area.  We got to see them prepare the henequen to make it into rope and all the machinery that was used before to prepare and manufacture rope.  We also saw the machinery they use now, since it is still a fully-functioning producer and manufacturer of henequen and its products.  

The only bed in the house.  If you look closely there's a hook for a hammock on the wall above the candlestick on the left.  They had many of these hooks on the walls since that's how the original family slept.

The kitchen with the place for a wood fire to heat the stove.

In front of the dining room.

The grounds of the hacienda.

Me preparing the strands of henequen.  Only the strongest fibers remain in your hands and are used to make rope.  The weaker fibers are used to make other things like cleaning supplies.

This is one of the original machines they used to make henequen rope.

A pile of raw henequen before it enters the machine to get processed.

Henequen fibers out to dry.

Laying out the henequen plant before the machine extracts the fibers.

This machine strips the fibers from the henequen plant.

Sitting on a bale of henequen fibers.

Old machines that produced spools of henequen fiber.

An old machine that weaved a type of cloth from the henequen fibers.

An old machine that makes rope from the henequen fibers.

We then took a donkey-driven tour of the fields of henequen.  The cart went along old railroad tracks.  

Our donkey cart.  :)

Fields of henequen.

Our donkey's head and some of the buildings in the fields of henequen.

We went through the fields and stopped at an old Mayan house where we met an old man named Antonio.  He mostly spoke Mayan and Juan spoke to him a bit in Mayan since he knows a bit from his job.  Antonio was so happy that Juan could understand and speak some Mayan.  He told us about the house and showed us the kitchen and how you would grind corn with a type of mortar and pestle.  He also showed us how to properly lie in a hammock: diagonally.  He said he'd have his wife on one side and his other wife on the other.  He was joking...at least I think he was.  :)  He and our guide showed us how to plant a henequen plant with a curved metal tool.  They also showed us how the plant looks when it dies and the flower that grows on top of it when it's dead.  

Antonio showing Juan how to sleep properly in a hammock made from henequen.

Antonio showing me how to grind corn with the mortar and pestle.

Juan, Antonio, and me.

After we left Antonio, we went to one of the eight cenotes on the grounds.  This cenote had even clearer water than X'Keken.  It wasn't quite as big, but it was beautiful and it felt good to cool off.  

The cenote at the Hacienda de Sotuta de Peon.

We changed and our donkey cart took us to the restaurant.  Our tour included food, so we got tortilla chips with a spicy cream dip, a bean dip, and pico de gallo.  Then our entrees came.  Juan got queso relleno and I got cochinita pibil which reminded me of pulled pork.  So yummy!!!   We also got flan and dulce de papaya for dessert.  The papaya dessert came with grated queso de bola on top.  It looked strange but tasted so good.  I got a few things at the shop and then we went back to Merida in the van. 

Yummy queso relleno.

Mmmm...cochinita pibil.

I had seen a dress I really liked in a store window, so we went there.  The dress was a little big and they said they could tailor it for free and have it ready for me in a couple of hours.  While we were waiting we went to an artesan store, to an internet cafe, and back to the Neveria Colon.  While we were at the ice cream shop, the gay pride parade passed by.  It was quite impressive.  It started to rain as the parade started and a cross-dressed man in what looked like a wedding dress, whose sash said Señorita de la Primavera, was walking with a man in a suit through the walkway by the ice cream shop because it was raining.  I took a picture and "she" stopped to pose.  

The gay pride parade.

Señorita de la Primavera posing for me.

We went back to pick up my dress and then went to see if Kung Fu Panda 2 was playing in the cinema that was four blocks away that the woman at the dress shop had told us about.  We didn't get there in time for the movie and got soaked from the rain on the walk back to the hotel.  We showered and rested before going out to the Chaya Maya again for dinner.  We saw the family from our tour there since we had recommended the restaurant to them.  This time we drank chaya which is a green drink made from the chaya leaf.  I ordered Brazo de Reina and Juan ordered escabeche de pavo.  Mine was corn ground with chaya with a hard-boiled egg mixture inside.  It tasted sort of like a tamal.  I was exhausted after dinner since I couldn't fall asleep when Juan had taken a nap before dinner.  He ended up staying up to watch Marley and Me after I passed out.  It was much nicer having the A/C on and I slept like a baby.