Disconnected in the Jungle
I look like a complete disaster. Despite many talkings to, my hair refuses to behave and tangles a little bit more everytime I look away. The skin on my face is shiny, sticky and flushed pink, the whites of my eyes less white, more beige. We're in the rainforest, Palenque, and there's really not a lot to prepare you for the heat and humidity here other than sheer determination, lack of desire to look presentable, and lots of ice lollies.
Palenque is a very small town, deep in the jungle in the region of Chiapas. We're now South from our previous stops in Mérida and Campeche, 250km inland from the nearest coastline and plonked right on the edge of a national park. The major draw here is to see the very well preserved ancient Mayan city, but for me the lure of the dense greenery is enough of a reason to visit. Plus, a few days off-grid, away from the scrambling cities is the sort of thing you read about in travel books and fancy blogs. Perfect, I thought, here's a chance for us to disconnect from the modern world and re-calibrate.
Our terracotta jungle hut
Our accommodation is a perfectly sized mud hut painted terracotta, with no wifi or air con, and a roof made from dried tropical palm branches. Yep, when we arrived I was thinking exactly what you're thinking. Bugs. But they say travel is about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and considering my comfort zone is lined with nets, doors and endless supplies of bug spray, this business of 'connecting with nature' perhaps wasn't starting off quite as romantic as it sounds.
Alas, nothing would get in our way of doing the jungle thing properly so it seemed like now was the perfect opportunity to attempt our dutifully purchased mosquito net. With some ineffective plastic suction cups bought from eBay, a few swear words and some British ingenuity, our net was hung between a picture hook on the wall, a wardrobe door and the splitting wood of the window frame. Success.
After the immediate Bear Grylls thrill of "Lou & Dave 1, Nature 0", had passed, we continued to share our little victory on Instagram. Full 4G signal, we realised. I promise, after just this one post, we'll switch off and get back to being "off-grid" like you're supposed to in the jungle... anyway, it was dinner time now.
When we had arrived earlier that day, we were asked by our host which of the two options from tonight's menu we would like to choose, so that the cook could make sure it was ready to serve outside on the patio at 7pm. We chose one of each, zucchini in béchamel for me, and pork marinated in mango and pineapple for Dave. I loved the simplicity of only having 2 choices, no big laminated menus in Spanish, English and German, no Mariachi band loitering at our table side.
Each dish was presented simply, without fancy garnishes or extra fluff on the side. There was no music either, just the sound of crickets as the sky turned dark. The flavours of the food were subtle, and uncomplicated, just like we were led to believe life out here would be. I felt like we were starting to get into the swing of things. Heck I even saw a spider 4 meters away on the floor, and just continued with my dinner un phased (feet tucked firmly up onto my chair of course).
Our host took our plates away and we thanked him for the food. We'd heard about another little restaurant just 2km down the road from here, so as it was still early we asked him to organise a taxi for us, so that we could see if it was suitable for tomorrow's dinner.
The dirt road was unlit, so we wondered if our taxi - note: the most expensive taxi we have taken in Mexico - might miss the restaurant, but he seemed to know the name Don Muchos. We saw the glow of the lights before we saw the restaurant. We tousled and reversed and turned in the taxi as we got stuck with the many other cars going in and out of the restaurant car park.
Walking under the giant rope-lit sign for Don Muchos, the place was sprawling across different levels of decking, and alive with people. There were tables and chairs in every space imaginable and a five piece band bellowing out from a stage at the back. Along side the outdoor kitchen boasting it's very own pizza oven, a craft market was tucked under a mis-matched row of fabric canopies. It seemed we just weren't quite meant to 'get away from it all' just yet, so we ordered an ice cold beer and a chocolate milkshake and squeezed onto a table to enjoy the music for the rest of the night.
In the middle of the jungle
Early morning light in our hut
Having survived our first night's sleep painstakingly tucked into our mosquito net, we got up with the sun the next day. The loud noise of the crickets, frogs and God-knows-what-else faded away as the morning light rolled in. Today we were headed to see the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Palenque, located only ten minutes from where we're staying.
Unlike any of the other sites we'd seen so far, the structures were nestled amongst the dense green of the jungle. It somehow made them feel even more imposing and impressive than if had they stood by themselves. Although not true, the way the trees and stones were tangled together made it seem as though they were as old as each other.
This whole 'city' was built without the use of horses, the wheel or metal tools. Pretty impressive. (That's our fact of the day)
We spent the day winding in and out, climbing up and down, taking a thousand photos. We visited a nearby waterfall and also stopped twice to refuel with potato and rice tacos with lip burning salsa at the park's entrance.
Potato, rice, avocado and pickled onion tacos - gotta love a triple carb lunch, we went back for seconds.
Exhausted, we eventually gave in to the thick, hot air mid afternoon and headed back to our hut. It's true when I say we remained disconnected for the rest of our time in Palenque because upon arriving back to our hut, we jumped straight into the pool, smart phone free, and stayed there until it went dark.
That night, another trip to Don Muchos, a taste of their pizza oven pizza, homemade pasta and another great local band. I think it's fair to say we 'switched off' in the jungle, but just not in the way we'd first imagined.