TravellingStrom

Thursday – Palenque, Mexico

A normal start to the day, check online, then some breakfast around 8 or so, before packing up and heading out, V was nowhere to be seen, I did not expect to see him until Palenque maybe. Just north of town was a big steep bridge, I thought the one yesterday was it, but no, I was a day ahead of myself 🙂 From the top I had great views, but I could see rain ahead and it was already sweltering so that would not be fun if I had to don the gear!

Well, that did not last long, as soon as I got to the first toll gate it started to piss down, lucky there was a shelter after paying the man, I could get the gear on in the dry, by crikey it was steamy though!

Lucky for me it did not last too long, only about 25minutes, so I took the next fuel stop to shed the wets, the chaps here liked the bike and wanted to get into the photo 🙂

After that it was just ride through the muggy heat, I crossed over a bridge and to the left I could see a submarine bridge, who knows whether it was an earthquake or it just fell down, but I am glad I was on the dry one 🙂

I entered the state of Tabasco, where the sauce originated, but as I don’t like stuff that hot, I did not stop 🙂 At each of the state’s borders there is usually a military checkpoint and sometimes a quarantine station, today no military just the other.

More fast slab Mexico style and more toll gates, this road is costing a small fortune!!! But, this is better than copping all the topes on the free roads, so it is a choice of speed or no speed 🙂

Now here is where the Mexicans get smart, now that I was no longer on a toll road, (don’t ask me how this happened as I have no idea), whenever they are the bigger topes, they hang out and try and sell things because they have a captive audience nearly 🙂

I fuelled up again around 1.30 as it seems wise to get fuel when you get towards half a tank, I also wanted some lunch but there was nothing hot, in the end I settled for crap snacks and a half can of coke, I have not seen one of those for yonks!!! 🙂

I was not far from Palenque now which was good because I was melting and in a short while I was riding around town looking for an aircon motel.

I eventually found one that was offering a discounted deal, well 795P instead of 1100P which included breakfast, sounded OK to me. I booked in and went back through town to the laundry I had seen, I negotiated a deal with the operator (no user machines here) and my clothes would be ready around 6pm, so that gave me a chance for a shower and a relax in the aircon room, once it had taken effect 🙂 The internet worked without me having to fix it for a change so that was good 🙂 There were replicas of the Maya carvings all over the place, very touristy, but that was what I was here for after all 🙂

Palenque has the Pyramid of the Inscriptions where there is a tomb right at the bottom inside and a stairwell to the top, which has been closed for over 8 years as I found out 😦 Bummer, but the lid of the tomb has carvings on it which have been very much debated about. The lid also weighs 3 tonnes and is too big to get in or out, so that means the pyramid was built over the tomb. Anyway, that is for tomorrow, for now, after I went and picked up my clothes, I did a round of the bars as the street I was on was hotel street, but it was damm near empty, no tourists really, it is off season, so I ended up watching baseball in a noisy bar, all by myself, with chicken wings and chips for dinner 🙂 I was intending to get to the ruins very early, like about 9am or so and hopefully be back in my room in the aircon by 2pm or so. I was in bed by 10 and hung the do not disturb sign out, this would mean they would not come in and turn the aircon off while I was out tomorrow 🙂 Mind you, the way the sign reads, I could do with a small amount of molestation, by the right gender of course 🙂 😆

Day – 219 miles and 352 km
Trip – 40,433 miles and 65,071 km

Salud
TravellingStrom

USACanadaMexico

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