Thursday, April 4th, 2019

Day 06 of G-Adventures Mayan Discovery tour

G-Adventures program of the day:

“Enjoy a free day to explore Palenque and its surroundings. Opt to visit the Mayan ruins of Yaxchilán and Bonampak.

Free Time Palenque Full Day.
Do as much or as little as you like in and around the jungle of Palenque.

Optional Roberto Barrios waterfalls
Visit the Zapatista community of Roberto Barrios, Chiapas, have a swim and explore the cascading waterfalls. If it has not rained for a few days, you will be astonished how bright the blue water can get.”

Another option would be the Yaxchilan and Bonampak Ruins. As this needs 11 to 12 hs and is a long drive we opt to do the waterfalls.

Some of us go morning into town and check out the market. We stay in the hotel, have fine breakfast and go to the pool.

Before noon we pack our stuff, go with a minibus to the towns supermarket, empty the ATM, buy some beer and snacks (the hotel does super sandwiches to take away) and go, short before noon to start the drive to the waterfalls.

The drive is a long one as the roads are bad. During the drive through Zapatista land Lola tells out the closer political past, the Zapatistas, what is happening in Nicaragua,

As we arrive it is super sunny, it has not rained for a few days, the water is super blue, we start swimming and climbing and jumping the waterfalls.

Lola introduces our tour guide and we start the descent down the waterfalls. Natural slides, jumps up to 8m, tunnels, swimming under the waterfall. It is not crowded at all, only some locals and very few tourist found the way …

After the waterfalls we drive home.

Gabriella and I opt to do a local shaman ritual for an hour and 700 pesos at 19.00, a Temaczal The Temazcal is a small hut made from stones. In the middle there is a hole. The shaman puts burning hot stones into it, closes the door to total darkness and purrs a lot of water of the stones. The climate gets like a steam bath but slightly cooler (around 50° C). The procedure is 4 doors, earth, with, water, fire (or so). Before entering the hut we are cleaned with smoke. The procedure was usually (in the Mayan culture) for cleaning warriors before war or ball games. It lasts more than 1 hour, 4 times new stones and more water = more steam.Afterwards we get fruit juice and fruit. I get the pool to cool down.

Then food. We agree to meet later, after the Temaczkal, for dinner in the hotel.

Accommodation Hotel Mayabell