Palenque to Playa del Carmen

I woke up and had breakfast with Stefan and another lady Angela, from Germany, who were both going to Agua Azul. I had decided to go to the ruins so that I was sure to have a full day there. I had a delicious breakfast of tropical fruit covered with yogurt and granola and fresh bread with homemade jam. Yum! We were joined by an American couple on a road trip from Louisiana who were curious about my bike trip and we all had a good trip until the van came to get Angela and Stefan and the Americans left to head back north. I went back to get my camera and when I came back noticed that the family staying in the dorm was in the breakfast area eating with another couple. Stefan had said that he’d seen another bike at a cabin further back, so I went up and asked if they were the cyclists. Indeed they were. They were Mauricio and Gabby, a Mexican couple on their first bike trip, for only a couple of days. We compared notes and talked for a while, and it turned out that they were also going to the ruins. We decided to walk up there together but ended up getting a ride from the other family. They were all really funny and nice people, and we had some good laughs.
Gabby, Mauricio and I climbed some of the pyramids and walked around for a while until they had to leave, but then we lost Gabby, so Mauricio and I split up looking for her. I walked down toward the exit looking for her and when I got back neither was to be found, so I assume that they eventually found one another, I got to see all of the outlying ruins, though and got a tremendous workout climbing 10 million stairs. The ruins at Palenque were some of my favorites so far. There were a lot of tourists, foreign and lots of people from all over Mexico as well, and the main plazas were filled with blankets of souvenirs for sale, etc. but the ruins were spectacular both in size and detail, and they were very peaceful in some of the outlying areas. There was also a really lovely set of waterfalls leading toward the exit. When I got back I went to get some dinner with Stefan, and we met up with the American expat couple as well so we all ate together and had a good conversation. We were all exhausted, though, and went back. The other family had left so I moved into one of the other bottom bunk beds. Just after we got back to the hostel it started raining like crazy and I fell asleep listening to the rain fall on the thatched roof. It was a really peaceful experience.
Somewhere in the middle of the night my partially conscious brain registered thunder. Only there was no thunder. A short time later there was a massive noise and the whole hut, and my bed, shook like there had been a tremendous earthquake. It was in fact, a huge branch that had fallen off of the tree hanging over our hut, and it had crushed a good part of the roof. We ran out with flashlights to examine the damage. Inside, the table and upper bunks were covered in dirt and bark, but fortunately there were only a couple of small leaks and everything stayed dry. I was happy to be on a bottom bunk, though!
The next morning came too early. I ended up going back to the ruins with Stefan and Angela since I had an overnight bus back to Playa del Carmen that night and had to pack up and get my things into town before dark. It was a really rainy day, but a very different experience since everything was cloudy and hazy, and significantly less crowded. Stefan had to leave early for a bus back to San Cristóbol, so Angela and I walked around for a while and then sat talking for a long while on the steps leading to one of the temples. I absolutely adored talking with her, she was a really wise and wonderful woman. She needed some help making some phone calls, so we decided to meet back at the hostel a few hours later and go in to town together. I packed up and took my things into town, then wen back to meet her, and we ended up getting caught in another downpour, and stopping for dinner at a really cute little cafe. She walked with me to get my bike and we stopped at a bread store on the way back to the bus station where I got the most phenomenal pastry I’ve ever tasted in my life. It was a flaky layered bread with custard pooled in the center and a whole fig halved on top of it. YUM! We then went on to the bus station and said our goodbyes, which was when the long wait began. I’d gotten there an hour early, since I wanted extra time in case I had problems with the bike. I walked it over to the boarding area, got my checked bag, assembled everything and then…waited. The area was soon packed like a can of sardines with backpackers, all moving forward and back to ask the guy at the gate if their bus was there yet, or how much longer. “No, not yet” he would reply. “Five or ten minutes more.” This continued for a full two hours. The bus, clearly, was on Latin American time.
This was the first time that I didn’t get an extra charge for my bike on a bus. It was also the first time I had to load the whole thing myself into a very small compartment. I ended up having to take off both wheels and do some careful layering with my bag and towel to get everything in, and I am pretty sure that the baggage guy got some amusement out of watching me. The trip itself was uneventful; I had a good wide seat that reclined pretty far and I ended up, miraculously, sleeping for most of the 13 hour journey. I got off in Playa del Carmen, where my bike case has been staying at my friend’s house, and stretched my tired, bloated legs before I set about the task of reassembling my bike. I had a lot of help from the baggage guy in Playa, and soon had a little crowd of people watching and asking questions. It was almost totally painless. From there I rode down to the beach to meet my friend Mike and his family. They were nice enough to let me stay at their beautiful house for a few days before my flight back. We hung out at the beach for a while and I got a very refreshing swim in…the water here is so warm and absolutely gorgeous. We all celebrated New Year’s Eve with their neighbors and had a great time, though we were all exhausted in the end and decided to celebrate in the Eastern Time zone. When I got into bed I fell asleep instantaneously.