Palenque

We got up and got hot showers and got on the road about 8:15 with 815 miles on the truck. We went back to where we had turned off the main road the night before to find our way to the next town, and after driving in a circle through the town, asking a guy who wanted our watches, or at least money for a soda, for directions, and then finding someone who could give us good directions, we found out that the campground was already on the road out of town. The guy who gave us directions had mentioned a ramp, and we didn’t know what that meant in Spanish, until we got to it and found out that it’s just that, a ramp, but not a highway ramp like we’re used to. It must have been almost 45 degrees, and about 25 yards, and it went from the street we were on at lake level up to the road around the lake. Tinkerbell (that’s the truck’s name, since she’s so dainty and we figure it’s fairy dust that’s keeping her going) managed to get the whole load up from a dead stop with a lot of coaxing and Tom mashing the accelerator all the way to the floor (and trying to put it through the floorboards for a little more power), and we were on our way through more incredible scenery.

Driving was much better than the previous two days, and we seem to be learning how to pack (although we have no idea what condition our dishes will be in when we get to Belize and unpack the boxes), and we actually underestimated our range. We had thought we’d stop at Villahermosa, the previous day’s destination, but we hit that city, the capital of the Tabasco state, at about 2:30, and decided to keep going. We did another map check and found that the town of Palenque is known for it’s archeological ruins, and made it from Villahermosa to Palenque in about 2 ½ hours, arriving around 5:00 with a total of 1090 miles on the truck in Mexico (another amazing 275 mile day in just about 8 hours of driving, and pretty to boot). We were pulled over for our first ag check on the way to Palenque, but they only wanted to know if we were carrying chickens. When we said no, they sent us on our way.

We picked a campground out of the Sanborn’s guide, which turned out to be a rustic RV campground/hostel/hotel about a half mile from the gate of the park with the ruins. It’s very nice, with a restaurant that has live entertainment, and a pool, and we’re planning to stay another day to see the ruins and see what else there is to do around here.