Welcome to the Jungle

Palenque Verde" ~ Palenque, Mexico (c) 2011 Skip Hubt

Merida was definitely a great stop on the trip so far. I suppose the fact I found a cheap but excellent place to stay helped. And, it was nice to be in a place that I didn't feel awkward. Not only did the place just feel right, the manager was really nice and helpful. He seemed so concerned that my hammock hanging wasn't in the most comfortable level and offered to let me move to a larger room that also had hammock hooks without having to pay a higher rate.

I also felt more at home in that city. Not so much like an outsider when I'd interact with the locals. It just felt like I was treated like another human being who happened to be from another county. 

Campeche was another story. I had all sorts of problems looking for a room, near the bus station since I didn't think I'd be there for more than a night anyway. I still don't know why the hotels by the bus station seem to be set up for hourly rates and prostitution. Who takes on a hooker at a bus station? Oh wait a minute, they must be for the bus drivers. Duh! 

I almost just gave up and decided to skip Campeche because it was becoming too much of a hassle to find a room and no one I met was very friendly. I'm glad I stuck it out though, because once I found the historic area it was clear why it had been recommended to me. The architecture is Colonial Spanish but everything has a nautical theme and is painted various shades of coral pastels. At one point I very nearly fell in love with the place when I discovered it is right on the water with no waves. 

As I walked along the malecon that lines the entire city on one side, I noticed that there was no garbage or graffiti at all. There were also no people or fragrance of the sea. Very strange shaped fishing boats were anchored out  a it with these large black birds roosting on them. I'm not sure what sort of birds they were, but they looked like some sort of black-clad military sentries guarding a ghost town. 

At the far ends of the city there were heaps of the same style of wrecked fishing boats littering the shoreline like some bone yard for boats. I saw one crusty old man who seemed to be working on some of them, or maybe he was just living among them. 

Right before sunset people came from out of nowhere and were quietly exercising along the malecon and riding  bikes. Everything was so quiet and orderly. The police seemed to be making constant rounds with their lights on without even pursuing anyone.  And, I discovered that the sale of any alcohol is forbidden between 9pm and 9am. So, no drunks laying around either. I still can't get over how quiet the place was. Certainly welcome but felt like a dead place. That's not to say I didn't like it, it's just that it felt so different from anywhere else in Mexico I've been. 

Onward to Palenque from there. I've been there before but it's been many years and I was really looking forward to the jungle during the rainy season. Something about that level of balmy humidity and the sounds of howler monkeys echoing all through the jungle with ancient Mayan ruins resting nearby. There's an electric feeling to it that just vibrates something dark but has a certain mystique. 

I took the night bus and got the last seat on it. I bought the seat from the second class bus station and at first they said there were no more seats left. After punching in a bunch of codes, one last seat appeared so I was nervous I'd be waiting for the midnight bus with ticket but no seat.  

Luckily, or not so luckily depending on how you look at it... there was one seat left right by the largest Mexican man I'd ever seen. He could easily have passed for a Mexican Jabba the Hut and he snored in such a loud and wet way that it sounded like he had some very serious upper respiratory infection. Great! That must be what I've been fighting off with raw garlic ever since. ;)

I only add his detail because once I finally made it to the backpacker jungle cabanas near the Palenque ruins called Pan Chan or something like that, I hadn't slept at all and was already fighting off a new fever.  

The conversation I had with this new-agey Mexican man went pretty well at first as he told be about the true origins of the Mayan calendar, space-time mapping, spiraling toward behind another constellation that was causing our reality to vibrate violently and the need to see through the darkness coming and learn to understand the geometric symbols, etc.  

Some of it even sounded plausible, but it went horribly wrong after I told him that I was from Texas. He then went on and on about how the Americans are taking over everything and that they are the darkest force on the planet. How they are collapsing the global economy, fighting wars to steal resources, etc.  

I couldn't really argue with much of it, but I told him that his government was just as dark as mine and it was all an illusion anyway designed to keep us all separated and controlled. I asked him if he thought I'd be staying in a cheap hut in the jungle eating over-priced lousy food if I'd benefited from the global economic collapse in some way. I told him that I'm just a man like he is and simply trying to get by and keep my head down while I'm here. And that if he believed otherwise, he was just falling for the big lie.  

He then went on about how the fact I'm from Texas was even worse since it's the state of George Bush and that I didn't know what good food was because Americans only eat unhealthy and bulky cheap food. I couldn't bite my tongue any longer and told him I'd had better Mexican food in Texas then anywhere in Mexico. This didn't go over so well. It seems you can criticize a man's government but you can't talk about his food.  

Later, I tried to get the government guard to just let me in to the exit of the ruins for a few minutes before they closed just to take a quick photo. I'd learned they didn't charge for the last hour anyway, but I think he wanted me to bribe him. That conversation didn't even well either. He said something about how the American people hate him as a Mexican and won't let him come into the country, so why should he do me any favors, etc. I told him that's just our crappy government and that his government was crappy too. I soon pulled back because he had a military uniform on and figured talking trash about his bosses likely wasn't a good idea.  

The next day I sweat pretty much non-stop throughout the day making ruins images. As I hiked back toward the jungle encampment, a young Mexican standing off the road asked me if I wanted mushrooms. He'd been there the day before but the price was too high and I didn't feel like my mind was in the right place anyway.  

This time he agreed to half the price for double the quantity. He seemed to have some respect for the fact I'd been in that same jungle 22 years ago and gave me a great deal. Still, I didn't feel right to be altering my brain chemistry and should have kept walking. He also told me that the ex-policemen that owned the campground Maya Bell had been murdered after a robbery and told me that they'd cut his head off. Great! Jus the sort of thing you need to hear before you hike alone into the jungle about an hour before dusk and eat fungi that will significantly alter your perception of reality. But, I went for it anyway.  

The first hour went very well. So tranquil sitting in a cool cascade in the jungle listening to howler monkeys snoring above me and the electric sounds of nightfall amping up. The greens turned to a blue-green shade with the yellows and orangey-reds giving the vegetation a more blood-stained look. The vines started to become snake-like and I couldn't stop thinking about the ex-policeman's horrible fate. I then started thinking about how cheap life must be in this area and that you likely shouldn't piss off the wrong people.  

Oh, then I started thinking about the military guard I'd insulted the day before and the Mexican hippy's tale of a darkness coming to envelope the planet just before the chosen are enlightened, etc.  

At thins point the paranoia had completely taken over and I was hiking out of the jungle and trying to get back to my jungle cabana and into my hammock to freak-out quietly alone while I imagined dark government forces hunting me down and making me pay for things I've said. I imagined they knew my thoughts and were going to cut me down to make sure I don't try to warn anyone. Well, I won't bore you with the rest, but his part went on for about 3 hours and I'm very happy to say that I didn't hurt myself and eventually emerged from my hammock around 10pm just as a wild jungle party was getting underway. There were fire dancers and lighting effects bouncing about the jungle canopy. A band was also playing and I saw the hippy again. I tried to make peace but he learned how many mushrooms I'd eaten and he said I was in trouble. I told him I was in trouble, but I'd just emerged from a darkness and was ok now. He and this other Mexican man who had his hair pulled back tight and looked like Buddha were sipping on Argentine Ma'te cups. They asked why I was shaking so much if I was ok, so I told them perhaps I'd go chill out in my hammock a bit longer.  

I couldn't stop smiling at this point and was so glad the terrifying part was over. The older Mexican woman I'd rented a cabana from talked to me for awhile and said I needed to drink more water to flush out the toxins. She said I needed sugar and that I'd eaten too many. She said that if I eat again, to only eat about 3 instead of 10. And, that  these mushrooms are different than what I know because the cows eat jungle vegetation and the mushrooms were much stronger than in other places. I told here I wouldn't be eating anymore anytime soon... if ever again. She said that was a better plan. :-) 

Later I hung out watching the fire dancers just off to the side by an abstract, organic fountain. This girl walks up and pulls down her pants right in front of me. She then squatted to relieve herself and she didn't seem quite there. I walked away to give her privacy and then heard a loud splash and saw she'd fallen into a shallow river. I tried to see if she was ok and she was fumbling around in the water trying to use the light of her cell phone that was still working in the water. She then fell hard and I went to find help from security. After they got her out of the river, her boyfriend sat her back down in front of a bottle of tequila as more fire dancers each took turns trying to outdo the next. I couldn't believe she was going to drink even more, but it wasn't really my business and I'd had my share of bad decisions already so who was I to judge?  

Overall, I'd have to say the experience was fairly spectacular and I felt that even though I had to go through a fairly dark experience, I also felt like something dark was expelled in the process. I thought about staying another night or two, but the mosquitos were getting heavy and I didn't feel like enduring another night of that kind of partying. I figured I best quit while I was ahead and catch the bus the next day for the cool mountain air of San Cristobal de las Casas. 

Skip Hunt
Austin, Texas