to Palenque: a twenty kilometer surprise

July 3, 2017

"I guess this makes up for the day we thought was longer and it was 20km shorter" Rachel says. We've stopped at the junction for a break and when we start off again the distance marker is 33km and we wonder what that is to? We'd been having trouble fixing what we were cycling to the map route elevations. Later Patrick sees why.

The first 20km go smoothly, a tree lined road, verdant green hills and lots of corn. At 11.5km there is a hotel, but there are not many shops along the way. The temperature rises slowly, an ice cream vendor is a welcome sight out in the middle of nowhere and sells us a tasty treat. We still see lots of trash along the road especially at posted signs "No tire basura" and we think Ruta Maya is really Ruta de diapers. Not just single diapers tossed at the side of the road, but big piles of diapers, along with many plastic bottles.

We reach Gregorio Mendez Magana and turn right, the locals pointing Palenque. After a kilometer, the road turns to dirt, this is a white road. We turn around and stay on Ruta 353. This is where the profile isn't matching the map profile, way too much climbing a few steep sections and where was the downhill?

At the turnoff to Ruta 303, we stop and buy pollo tortas from a lady waiting to sell to people on the street. When a bus pulls up she runs to see if any passenger's want to buy. We go on and at the junction to Palenque we take a break, still 6km to go. Today was 20 kms more than expected. We navigate to Posada Tucan, ugh, a flight of stairs, oh how we love roll in rooms. But not today. We settle into a small but nice room, hot show and TV. There is internet but slow to intermittent unless standing in the hallway or reception area.

This was a margarita type of day, the thought kept Rachel going. We had dinner at an upstairs restaurant and had two margaritas! We decided that we'll take a taxi to the Palenque ruins early tomorrow morning.

A large orange bridge across the Usumacinta River.

What a great idea! Just cut the moped in half to make an accessible rickshaw.

Climbing the biggest hill of the day. We had the wrong route mapped and did not know about this one. Probably a good thing.

An ice cream vendor in the middle of nowhere. You wonder how he is able to make a living. A coconut ice cream stick is 6 pesos or about 33 cents.

Karst mountains. Lots of limestone in the area.

The Posada del Tucan in Palenque. Our home for the next two nights.

Today's ride: 94 km (58 miles)
Total: 34,373 km (21,346 miles)

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