It's an adventure alright.

We begin at the point where we actually made it onto a bus headed to Palenque, Chiapas. It was quite a hassle making it on. We hop on our moving hotel and hunker down for our 12 hour ride. Thankfully it was an over night so we popped a few dramamine and passed out. We arrive in Palenque and make our way to the hostel. Chiapas is f-ing cheap! Kelly and I got this beautiful cabaña with screens for windows and a view of the river. We didn't know that this great view of the river was going to make for a stressful evening.

If you haven't yet, I would suggest looking up the Palenque ruins. They are absolutely amazing. In the middle of the jungle and you get to climb all over them. Poor Kelly was suffering from a dramamine overdose, but powered through it like a champ. After exploring the ruins we headed back for a little rest and some food. Across the street from our hostel was a great restaurant and live music! Since we are on a hot date we pick the table closest to the river, romantic and all that stuff. After about a half hour of drinking wine and talking, it starts to storm. Thunder, lightning, rain, the works. I LOVE thunderstorms, so I was beyond happy.

Wine, salsa music, great food, and great company. I notice after about an hour that the river seems to be rising. Drunk on wine, I start to get a little worried. Kelly assures me that it is fine and to quit being such a baby. Maybe not so harsh, but I'm pretty sure she was thinking it. I relax and keep the level of the river in the corner of my eye. And what do you know, the water has made it to the edge of the parking lot. This is starting to worry me because the river has raised, at minimum, 8 feet in 2 hours. Kelly makes a deal with me, once it goes over the edge of the parking lot and the car tire is under water, we can head back. Fifteen minutes later we are walking out. It has reached the car.

Getting out of the restaurant was an adventure all in itself. If we were to leave the way we came, part of the way we would be in chest deep water. There was an alternate route that took us through the jungle with directions from that staff that consisted only of 'look for the small bridge'. Thanks. We make it safely to the road and over to the reception of our hostel only to find that the entire property is under water. What the hell?!

There are a series of small bridges that we have to cross to get to our cabaña. Cute by day, dangerous and terrifying by night. We made one attempt to cross one of the bridges that was under 6 inches of water before we aborted the idea realizing that one miss step will put us in the rushing river. We wake up the people at the hostel and try our best in broken Spanish to find out how to get to our room, which at this point I'm wondering if it is really the best idea. Offering just as much help as the people at the restaurant, he points us in the direction of another entrance. To the right is Kelly crossing one of the bridges. Three hours earlier that bridge went over a creek.

Once again we are trapsing through the jungle, not quite sure where we are, but kind of sure we are on track. At last! There it is!! We've made it! But its not that easy. We have another bridge to cross and we can see that our first step is almost completely under water. Thank the Mayan Gods for Kelly. She hopped right out on the bridge and scooted her way across it and then talked me through it. There is a bridge under all that.

Thankful that we made it and our beds weren't under water we sat ourselves on the porch and drank a bottle of wine and took some long exposure photos. After an hour or so the water started receding and we decided it was time for bed. Above is a before and after. The after is when the water started receding, so just imagine another foot of water. Tomorrow was going to be another long bus ride through the mountians of Chiapas to San Cristobal de las Casas and it could get messy.



Stay tuned for San Cristobal. That turned out to be another hair raising event.