The drive from San Cristóbal to Palenque is one of the most beautiful in all of Mexico. It starts at almost 8000' in open pine forests with dry, cool air. It winds and twists and goes up and down a series of beautiful pointed mountains. Mountain streams fall thousands of feet in incredible waterfalls. The valleys are fertile with small farms set along the creeks and steams. There were lots of wildflowers blooming including a lot of purple tree dahlias, I remember paying $30 each for those plants in San Anselmo, here they grow wild.

I talked about the different towns you go through before, each with the women in a different outfit. At one of them all traffic stopped and we could see a mob scene up ahead. When we finally got closer we saw that the police had driven across the road blocking it as a decorated truck with men dressed as the 3 Kings in back made its stately way through the town throwing candy and small gifts to the kids. Most children here get their xmas gifts on 3 Kings day or Jan 6th. Apparently it was being celebrated on the Sunday after as well. As we got farther along in town I saw an Evangelical church with a group of women in front holding their kids and not looking happy. Their kids really looked unhappy and were probably the only kids in town that didn't get to run after the truck and get presents.

Interesting sight is the banana trees interspersed with pines, not something often seen up north. As you drop farther down, the tropical trees begin to replace the pines, with everything getting thicker and higher. Pretty soon anything not cleared is a solid mass of green with Ceiba, Mulato, wild papaya and other jungle trees. The creeks become small rivers and the waterfalls more powerful, one that we saw from the road was so wide it fell around numerous huge rocks and spread across a wide section of the cliff before falling between rocks and trees to the canyon several hundred feet below.

There are hundreds of brutal topes along this road, some marked and some not. We go slow because of them and because of the steep, 2 lane, switchback road. It's nice because there is plenty of time to gawk at the scenery. The total miles are only 131 from San Cris to Palenque but it took us 5.5 hours! At the end you are in lush jungle with wide rivers and enormous falls. It is 85' above sea level and the humidity and temp is higher. We pulled into the Maya Bell campground just outside the archeological park of Palenque. It's a great place, very lush and shaded with palapas and hammock space for rent as well as small rv or tent camping. It has a restaurant and is full of international backpackers and more old VW buses than we have seen in years.