Blogs :: My Friend the Lizard
So as I sat alone in the middle of the jungle in El Panchan, I contemplated all the interesting and fearsome creatures that lurked not more than a a few feet away in the inky blackness that consumed all light from my dying flashlight...
OK that is a lie, but I swear that I did consider how large a snake would have to be to swallow my foot when we were sitting in Don Muchos spending my first child's graduation present on dinner and drinks. If you ever make it to the Pelenque area, I highly suggest that you go to this little jungle-surrounded place. It is actually quite fun and the food might be the best in the area, and they have Flor de Cana.
Back to my lizard.... So we decided that we were going to rent cabanas in a small place up the road. The name Jungle Palace should have been my first clue as to where I would be laying my head. So, in the middle of the night, the good bowels decided that the massive amounts of Mexican food I have been eating had given up on being gentle to even my hardy system. Now I feel compelled to tell you that the name is not merely an embellished description designed to attract exotic visitors. The cabanas, while actually very nice, were smack in the middle of densely vegitated tropical jungle. It came complete with a tree situated three feet out and directly in the center of my door, low hanging branches, random patches of underbrush, and a giant iguana that moved from tree to tree. Want a visual? Now just put a cabana in the middle of it and you have my house! Needless to say this is not a house that you purchase for the running water that is included. There was, however, a quaint little bathroom and shower complex fifty meters away (through the Jungle).
Anyway, here I am in the middle of the night, minding my own business when the evil Mexican food attacks. Time to run for the "quaint little bathroom." TREE!!!! We are intimate now...Thorn bush! I was sure that my screams woke up the dead, but oh wait, I am in the middle of the jungle. Finally after only losing my flip flop once in the mud I made it. So there I am sitting on the throne and watching the bugs and lizards at play when one of the four foot (actually about three inch) monsters ran up my leg.... Getting up and running like a little girl was not an option considering where I was at, so I opted for the conversational approach. He didn't talk much. Maybe he was a little shy and overwhelmed by the barrage of curse words that were being sent his way.
Apparently I was not the only wildlife attracting person in the place 'cause I swear I heard Brendon having the same conversation with a spider in the shower.
Beyond that Palenque was good stuff. More ruins (see pictures), the dancing pharmacy mascot and ten hours in a bus stop after a failed attempt to catch a ride 65 KM to the waterfalls. It was a good time: even if I did have intimate talks with a lizard and a short lived attempt at a make out session with a tree...
Palenque, El Panchan, Mexico, lizards, animals
Posted By:
Jason
10/11/2008