Mexico By Bus: Veracruz-Villahermosa-Palenque
Order a drink called “lechero”. Your waiter will deliver a tall glass with a generous measure of espresso coffee in the bottom. What you must do next is tap loudly on the glass with your spoon, and immediately a different, immaculately uniformed waiter will dash to your table armed with pots filled with hot milk, and flamboyantly pour it into your coffee from a great height, theatrically stopping just as your glass reaches the brim full point.
Welcome to Gran Cafe de la Parroquia, Veracruz, established in 1808 and apparently serving their lechero in this extrovert style for over 200 years. We’d read about it before we arrived here and, sure enough, the large cafe echoes to the sound of locals banging their spoons, as much a part of the theatre as the waiters themselves.
Our already lovely hostess Kelly endears herself still further by coming round at 6.15am to take us to the bus station, she’s been a star one way and another. This time it’s a seven-and-a-half hour bus ride down to Villahermosa, which is for us just a one night stand to break the journey to our next destination. Consequently, we don’t see much of Villahermosa, but in our short time here this feels like a properly Mexican town, off the trail a bit with no nods to tourism, just that joyous, happy feeling of music everywhere and Mexicans having fun in the way that Mexicans do.
Tonight, this includes Michaela being serenaded by a customer in the bar who steals the busker’s microphone and croons passionately at her side. We don’t understand enough of the Spanish but by his gestures he’s telling Michaela that she’s lovely and me that I’m a lucky man: it all ends in much laughter with his mates ribbing him mercilessly as he returns to his table. Don’t you just love travel moments like this.
Our one night in Villahermosa is a brief call in the state of Tabasco, home of the sauce, before we board our next bus – only 2 hours this time – and cross into Chiapas, famous for its coffee and its Maya ruins. After a few successive cities, we’re looking forward to a run of smaller provincial towns, so as we trudge through the heavily sultry streets of Palenque to our new digs, it feels perfect.
A short collectivo ride out of town finds the wonderful ancient Maya site which bears the town’s name, nestled amongst the intense green of the jungle clad hills. Emerging from the tree cover out into the open area to get that first glimpse of the magnificent temple ruins is spectacular, the first of the many temples towering above us and surging up from the surrounding jungle.
For ease of visitor access, the main central area of temples has been largely cleared of trees, but the jungle is pushing, inching, trying to reclaim, which just adds to the ambience of this stirring place. Nearly two dozen lofty temples loom above the walkways, representing what is just a small section of what was once a giant Maya city. The rest is hidden in, and reclaimed by, the jungle.
It is thought, though not universally, that the great Mayan city was named Lakamha (“Big Water”), though Palenque has become the accepted name for these magnificent ruins. First occupied around 100BC, the city flourished in the 7th and 8th centuries under the mighty ruler Pakal, peaking at around 20,000 inhabitants. Much detail of Mayan society has been learned from deciphering the extensive petroglyphs and drawings within the temples and caves of Palenque.
Now one of Mexico’s national treasures, the site continues to reveal more and more of Maya history, having only been rediscovered in the 1830s and only extensively excavated from 1952 onwards. Palenque was not even seen by a Westerner until 1746, when descendants of the Maya population led a Spanish priest to their “lost city”. It’s incredible to think that these huge structures, and this giant city, were built without the use of metal tooling, pack animals or even the wheel.
Like the Aztec ruins at Teotihuacan, climbing the temples provides good exercise – the steps are individually high, and steep, due to the fact that both Aztec and Maya people were on average well over 6 feet tall. If, like Michaela, you’re only 5 foot nothing, it’s a bit of a challenge! After roaming and climbing the huge temples, we are approached by a guide offering us a trek deeper into the jungle, which is too good an opportunity to turn down.
Our trek takes us through dense jungle, over collapsed temples and even a crawl through a couple of the centuries old tunnels linking the temples and other buildings. There are estimated to be up to 1,500 undiscovered structures in various forms of collapse throughout these jungle clad hills, spread over the 15 square kilometres of what formed the city limits.
As good guides do, Faria (spelling may be wrong) shows us plants used as medicine by the Maya – and tells us that he, and his family, still use these ancient treatments rather than modern medicine, to this day, and that the people of his village still consult their shaman for spiritual guidance. We would love this to be true and not just a “tale for tourists”.
Meanwhile, back in modern day Palenque, the town goes about its business of part gateway to the site and part ordinary agricultural settlement. And it goes about its business of partying too: we could be forgiven for thinking that life in these provincial towns is just one long fiesta.
On the first night, the central square with its picturesque yellow-and-blue church is full of townsfolk lapping up a flamboyant and colourful dance show which is again absolutely riveting. As the show ends, we follow the crowds down the hill to what turns out to be a giant fairground, giant outdoor food hall, manically active market stalls and a live band inside a concert tent.
The mood is joyous, the decibel level is high, smiles ubiquitous, chatter incessant – just like everywhere else in this vibrant, colourful country, it seems. We’re beginning to think that the literal translation of “fiesta” is not “party”, it’s “life”. Music, as ever present here as everywhere else in Mexico, continues its joyous soundtrack way beyond our bedtime – in fact, wake up at the right time and you’ll catch the sound of cockerels accompanying the salsa beat.
Oh, and the fiesta mood doesn’t change when the teeming rain arrives – you just get wet and carry on. That rain, torrential when it comes, is a regular occurrence, washing down the hilly streets and pouring from tin roofs. But then, this is summer, and Palenque is, after all, in the wettest part of Mexico.
Tonight, as we prepare to move on from here, a new travel experience awaits: an all-night bus journey. We’ve done overnight trains and flights before, but an overnight bus is a new one. We will see how it goes…
26 Comments
Lookoom
Villahermosa, Palenque, again memories come back to me when I read your words. Villahermosa, I went there to visit the zoo, especially because there are Olmec sculptures in it. But the zoo was closing and the guard was refusing to let a family in. Understanding the situation I slipped in discreetly and visited the sculptures in the middle of the roar of the hungry beasts, the zoo to myself. But once back at the gate how to get out, the gate was closed. The people waiting for the bus outside saw me and directed me to a broken part of the gate, and I was able to escape.
Phil & Michaela
That’s a slightly bizarre story!!
Alison
Amazing stories again Phil. You do find the most interesting places to visit and always seem to be there for party time! I’m not sure I would have ventured into the jungle with just you and the guide! Hope the bus ride wasn’t too bad!
Phil & Michaela
We’re beginning to think that Mexico simply goes from one party to the next Ali!
Alison
Sounds like such a fun country 🥳
Dave Ply
Looks like you got a pretty comprehensive look at the place – nice. They didn’t allow climbing the temples when were there, I bet that added a great perspective.
Phil & Michaela
Thanks for commenting, Dave. Yes only a couple of weeks ago in Teotihuacan we weren’t able to, then in Palenque there were no restrictions. It definitely added perspectives, as you say.
Phil & Michaela
I meant to add, we’re visiting Chechen Itza later on this trip so it’ll be interesting to see how it works there, too
Dave Ply
Chichen Itza is spectacular, but I suspect as it’s so popular and so crowded that they’d need to keep people off in the interest of preservation.
Mike and Kellye Hefner
What an awesome adventure you two are on! It is so exciting to see what you’re doing and where you’re going next. Palenque looked like a fun stopover with lots of history and activity. Can’t wait to see how that overnight bus ride went and where you end up.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you guys, well we’re a lot higher now, back up in the mountains!
grandmisadventures
wow, fascinating look at the Mayans and the incredible structures they built! 🙂
Toonsarah
Palenque looks amd sounds amazing! We’ve been to Tikal in Guatemala and Lamanai 8n Belize but from your photos it looks like Palenque could outshine both 😮 I’m not sure I’d have attempted that jungle trek however. The dancing looks wonderful too!
leightontravels
Gran Cafe de la Parroquia looks fantastic, my kinda coffee joint. The drink itself reminds me of all the ‘cafe con leches’ I guzzled during my year living in the south of Spain. Just minus the wonderful showmanship you describe. Villahermosa sounds worth the stop, if only for the serenading. As for Palenque, it’s yet another fantastic slab of history and an architectural feast for the eyes. The jungle trek would be right up my street too, reminds me a little of our wanderings between the temples of Koh Ker.
Phil & Michaela
As it happens, we likened the “temple in the jungle” to the many photographs of Angkor Wat which we’ve seen – and then came home to find your post about Angkor Wat on the same day!
wetanddustyroads
The serving of that coffee – flamboyant indeed! This is being a waiter on just another (higher) level! The Maya ruins are amazing – I was thinking the same thing while looking at the photos … how did they managed to built something like this centuries ago! Love the dresses of the ladies while performing their dance – what a party! I think you’ll need a holiday after this tour 😁.
Phil & Michaela
Yes I think we need to start planning!
Monkey's Tale
I’d love to have my coffee served like that! I’ve wanted to visit Palenque for awhile but somehow Mexico keeps getting pushed down our list, I think because it’s too close and we’ve both been, just not together. Thanks for the great tour, maybe it’s moving back up. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
It’s more varied than we thought, Maggie. Where we are currently, up in the mountains, is much cooler and reminiscent of the Costa Rica rain forests.
WanderingCanadians
Sounds like you get some entertainment to go with your drink when you order a lechero! How neat to explore some of the Mayan ruins. It’s incredible to think how much is still yet to be discovered.
Phil & Michaela
Yes indeed it really is!
mochatruffalo
Interestingly, we were just discussing Tabasco sauce yesterday over lunch. We were curious when the staff informed us that they did not have Tabasco sauce. How can there not be Tabasco sauce in Mexico? A quick search on Google and Wikipedia revealed that the Tabasco sauce brand was created in the good ole USA by an Irish/Scottish guy by the name of Edmund McIlhenny…😄
Phil & Michaela
Ah well, lots of food in Mexico is regional. Here in San Cristobal there is definitely tabasco sauce, although it usually has a different name and “made in Tabasco” on the label, in Spanish of course. However stuff like chilli con carne and fajitas are definitely Tex Mex and generally were created by Mexican emigres living in Texas. How’s the trip going so far?
mochatruffalo
Trip has gone as well as it can being that we were at an all inclusive. Today’s our first day venturing out, so should be more interesting 😉
Jyothi
What a great tour Michaela and Phil!! Enjoyed it! Thanks 🙂
Annie Berger
Loved the lechero tale and photos, Michaela being serenaded, the fabulous Mayan ruins, , the church in Palenque and yet another fiesta – sounds like a great but exhausting time!