Happy 2015! Today we left the humid jungle heat of Palenque and headed to some famous waterfalls about half an hour away.
We didn’t swim at this waterfall, but instead you can walk all around the back of the water pouring down, climbing along the rocks to literally stand behind it.
The cool water mist was perfect for clearing our post-NYE heads!
The water, as at Roberto Barrios, is a bright green-blue due to it’s high mineral content.
We swam and played around in the water for a while, before starting our long journey to San Cristóbal.
The journey took a long time - about 7 hours - so I bonded with my new neck pillow (thanks to my sister who knows my animal-print obsession all too well!) and my iPod shuffle. If you do a lot of long travels, these are both a must!
San Cristóbal is at a much higher altitude than Palenque, situated in a high mountain valley at 2,110m - it was noticeable colder as a result. It has been a popular traveller’s destination for years. The combination of cobbled streets and surrounding highland countryside is a attractive combination.
We reached the city in the evening and headed out for a wander. I seriously layered up - wearing 2 pairs of trousers and 3 jumpers/cardigans to brave the icy winds!
We were staying around the corner from the main square “Plaza 31 de Marzo” so started there - admiring the central bandstand, cathedral and surrounding illuminated buildings.
Ready for dinner we headed to ‘Tacos & Margaritas”.
I had a “Tampiqueña Classic” - a feast of tender spicy beef, guacamole, fried tacos, fried banana and enmoladas (tortillas coated in a mole sauce). Mole sauce is not literally ‘made from moles’ - it is a Mexican sauce made from many ingredients including chilli peppers and chocolate.
It’s very rich and disappointingly doesn’t taste of chocolate at all - though I’m not sure that would have gone with the rest of the feast!
Wanting some chocolate to finish the day (as the mole sauce didn’t hit the spot and the area is well respected for it’s chocolate!) I headed onto Kakao Natura - a chocolatería and cafe.
This place has the best hot chocolate recipe I’ve ever seen! You could pick three different types - classic, semi-bitter or extra kakao. Then you could pick from eight different flavours: cardamon, moka, three seeds, mayan, passionfruit, vanilla, cinnamon or mint.
I opted for the cardamon classic - but you need so many days to work your way through the menu!
Warmed up we headed back to our heavily-blanketed beds.
Central America
01.01.15
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