I ended up staying here today hoping that there’d be a change with my sister’s condition. No such luck though. Tomorrow I’m going to ride to the next town and make plans from there.

While walking to dinner tonight I’m fairly sure that I saw someone being kidnapped. A couple people on the sidewalk in front of me had stopped and were looking down a side street. When I got to where they were I could see a white mini-van with the door open stopped next to the sidewalk. Right next to the open door 2 or 3 guys were struggling with another guy and it looked like they were trying to get him into the van. I didn’t go over because that would have probably been a stupid move on my part. The Mexican guy standing next to me didn’t head over either so I figured he was staying out of it for a good reason. I didn’t stand there for more than 10 seconds because I kind of stick out here. First time I’ve seen any kind of violence in Mexico. It’s possible it was something other than what it looked like but I doubt it.

I just saw the Wikipedia entry for this city: “Escárcega was featured in fifth position on the 2002 Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico’s “worst of Mexico” list.”

Nice. I haven’t seen that much of the city but it doesn’t seem that bad (other than people being kidnapped). There is kind of a weird feeling you get here that I noticed yesterday. People don’t seem as friendly and even walking down the street I’m not stared at like I normally am. Maybe it’s because people are afraid? Who knows. Or it could be that everyone here thinks Americans are jerks because the dumbasses at Burger King thought it would be cool to stick up this huge obnoxious sign that you can see from miles out of town. No wonder some local kid back in Palenque used BK as an insult when he said I should go there to eat. To be fair he was drunk but still.

Went over and saw the ancient ruins of Palenque this morning. Palenque, part of the Maya civilization, dates back to 100 BC. It sits in the middle of a dense jungle that’s inhabited by various bird species, howler monkeys, and supposedly jaguars. The ruins were spectacular. Definitely worth a visit. The cool part is that archaeologists estimate that only 5% of the total city has been uncovered.

There were a large number of tourists but the site is fairly large so it didn’t feel crowded. I lucked out and had perfect weather and no mosquitoes, which I’ve heard can be pretty bad.

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04/07 Well if I thought yesterday was tough today was like riding a 600 lb bike uphill in a giant sauna. I left at 10am this morning and after riding for almost 8 hours I made it here. My actual riding time was just under 5 hours. So for 3 hours I was sitting under any tree I could find to try to and cool off. If it wasn’t for the trees I would have never made it. Oh and the hills. The climb out of the cascades wasn’t a surprise so when I got to the top I chugged down some cold water from the store and kept going. The 2nd big hill at mile 20 almost killed me. Traffic didn’t help either because at least once every 20 seconds a car/truck would come along which kept me from switchbacking up the steep parts. I’ve never pushed my bike up a hill but I can’t imagine that being any easier.

Not sure if what I’m in yet is rain forest but it seems like it to me. On one of my many siestas I got to see lots of colorful little birds flying around. Not too many pictures today. I had to save my energy. Ran into 4 more “vine-across-the-road” stops staffed by one or more young girls. The first 2 were within 200 yards of each other and I was going downhill (fast) and didn’t feel like stopping. So I kept pedaling and they dropped the vine when they saw I wasn’t going to stop. It wasn’t long after that that I started feeling like a world-class jerk. They lowered the vine so its not like they were going to kill me for not donating a little and we’re not talking about a lot of money. I’m not a fan of their methods but if I were in their shoes I’d probably do the same. So at the next one I stopped and gave up a few pesos. The last one I rode right by because they didn’t hear me coming until it was too late. I turned around and gave them some pesos too.

Palenque is my home for the next 2 nights. Found a place with internet and hot showers (not that I needed it) for US $16 night (Hotel Shalom). Tomorrow I’ll go check out the ruins. I only saw a little of the town so far but it seems a bit rough. The buildings/sidewalks are in general disrepair and the streets are a it of a mess. Kind of surprising for being so close to one of the biggest archeological sites in Mexico.

Feeling a little better. My nose has finally stopped running and the cough isn’t nearly as bad.

GPX Track