Cabana in the jungle

This is a photograph of the cabana that Tony and I are staying in at El Panchan, near Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. The 5 hour bus trip was amazing. No more cactii and dry grey wasteland for us, just verdant jungle, wild cliff drops, soaring mountains. Out of nowhere the land is cleared, a series of shacks appear and the roadside stalls go up. For a while it was children on the speed humps selling corn and whole coconuts with a straw in the top, then it was clothes stalls selling garmets that were either sunflower yellow or white, no other colours, just yellow or white, then it was barbeque chicken, whatever.

We are staying out of the town in a wierd place that is really just a collection of hippy-feral backpacker jungle hostels. It is easy to meet people, at the bar and there are plenty of folks from all around the world who have been making their way across the planet. The exchange of stories is great fun. We even met an Aussie called Dale from Nathalia wearing a Carlton Football Club top. He is on his way to Cuba to do some boxing. Sure enough he went to Mowbray College for a while, and of course we knew some of the same people.