From colonial beauty to busy, cramped city

So far we have been spoilt by the charming towns of Merida and Campeche, so after a lazy morning of munching on bakery treats, catching up on emails, and shopping at Campeche, we drive five hours to our next stop – Palenque, and feel slightly deflated. From spending a week in Mexico, I have learnt that each town is unique, has its own feel, and quite often is far removed from the town we visited prior. After lumping our backpacks into the foyer of the hotel, we sip on complimentary tequila cocktails and make our way to our room – lacking the peaceful charm of last night’s hotel, but we can’t complain – I knew touring through Mexico was not going to be champagne and 5-star luxury. But to be honest, while I am rather partial to the good life, experiencing different ways of life, foods, and approach to the everyday is what has made Mexico such an amazing country to visit. The diversity is fantastic and alluring – making each new town a definite surprise. At night, we walk the very hot, blamy streets to a pizza restaurant Lisa recommended, and munch on very tasty vegetarian pizza, and again wash it down with the mandatory Sol.

As we stroll back to the hotel, we comment that Palenque should be dubbed the shoe-city. Every third store is a shoe shop, each with very similar choices, but none of which my shoe-obsessed self can lavishly buy, as I am 5’8 and most sizes are rather small. However, Emma picked up some black heels for a steal – 120 pesos. We retire back to the hotel for an early night – as the long travel day, and hot, steamy weather has drained us.