“Four colley birds” A great big nothing of a day – but still, we were both in better spirits than recently. Chiefly, I think, because of the prospect of moving on. We have both really had our fill of Mexico – +, more particularly, at the latin temperament, the sullenness + general bloody-mindedness. On, we hope, to other, different places. Tho’, to be fair, there’s a little more of Mexico yet… on to the Yucatan!
Up very early this morning, not that we knew it till we were up, such being the peril of being watchless. Passed the morning lazily – coffeeing, showering, slowly getting ourselves together. It was just too hot to move fast. When the time came to go into town, we stood by the gate, + were lucky enough to get a ride into Palenque. We took a picture of a really good statue there, spent 30 mins changing a travellers’ cheque, + then came the low part of the day, when we tried to find a cheap lunch. Other people tell us all about the glories of the Mexican comida corrida, but we haven’t been able to find it. However, after much messing around, we finally found a cheapish place to eat – a real pain it was.
Some of the afternoon we spent sitting in the Zocalo, taking it in turns to just sit + recover while the other went off shopping. Eventually tho’, we raised ourselves from our torpor,and set off to find the bus to take us to the station. The station turned out to be the dingiest, dirtiest, + really most depressing one we’d yet encountered. That at least was the first impression. As time went on, I got more used to the place, + a lot of interesting people turned up, so we were able to pass the time quite pleasantly, talking, + ploughing relentlessly thro’ our books. We’ve definitely – pretty definitely – made up our minds to go on to Guatemala. It sounds, from all we hear, friendlier, more interesting, + cheaper.
Apologies, for anyone who loves Mexico, for our somewhat sour response. A combination of things, I think. Lack of money played a big part, alongside the disappointment, having anticipated a rasther better life-style. We just happened to be there when the peso was particularly strong; good for the Mexicans, not so much for us. And, always looking for the cheapest, we tended to run up against sullen antagonism.
Still without a watch, it seems; I guess the opportunity to get something cheap had not popped up, and, to some extent, we quite enjoyed being free from the constraints of time… except when we had to catch a bus.
But, as you can see, our minds were set on further adventure, and, we hoped, a cheaper way of life.
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