Palenque, Mexico

Yesterday I left Guatemala at 5am in a shuttle to the Mexican border. It was a 4 hours ride on rocks until we got to Bethel (few houses in the middle of nothing), where we signed of passports out of Guatemala. Then we proceeded on boat to the other side of the river. It felt like we are being smuggled out of Guatemala, although it´s a very comon way to pass to Mexico. As we landed on the other bank we saw houses with planted grass and a cantina that looked much more advanced than Guatemala. We went by a minibus less than 10 years old to the city of Palenque (2hrs). Palenque in one word is like Osfiya. Many stores that sell cheap clothes and gifts, old low houses, merchants sitting outside of stores. Don´t be mistaken, this is a great advance from the colonial towns I am used to from Guatemala (that looked at times like 19th century). Here there new cars, many TVs, more bored soldiers, different music on the radio, and the people have chinese eyes and brighter skin at times. Oh, I forgot to mention that there are paved roads at last - I can sleep on the buses! I am travelling with Moshe and Maayan - a couple on honeymoon from Flores to Tulum. This evening we will take a bus to Tulum (11hrs), which is my first beach on this trip.