After Merida I had a LONG day of riding to arrive at Palenque (about 8 hours). The town of Palenque itself is nothing special. My hotel had all the appeal of a run-down, perhaps abandoned, motel on Route 66. But the purpose here was twofold: To break up the trip to San Cristobal de las Casas, and to see what are supposed to be the second best Mayan ruins in Mexico. Since I hadn't stopped at Chichen Itza to see the ruins there (because it was just too damned hot in the middle of the afternoon), Palenque seemed like a reasonable alternative.
As you can see, they are some impressive ruins in their own right:
While they might not quite measure up to Machu Pichu (Incan), Tikal (Mayan), or Teotihuacan (Aztec), Palenque is certainly worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood.
People often ask me how far I travel per day, or how many hours a day I travel. The only answer I can give is: It really varies. There are a lot of factors: Road conditions, weather, the type of road, and (mainly) my mood. There are days when I'm on a nice, curvy, interesting road and I just want to keep going all day. I might ride 6 or 8 hours and it's just not enough. Other days I might be on a miserable road in bad weather and I just want to quit, take a shower, and go to bed. Then there are the days that I just have to get somewhere and there is nowhere to stop in between. Then I might travel from sun-up to sun down (I ALWAYS try to be off the road before dark).
Keeping in mind that every few days I tend to stop someplace for a few days, I would say that a typical travel day will be a ride of 4 to six hours of actual seat-in-the-saddle time. Then again, there is seldom a typical day. And the seat-in-the-saddle can get awfully sore. That's why there are maseusses!
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