Lonely Planet lied to me, but it was alright...

So we wanted to leave Catemaco.

We had experienced the good and the bad and were now ready to leave.

Lonely Planet assured us we could bus direct from Catemaco to Villerhermosa, and then onto Palenque. It was all there in the standard LP timetable.

Unfortunately not correct information...but the nice guy at the ADO bus terminal helped us out. It was a pretty simple solution, we just had to get a 2nd class bus to Acayucan. Acayucan ended up being a great terminal with plenty of buses going in all directions. Once there it was simple to get a bus (we went first class) to Villahermosa. Unfortunately this means that we went over time and over budget (so to get back on budget it means a few days of tacos only, or homecooked meals (by us) of rice and sauce/tuna). To add to our problems Villahermosa is a wealthy oil city. Even after an extensive search on the internet we were unable to find a cheap accommodation option. So we had to suck it up and stay in an expensive hotel (around 20 dollars each a night) and hope to make it up elsewhere.

For the one night and half an afternoon we were there; Villahermosa impressed. Everywhere we read rubbished it, but it was a very alive city, and one with lots of well lit squares and water features with bright lights. Normally we havent been venturing out to late at night in a lots of places, but we felt safe enough here to have a nice wander around.  For those that are thinking to just rush through Villahermosa if you can find a cheap enough place to stay its a good place to refresh and refill on supplies (lots of shops).

This was pretty handy for us, as those great Walmart backpacks we bought for our trip had shat themselves. I know- I'm sure everyone is shocked, and even though we had tried to make them last (cable ties) they hadn't and it was time to upgrade/replace. We have chosen to not buy backpacks...yes, we are awesome backpackers. But we both had good backpacks in storage in Canada, and knew that buying new backpacks was going to be costly if they were going to last...so we have pull along soft shell sports bags. They are much bigger than our old bags so we can fit a lot of shit in them, and though they definetly dont have the street cred of a small backpack, or the label of a 70l backpack- they are small enough to carry when needed and better yet...I CAN PULL IT WHEN IT IS HOT AND NOT END UP WITH A BACK OF SWEAT.

So after a very expensive day (extremely expensive) we are off to Palenque.

 Wondering about the photo? Well its the only one I took in Villahermosa (I can't exactly boast about a great catalogue of travel photos...) but at least it has meaning...this is our expensive hotel. So I was attempting to get my money's worth.