Organic Papaya Ranch, what?

"My friend has an organic papaya ranch. It's just outside Palenque. Want to go there?"
I know, it seems like every day we face this question, and one day, I decided to say, YES! I've been waiting my whole life to go to an organic papaya ranch!
Or, this was the first time I've ever heard the words "organic papaya ranch" all together.
Either way, I thought this sounded like a cool offer from my friend Silvia at work, and this past weekend we trekked up/out to Palenque to spend some time in the mud of the jungle.
I'd like to note that I knew I was in for a fun time when the driver ran a red light within the first 20 minutes of the trip.
So, the plan was to get to Ocosingo (Zapatista hotbed, yessss!) Friday night, stay over, and do the other three hours Saturday morning. Of course, "morning" meant after 11am on Mexican time, and we weren't there till mid-afternoon. Anyhow, I got a great shot of a Zapatista town schoolhouse, and my friends (who aren't pansy gringos!) said, "If they kidnap you, we're out of here, we don't know you."
It seems all roads in Chiapas are built with as many switchback curves as the "engineers" could possibly muster, except the route to San Cristobal, because it's new and a toll road. Otherwise, going anywhere is an almost certain recipe for nausea and holding on the the overhead handle that all cars here seem to have. We finally made it to Palenque mid-afternoon, as I said, and I was quite taken in by the jungle! It sort of seemed like something out of a movie... not quite rainforest, but the same bright greens and lush appearance without the 200 foot high giant trees. After we ate, I sat and watched my friends put down a bottle of Jack Daniels (I hate the stuff) without them even getting drunk (how is this possible?) and then we went to eat again. This was my second weekend on a ranch, and I've come to the conclusion that this is what one does at a ranch: eat, drink, and sit around to one's heart's content. There is an incredible restaurant in the jungle area near the ruins where one can also rent cabanas in the jungle for an adventurous stay. We ate at this Italian-Mexican jungle restaurant for three meals over the weekend, and everything from the pizza to the tacos was good.
The next day, Sunday, we got up and went to the ruins at Palenque. They were quite cool, but I was more interested in the surrounding jungle, part of which we walked through to arrive at the ruins. I'm a hydrophile (is that a word?), so the little streams and waterfalls really got my attention. Also, while standing on some of the ruins (Mayan pyramids, more or less) toward the jungle, I was told to listen, and sure enough, howler monkeys could be heard out in the jungle. I had heard of these, and I pictured them howling, sort of an "OOOOOOOO" type of thing... they should be renamed GROWLER monkeys, because that noise is one of the freakiest things I've heard outside of monster movies! It would make for a GREAT Halloween CD. I'd go back just to hear that freaky growling again!