TEMPLES IN THE MIST

We arrived in the tiny town of Palenque at 6am, stepping straight off the night bus from Campeche to the familiar roars of the howler monkeys - it was dark, drizzly, misty... spooky. As our time was quickly running out in this vast country, we decided not to stay overnight and booked ourselves on a cheap tour, by minibus, that took us to San Cristobal De Las Casas (our next planned destination) via the misty jungle ruins of Palenque, Mizu-Ha Waterfall and Agua Azul (another set of waterfalls & pools). It was an action-packed day after very little sleep, but well worth it as it gave us more time in the beautiful valley town of San Cristobal...

The Palenque ruins are stunning, mainly due to the misty jungle setting, but also because these big, incredibly well-preserved buildings are just the tip of the ice-berg - 95% of this hidden city is still buried deep in the jungle! We had a great guide, Ernesto, who gave us the lowdown on how the ruins were found, the history of the Mayans who built them and the 'demi-god' who ruled over them and lived there.