Palenque

We were rudely awoken at about 6:30 today as the driver told everyone to get off the bus for 20 mins so he could go and refuel. Since we were supposed to be arriving in an hour we assumed that this meant the bus was late. We soon returned to the bus and our fears proved to be correct as it was 9 by the time we actually reached Palenke. We quickly found a collectivo which took us to our camp-site, stopping along the way so we could pay our entrance fee for the national park. The camp-site is located only 1.5 km from the ruins, with an amazing setting surrounded by jungle on all sides, it has a beautiful naturally warmed pool to swim in and a nice restaurant. And you get all this for $5 a night per person, as long as you have your own tent or hammock. We found a nice spot and set up our tent before deciding to walk into town. This proved to be a mistake as the centre of town was over 2 miles away and the sun was baking hot, added to this the humidity which is so much higher here than in Mexico City we were exhausted by the time we got there. We looked around for a little while and Mae found several pairs of short shorts she like and not a few dresses. She managed to resist as the quality was not good enough or the prices were too high on all of them. We also found a small square in the centre which we sat in for half an hour or so until we decided it was time to buy some food for dinner and catch a collectivo back. Upon arrival we hurried to store our food away and then went straight to the pool where we collapsed into the surprisingly warm water. It was somewhat of a shock at first but heavenly once you were used to it, we relaxed here amongst the tress and thatched huts for a couple of hours. Eventually however a large group of people turned up and started playing awful music so we left and decided it was time for dinner, which we ate with 2 beers each before turning in at around 8 to watch the fireflies from the safety (from mosquitoes) of our tent.