So last night after the third hectic day in a row I decided to upload the pictures, that went well. I then wrote a short version of the last few days but after spending the time doing it somehow cyberspace snatched it and so no blog update. So here is the longer version anyway.

Sat 26th - We travel overland today to Palenque. Along the way we visit two waterfalls. The first Agua Azul Falls is gorgeous. it has quite a series of torrential cascades and beautiful blue water pools. We where shown a quiet private area where we get to swim. Yes we are in our clothes but its so hot it won't take long to dry. The river the falls are from is surrounded by thick jungle. It was hard work walking up the sometimes slippery rocks and over thick tree roots and vines but so worth it for the views and the swim. On the way to the falls the mountains around us went from pine tree forest to dense jungle, very very windy roads and sometimes a little bus sick feeling comes and goes . We stopped at another area which had a beautiful cascade waterfall that we could walk behind. I also went deep into a cave and saw bats.... we continue on our 5 hour road trip and come into the township of Palenque. It's an ancient mayan city that reached its peak from the 6th to the 8th centuries AD. We arrive at our hotel which is huge and is set amoungst rainforest. We have a welcome drink and watch Iguanna's (big ones too) walking around. It's very hot and humid here. We say goodbye to our guide of the last three days Rochendo and his young driver.

Sunday 27th - Out today to see the ruins of Palenque. The ruins are in and endless green tropical jungle. Only 10% of the ruins have been uncovered. There are over 1400 sites that cover an area of 2.5km's. Our guide Mildred speaks great English and tells us an indepth story of the people and the times. Palenque is one of the most visited sites in the country and the architecture is amazing. After many stairs and lots of pictures we eventually leave to continue on another 5 hour road trip. We stop at a roadside diner/truckstop for lunch. Excellent little place with local foods. Onto our overnight stay at Campeche. Nice little place but even hotter than the last place. The drive to get there we get to see an 'ant' bear.....anteater...lol and huge palm tree plantations which are used for palm oil.

Monday 28th - We leave Campeche for about a 2.5 hour drive to our next ruins visit....Uxmal which is en route to Merida. Uxmal is one of the best restored and maintained ruins in the Yucatan and wow it was different from all the others. It has huge courtyards and extremely ornate covered outer walls. Again it's hot today but here it is not as humid as the last ruins. Our guide is great and shows us so much detail. guides are great because otherwise you would miss so much because you didn't know the meaning behind certain things.

It is here I must say a huge Thankyou to Rod from Contours Travel for all his knowledge and advise of the best places to go and what is worthwhile to do. I suggest if you plan on a visit to anywhere in Central or South America look them up on the web they do some great itinerys and you can change things around.

Next up I'll tell you about last nights tour around Merida and the amazing boutique hotel we are in......