We were taking an afternoon tour to nearby waterfalls, Misol-Ha and Agua Azul. Earlier in the week, bandits had blocked the road to Agua Azul couple of times so fingers were crossed that it was clear today. We were picked up in a relatively smart air conditioned van that already had some passengers in it. They had spent the morning at the ruins and were looking a bit drained and half asleep. That was confirmation enough for us that it was wiser to split the sightseeing excursions up as we had.

We took a road heading up into the hills and within 30 minutes were pulling up in the car park for the Misol-Ha Falls. As we walked towards the falls, you could see a wall of water behind the tall trees - this had signs of being quite impressive. As we cleared the trees, we could see the full 35m drop and the water crashing into the pool below.

The rock face had a large overhang which meant you could walk in behind the waterfall. It was certainly not a dry path, with spray coming of the falls and more water leaking out the rocks, it was more of a slippery scramble. At the end of the path, a stream was coming out of the entrance to a cave. With the aid of a torch, for a small additional fee, to penetrate the pitch black, we could walk up the stream to a small 3m waterfall inside the cave.

We drove for another 45 minutes or so into the mountains of Chiapas before getting our first glimpse of Agua Azul (Blue Water). A river of bright blue was snaking its way through the valley down below us. The van wound it's way down the valley and parked up in the fairly commercial little village - they obviously expected a lot of visitors here.

The river of stunning blue water had a series of waterfalls and pools for swimming. We had been dropped off at the lower end and the pools, which were pretty busy with people splashing and lazing around. Fortunately this wasn't a surprise for us, we had been told that the upper part of the river is much better and quieter for swimming. We set off up the path at the side of the river and were surprised by the number of stalls lining the path and by offers for transport across the river - this was like a cross between Egypt and Chichen Itza. The waterfalls and views were beautiful though and we persisted climbing the constantly rising path as we headed up the river.

It was tough walking uphill in the heat so eventually we gave in and jumped in the river to cool off before continuing our quest for the better part of the river. It wasn't long before the stall vendors started thinning out and the stone path ended. We were in the 'locals' part of the village and just as we were told, the river was better for swimming and lazing around before heading back down the path to the van for the return drive back to El Panchán.

Friday nights at Don Mucho's meant a live band was playing, nothing spectacular but good enough to listen to while eating pizza and drinking beer. Either the band played for too long or David was drinking the Negra Modelo too quickly because the walk home wasn't too straight.