After a leisurely breakfast we headed off to the Mayan archealogical site just outside of Palenque. It dates back to around 600AD. So far only 5% of the site has been excavated but even so it is one of the best Mayan sites in Mexico. They have discovered complete sarcophagus here along with treasure such as jade and other precious metals. The main building here is the Temple of Inscription where the Emperor Pakal was found. The steps to the top rise 25 metres and inside is a tunnel that leads downwards to the emperor's tomb, which is actually 2 metres below ground level. Next to this is the Temple of the Red Queen, who is believed to have been Pakal's wife. Across the way a little is El Palacio, or the Palace. Whilst many of the buildings have been damaged by either the Spaniards or the jungle a lot of restoration work is currently taking place. Like many ancient cultures the Mayans were great astronomers and many buildings have been built to capture the suns rays on particular days (summer and winter solstice) and direct them onto other buildings or structures. We followed this up with a stroll through the jungle. The highlight was the 2 metre green snake we came across. Instead of running off the other way as we would do in Australia, we all reached for our cameras. After all we are just dumb tourists!! Also spent time dangling our feet in a pool where little yabby like creatures supposedly eat the dead skin of your feet. I couldn't notice any difference. Our overnight bus wasn't leaving until 11pm so we had quite a bit of time to kill, and we did it in style. The hotel across the road had a pool. As long as we bought drinks we could use it. In the heat the we are experiencing we managed to do just that for about 5 hours. A great dinner of fish fillets and we headed off to the bus station for our definitely 2nd class bus to Merida. At least this time there were no protestors to detour around and we arrived on time in Merida at 7am the next morning.