I'm fairly certain it rained through the night but with the noise of the fan I couldn't be sure. Either way it was nice to go to sleep and wake up to the noises of the jungle. It was also nice to be laid in bed and look out through the mesh and be surrounded by jungle.

Simone and I met up with Tres, Simone, Aysha and Owen at 8am to walk to the ruins at Palenque. However in my infinite wisdom I had suggested leaving anything waterproof back in England! Simone borrowed a coat but I set off in shorts and a t-shirt and pretty soon was getting soaked as the rain came down hard. It was only a 30 minute walk but instead we jumped in a collectivo.

The ruins themselves were great. The best ones yet. Set in the jungle and surrounded by green made several of them looked fairly impressive. Not a patch on Angkor Wat but still good! We left Owen and Aysha to explore at their leisure - one brick at a time I think but judging by the amount of photos they take! The rest of us just explored, more interested in taking in the site than what it once was in a blow by blow history lesson. We got away from the old dears in their colourful waterproof ponchos and passed through some nice waterfalls and pools. We spent about 3 1/2 hours exploring the site occasionsly sheltering from some light rain. The cries or growls of howler monkeys could be heard throughout the site but I was disappointed not to see one. We started to walk back and I took a slight detour through the jungle with Tres and after hearing a waterfall. We hopped over stones and through a stream getting soaked trying to find it only to see people strolling along a path parallel to us!

By the time we came out of the jungle the rain was once again torential and we were getting soaked. We managed to squeeze onto a collectivo to get us back relatively dry although Simone did drop our day sack in a big puddle getting off the bus. We sheltered in the restaurant and had a few vino tintos waiting for the rain to ease. However it didn't ease off and people started coming back in varying states of drenched. After a few drinks we walked back through the jungle to our room to shower and getting bored I went monkey spotting with no luck.

Around 5ish we went back to the restaurant for some beer and to play some cards and the rest of the group started gathering for food an hour or so later. There was a strange atmosphere during the meal. Even though we tend to hang around in smaller groups everyone has still been getting along fine when the 16 of us do get together for meals. Tongith however there was a definite tension in the air (along with plenty of rain!). After food a few of us paid our bills and went to our rooms amidst the torential rain leaving the others to drink.