This is Palenque

After a busy day I can say I am knackered. The morning started with a walk through the jungle. Slathered in insect repellent we headed out at 7am in search of ruins and monkeys. I saw ruins but no monkeys. Did see a squirrel though. The heat of the jungle combined with rain made for one sticky start to the morning. I had gotten cramp the night before and I think it was due to sweating so much and having no salt left so I have been trying to eat salty food like crisps and nuts. The food here is actually quite bland and lacks salt, and there is none on the tables to use either. In the jungle I learned some interesting facts and ate an ant intentionally. Tasted like celery. We climbed over mounds in the jungle which were actually houses but hidden under hundreds of years of leaf litter and trees. The image below is me climbing out of one of those houses buried. It was cool, well actually it was muggy and hot, but your get my meaning. Inside was bats which was great. They were at head height and furry. I managed a blurry photo but nothing great. The jungle itself is a lot like NZ but not quite and also a hell of a lot more muggy and wet. It was lush and green but the while time I was aware that there were things in the forest that could kill me.

From the jungle walk we popped out at the ruins of Palenque which were suitably impressive. Different again from the other ruins, these ones were still half buried in the hills. We could climb parts of these ones and the guide was great. He told us all about the bodies found and too us off the beaten track to some riins that are not open to the public yet. We walked back to the hotel from the ruins via the museum where we saw the 25 tonne ssarcophagus. Now that was some serious coffin. It is hard to imagine people lifting that into place!

After that we headed back for a quick change of clothes into togs and from there to the waterfalls. It had been raining in a place which is similar to the waitakere ranges but with waterfalls. The rains had forced huge amounts of water to pour down and overwhelm the waterfalls. They were torrential and intense. Some keen beans went for a swim and jumped off some of them. I was not one of those. I was happy to sit dry and safe below the canooy as the skies opened and drenched the land.

In saying that I have opted to do whitewater rafting tomorrow. Type 2 so no more intense than I did in Rotorua with Kristel. I did check that they were fully certified and they do cancel when the weather and rapids are dangerous which is some small measure of comfort.

I am now sitting with a wine, relaxing. Will have to pack soon. Tomorrow we are off to a part of Mexico with no reception or wifi.