Hello again. After the Mayan villages, I visited a canyon about an hour south of San Cristobal. It is constantly surprising me of the different climates in Mexico. In the canyon, it was very dry and hot. In San Cristobal, it is freezing and very cloudy, as we are so high up, I guess we are in the clouds! The pacific coast I was on a few days ago had scorching weather all day and night, with no breeze, ever! I've just left the jungle where it was incredably humid and sweaty sticky. Well, I'm certainly getting through what few clothes I brought with me. Anyway, back to the canyon.... I saw lots and lots of wild life and the guide was good at telling us all about it. We saw pelicans, vultures, engrets and best of all, crocodiles!!!! Fantastic. I spent that day with an Isralie girl and an guy called Geof from Zimbabway. Myself and Geof then headed off the next day into the jungle of Palenque, visiting some beautiful waterfalls on the way. Palanque is home to some fantastic Mayan ruins. I had only seen Aztec pyrimids up until now. I have to keep reminding my self when I see the huge structures, that these were build without any metal tools, pack animals or the invention of the wheel. Just a lot of slaves! I think what made them so special was their jungle setting. You walk around the ruins and hear howler monkeys in the trees. I didn't see any but their howl is the most blood curdling, horror movie sound I've ever heard from nature!

That night I stayed in a Cabana in the middle of the jungle, in a compound called El Panchan outside Palenque, where the monkeys and bugs sang (and bit) me to sleep. The next day I went off by myself on a bit of an adventure through more jungle to see some hidden Mayan ruins. These took 3 hours to drive to, followed by a one hour boat journey on the Rio Usumacinta , which creates part of the Mexican/Guatamalian border.

The Yaxchilan ruins have not been restored and are visited by very few tourists. They have a little scary atmosphere as you really don't want to wander to far or else get lost in the jungle for days. You can clamber over and into these structures much more so than the other sites. Unfortunitly, there were no lights in the long dark passages ways, and the warning of snakes stopped me exploring too much. I did spot some bats near one of the entrances though.

And I watched a highway of leaf cutter ants for ages.

I also got a sight of the howler monkeys, who looked a lot smaller than I imagined them to be. They were very high up and the photos are blury.

Then on the way back I stopped off at one more set of Mayan ruins called Bonampak. These, in themselves, aren't too amazing compared to all I'd seen previously, but what puts them on the map is their increadibly well preserved murals covering three whole rooms, floor to celing. They are about 2700 years old! The photos is dark because you're not allowed use flash but I think it's worth putting up to get an idea of how well preserved they are. Well, I think that's enought ruins for a while!

After all that jungle, I sat on a bus for 12 hours during the night and made it to a city called Merida. The bus passed through the Tabasco region, which had the flooding. I didn't see anything as it was pitch black, but judging from the bumps on the road, there is a lot of mud and debris that needs clearing. I'm pretty tired today, so I've just wandered around the town. I've treated myself to a really big meal and am going to have a sesta now before the free salsa lessons tonight. I'm off to the Carribian coast tomorrow for some more relaxation.