Palenque (Mexico)

After a terribly sleepless night in the jungle, due in part to the massive hot-box that was our tent and the crazy loud mating calls of what we think were the cat-sized frogs, we got up. I think between the three of us, we probably got a whopping 6 hours of sleep. Breakfast in the restaurant area was good. Then we headed out in the car to see the ruins of Palenque, which Lonley Planet promised were the most "romantic" of all the Mayan ruins. They did not disappoint. Many of the buildings were still covered in massive amounts of jungle shrubbery. It was beautiful to walk through and explore, though insanely hot and humid. We were all completely soaked through our clothes by the time we finished. Jared and I went a different route than Clint, which left us climbing 1.5 kilometers back to the car. Thank THE LORD we got our AC back from our troubles in Puerto Esconidido, because we blasted it on our way out. After the ruins, we headed to Misal-Ha, a waterfall right by the ruins. It was phenominal!! One large waterfall, cascading into a cool pool. Unlike the waterfalls the previous day, this was pretty empty. Jared and Clint actually went and swam under the cascade for a second, I was a bit too unsure of my swimming skills, so I just took photos. After, we all laid out on the large rocks on the side of the pool, occasionally jumping back in to cool off again. It was such an epically serene moment. Jared actually took a quick cat-nap on the rocks. When we headed back to the hostel, we stopped off at the gas station for some great tacos, which we now endearingly have dubbed "gasoline tacos", and have decided that we must have everytime we see a taco stand at a station. We also found Dr. Pepper! A huge win for the day. When we got back to the hostel, we met a nice young couple from Mexico/Canada. I use the slash, because they had just met 2 months earlier in Mexico City, and she was now going to move to Canada to live with him!! Such a cute story...until we learned that the guy was certifiably nuts! Poor girl. Anyway, we hung out with them for a while, being entertained by his crazy theories on life and discovered that we could get a liter of beer and a massive burrito from the bar for 35 pesos each!! After gorging and drinking, we headed to bed to camp in the jungle again (so cool!). Jared took a liking to sleeping in the car, and I discovered the wonder that is the earplug, so I think we slept better.