As worn out as we were, we did not sleep all that soundly last night. After brushing a rather large cockroach off the bed, we slept fully clothed, on top of the bed with the pigtail fluorescent light on. Cockroaches hate light! Crazy as it sounds we did sleep some, enough to ride onto Palenque. There were no signs of cockroaches in the morning just a couple of small frogs with white dots on their heads. Are they poisonous?

Here are a few fascinating facts about cockroaches:

Crushed cockroaches when applied to a wound, can help ease the sting;
Cockroaches have white blood;
Roaches primarily come out for water, not food;
Cockroaches can live a month without food, but only a week without water;
A roach can live a week without a head. It dies after a week due to lack of water;
Laboratory female roaches are able to reproduce without aid of a male. They produce all female offspring;
The largest roach in the world is the Macropanesthia rhinocerus from Australia weighing in at up to 50 grams;
Cockroaches thrive in all conditions and live in the desert as well as the arctic;
Most roaches have the ability to fly, but not all do.
Fried Cockroaches are common snacks in Cambodia, as are spiders and rats;

Ok…enough about cockroaches!

We were packed up and cruising 5th gear by 7am! We arrived at Palenque before 10am, found a hotel with secure parking, had checked in and turned on the air-conditioning just in time for morning tea!

Our room has a balcony where we can see the bikes securely parked behind gates, a ceiling fan, air-conditioning, no cockroaches, only a tiny small gecko with a stubby tail that visits nightly.

*Huevos del Sol…Awesome way to start a day!*

The ruins at Palenque are fabulous. We rode the bikes into the archeological park first thing, in the coolness of the morning and paid a mexican to watch over them them while we hiked around for 4 hours. Extortion…really we were paying for him not to steal or tamper with the bikes!

Palenque dates back to 226 BC and contains some of the finest Mayan architecture, sculpture and carvings found to date. The area discovered is over one square mile, but only 10% of the city has been explored leaving the remainder engulfed by the lush surrounding jungle. The buildings that have been excavated consist of, tombs, temples, shrines. The largest structure is a Palace, featuring large baths and saunas supplied by a fresh water aqueduct system. I had to wonder as I climbed the steep tall vertical rise of stairs why such a race short in stature would construct the stairs the way they did. I know one thing is they must have had quads and buns of steel!

*Standing at the Templo De La Cruz, to the right the Templo Del Sol, and left Templo De La Cruz Foliada*

We immensely enjoyed wandering around the compound wondering what was and hearing the screams of the howler monkeys in the background. Our bikes were still in one piece, although our transmission channels had been switched…Ahh Haa, still couldn't resist!!!