On the bus once more arriving at Palenque some 5-6hrs into the mountains and jungle.

The town appeared industrial and commercial with nothing to offer us. The Danish had been told about a place called 100% Naturales; supposedly famed for its breakfast and location. We jumped in two cabs and headed away from the town towards the Palenque ruins and deeper into the green of the jungle.

Upon arrival it seemed like no-one was there. Here we were in the middle of nowhere with a few wooden cabanas. A Mexican guy came out and showed us around a series of different cabanas tucked way in the winding path of his jungle hideaway. The communal eating area had a mountain stream running along it. The owner put on some modern and acid jazz, the audio with the water and surroundings and jungle was intoxicating. We all got rooms and felt at ease once more. The owner drew us a seemingly scribbled map and explained the area the resident monkeys and the need for the fly nets!

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Once the sun was down we headed with out map to a restaurant promising live music nearby.

In pitch black we stumbled through the road cutting into the jungle. The sounds around created an orchestra of wildlife like nothing I’ve heard before. In addition thousands of thunder flies light up the dark. A creepy feeling of being watched washed across the group until we stumbled on some kind of check point. Two heavily armed guards meet our approach. After extensive bag searches and ID checks we had befriended the guards with pigeon Spanish and big smiles.

We found a small dirt track and arrived at Don Guasto’s place. A lovely place cut into the jungle. We sat ate and drank as a small stage entertained us with various music and fire poi. The energy was amazing and a great night was had by all.

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Returning to our cabanas I spotted a tarantula outside our door. After showing the others with glee we all retired questionably to our fly nets.

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