A rare burst of sunshine illuminates this group of trees near the entrance to the ancient Mayan site of Palenque in Chiapas state, Southern Mexico. While the northern lowlandregion of the Yucatan peninsula was enjoing warm bright sunshine when I visited during November/December, Palenque in the far south and west of Mexico had not yet emerged from the rainy season. Hence although it was quite warm while I was there in the last week of November, the weather was damp, humid and mostly cloudy with frequent showers and only very occasional sunny spells,