(Palenque, Mexico is one of the most beautiful of the Classical Mayan sites. It became prominent perhaps 700 AD and flourished for a few hundred years. This large area of ruins lies in the Chiapas state of Mexico, near the Guatemala border.

I waited a couple of hours in order to get this shot without any people in it. The armed guard (he would be inside the structure on the top of the temple) came out just as the tourists dispersed; he mentioned in very strict language that we would now be required to leave. Mayan ruins generally "shut" at 5 PM, which is so odd since the vast majority of them are deep in the backcountry jungle. No matter; we would have to leave! Luckily, the guard retreated for a few seconds, allowing me to take the photograph. At the same time, a noisy "roaring" became obvious. Cheryl and I both thought it was some sort of tape (really, it DID sound somehow artificial) used to scare the tourists toward the "exit." The men from Holland that we trekked with also independently came to this conclusion. The sounds were actually that of the famous Howler Monkeys, encountered in quite a few remote places in Central America. This highly endangered species seemed to "roar" right on cue. Fascinating!