Whilst I was feeling a tiny bit frayed around the edges, my guide Patricio was looking suspiciously fresh-faced… I began to suspect that I did not have a Mexican’s aptitude for their famous tequila. However, the steamy sun of the Mexican jungle soon burnt off the morning haze - both from my head and the surrounding hills - as we made the short journey from the tranquil Chan Kah Resort, with its lagoon-like swimming pool, into the Mayan site of Palenque.

A more compact site than the better-known Chichén Itzá, Palenque is arguably the more impressive of the two, thanks in no small part to its location in the mountainous jungle of Chiapas State. The looming hills in which the site is nestled create an intangible sense of majesty which the flat plains of the Yucatan, home to Chichén, can never quite match. As the last shrouds of mist cling to the mountain sides, and you stand in the slender shadow of the temple of a long-dead king, it is a struggle to try and envisage the daily lives of those who created and lived in these exquisitely constructed buildings.

This is one of those archaeological sites where the wealth of its fascinating history (which is enthralling and still being uncovered) almost takes a back seat to the sheer intensity felt by simply being in its presence. For me it is surpassed in awe only by the largest and greatest Mayan ruin: Tikal in Guatemala. However, like Tikal, while Palenque is sometimes left out of an itinerary due to its less convenient location compared to Chichén Itzá or Uxmal, I urge any visitor to include it – and defy them to be disappointed.