Take water with you because many of the sites do not have a store.

Bring a working compass or GPS with you. A whistle can also be a good thing if you get lost or separated. [This only applies if you are going into non-public areas. You do not need this equipment at any of the four popular sites in Chiapas.]

It is better to wear hiking boots/shoes or running shoes instead of sandals. You get better traction climbing stuff and you do not want to fall down off a temple.

Bring your own tissue paper and be prepared to use the bush.

If you saw a jaguar during the day you would be one of the lucky few. Jaguars hunt at night and generally sleep all day.

You have to be cautious where you swim if you are in the jungle. If there is nobody else swimming and no locals around you may want to think twice about jumping into that beautiful lagoon. A crocodile can lay submerged quite a long time waiting for you.

Make sure you bring extra film with you at each ruin site. Do not leave your film in the car because the trip back can be time consuming and extremely aggravating on a scorching hot day. Some times a small site that is only listed as a 2-hour visit may have many photographic possibilities while a larger site has less. Don't forget to bring an extra battery.

Every ruin site has a main entrance sign that makes an excellent photo for your scrapbook to help separate the sites you visit.

If you smoke, carry matches or simply money you may want to bring some plastic baggies with you. On a hot day spent out in the sun you can perspire to the point of getting soaking wet. This also means anything in your pockets also get soaking wet. Especially if there is high humidity.

Sites do not have vending machines, stores or restaurants [except Palenque]. If you want to eat you must bring your own food.

Tarantulas live in small holes and can move quite fast when provoked. If you start snooping around the sides of some mounds watch where you stick your fingers.

This is not widely practiced however it could possibly happen to you. Some ruin sites have cenotes or small natural pools to swim in. Here you may find lots of young children playing and swimming. Some of the little rascals will wait for the "gringos" to leave their valuables on a rock while they wade out into the water. Right in front of your eyes they will walk over grab your stuff and run away. What can you do, they're kids? Chances are if their parents knew about it they would be none to happy.

If the sign says to keep off, keep off. You can get kicked out of a site for disobeying the rules and if they have to call the police you will have much aggravation on your hands.

The earlier you visit a site the more wildlife you will see. Once the mid-day sun comes many animals seek the shade to cool down.

The best place to find birds is along an army-ant trail, generally at the front. Birds prey on fleeing insects. Watching the army ants is quite interesting as well.

Some sites have passageways, rooms in temples and other interesting things that require mobile lighting.

Save your site ticket to put in your photo album.

You can be bitten by a venomous snake and not even feel it. A small snake has needle sharp fangs that hit you lightening fast. You could even think it was a misquote or fly bite. However in most cases a person bitten by a snake sees the snake or at least feels something and looks only to see some evidence of a snake. The tell-tail sign is a double wound.

Remain calm and control your breathing. Go immediately to the nearest vehicle and ask/beg/pay to go directly to the nearest hospital. Unless you are allergic to a particular snake you do have time to get to a hospital and receive anti-venom. Try to see the snake that bit you and make a visual picture so you can tell the doctors what kind of snake bit you.

If you somehow find yourself drowning in a river do the following. Remain calm. This is the most important factor in saving your life. You have to remain calm because you have to create a plan to rescue yourself.

Fresh water unlike salt water gives you no buoyancy. You must exert energy to stay afloat. In some situations a current can sweep you away and it can be impossible to brake out of the rapid running water. However, if you can stay afloat eventually you will run into something like a rock or a tree or a sandbar or something. So instead of trying to swim out of the current and wasting all your energy, it is better to just go with the flow and let the river suck you downstream. Stay afloat and try to conserve as much energy as you can because you may need a burst of energy to get you over to a tree or something to save you.

If you find yourself stranded on the edge of a river try to move to a spot where you can climb out. Keep your eyes alert for crocodiles. Eventually a boat will come by and rescue you.

You can be in a remote spot deep in the bush next to a beautiful waterfall smoking a joint and out of the bush will walk a cop. You're busted! This happens all the time. Federal and municipal police can be found walking almost anywhere in Mexico, especially the Chiapas. Looking for bandits, if they smell the smoke they will investigate.

The police also look for people acting strange at Palenque. If you get carried away you will be escorted out quickly. There is always military at Palenque as well as numerous armed police. Security guards are always on patrol at Palenque ruins.