San Cristobal was the next stopover. A really cute, Mayan town up almost in the mountains which came as a nice relief from the hot weather of Puerto Escondido. The hostel was lovely and really clean compared to the hellhole we stayed in before. We took a tour to two local Mayan villages of Chamula and Zincantan. The first, Zincantan, was a more traditional village with people in traditional Mayan dress and cooking on wood fire in the middle of the rooms. Watched them make traditional tortillas which were really yummy.

One thing to point out about this village and many others in the area is the abundance of Coca-cola advertising - it is simply everywhere and even in the Mayan language. Reason being is that the locals use Coca-cola alongside their "posh" which is their alcoholic religious drink. And as they pray a lot, they also drink a lot! Mexico is the highest consumer of Coca-cola in the world so you can imagine the funding they put into these small villages in terms of marketing.

The second village was a lot richer (perhaps because the surrounding mountains are full of black traders and also that they do not have to pay taxes). Went into the local church which is doubled-up as a hospital. Through a variety of coloured candles they pray for various ailments and to be cured - not sure of the success rate of this. The tour guide was awesome and we met his local "novia"; an old woman who he paid for her to have her arm fixed after an accident.

Found a nice wine bar and had a few glasses of wine (one of which was free). We also got a free tapa with each glass so pretty much had a free dinner. Therefore, we had ice cream for dinner.

Our next stop was Palenque. Palenque is home to ancient Mayan ruins. The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD. They were set in lush forests and the magificent jutted out of the forests. Amazingly enough it is estimated that less than 10% of the total area of the city is explored, leaving more than a thousand structures still covered by jungle. They reckon that these will still remain covered to ensure that they do not damage too much of the rainforest and wildlife. We stayed in a place outside of Palenque called El Panchan which is situated more in the jungle areas and also nearer to the ruins. The accommodation was really neat; little wooden cabanas. There is very little to do of an evening so spent about 4 hours one night playing cards with some fellow Brits. Also learnt a new game called "chuff" which I love!

Walking around the ruins was pretty awesome but bloody hot. I seem to be a walking ball of sweat, 90% of the time at the moment. Truly beautiful. We cooled off in the afternoon by visiting the most beautiful array of waterfalls I have ever seen. It was so good to wade in the crystal blue waters after all that humidity. I could've stayed and slept there. Unfortuantely my sunglasses did. That would be pair number three already.

So that was our last stop in Mexico which I truly loved. Next stop Guatemala but only for a few days.