Yay! We ditched the hippie, enjoyed the cool colonial streets of San Cristobal, along with urban espresso's and Chilean wine in the trendy cafés and bars. We shopped till we dropped in the colourful Mayan markets, and explored the lost city of Palenque in the sweltering jungle. All part of our final Mexican chapter in Chiapas.
　
Yes, the hippie is gone, but not without a showdown. As we pushed onto San Cristobal, the agreed 'drop zone' for Richard, the tension was rising in the (built for two) cab of the truck. As we got closer to our parting we noticed some weird behaviour from him, despite Shay's obvious body language that the end was nigh, he seemed to be getting more and more clingy, even inviting himself into our hotel room to watch TV when we were snuggled up in bed! He started displaying jealousy towards our blossoming friendship with Alaskan Shannon, who we met again in San Cristobal and also started trying to create conflict between us. It all ended with a showdown which in hindsight we believe he wanted and had planned.
　
Anyway, enough of the Hippie, its time to say 'Adiós' to that chapter! Shay has made Ollie promise that he will not invite strangers along in the truck (unless pre-approved). Ollie concurs!

A Bit of Cool in Colonial Style
　
San Cristobal is a fantastic town set in the cool broad Jovel valley; it was like stepping out of Mexico and back into colonial Spain. At every turn there are beautiful photo opportunities, pristine cobbled streets, 15th century colonial buildings and churches not to mention the bustling world of the modern Mayans who came down from the highlands to sell their arts and crafts to tourists.
　
We spent three days roaming the streets and taking full advantage of the trendy café and restaurant scene. It was nice to gorge ourselves on something other than rice and beans. Shay was overjoyed to finally be able to do some serious retail therapy in the Mayan markets, although it was a little tiring having to fend off the over enthusiastic Mayan street sellers who would not take no for an answer.
　
Our next stop, Palenque, was a mere 200 kilometres from San Cristobal, but ended up being a six hour windy and tope (speed-bump) rich drive eastward down from the highlands. As we descended down from the gloriously cool Chiapas Mountains we realised that in the past few weeks we had totally declimatized ourselves. Palenque was hot; we broke a sweat just by thinking. We decided based ourselves in the beautiful El Panchan, which is a little community of hippies and archaeologists set in dense jungle, just down the road from the ruins. This idyllic spot came complete with a few lively restaurants with chilled music in the evenings, several types of accommodation styles and magical paths linking it all together within the jungle.

The Lost City
　
We got an early start the next day and set off to explore the ruins. The lost city of Palenque was at its prime around the 7th century, back at this time the buildings were painted red from dyes made with squashed insects. It was abandoned around 900 and sat hidden in the jungle for centuries until it was found by archaeologists in 1952 and excavation work began. Today, 500 buildings have been uncovered out of the 1453 found.
　
It was a surreal feeling wandering around the ancient city seeped in so much history, the wild jungle and curious howler monkeys providing a dramatic scene, you almost felt like you were back in the movie 'Apocalipto' by Mel Gibson.
　
The next day it was a unanimous vote to get back to San Cristobal, and to the cool mountain air. 'Oil change Ollie' was itching to organise a long awaited oil change for the truck; it had been almost 10'000 kilometres since the last one. We spent a day scouring San Cristobal for the right oil and within minutes the friendly folk at Mobile had completed the job. 14 litres later and Ollie was very happy indeed.

Mexican Reflections
　
Our next stop was on the border of Guatemala. Lagos de Montebello, as recommended by Shannon, was a lovely place to stop and spend our final hours in Mexico. A complete contrast to anywhere we've been so far here, the nature park consists of over 50 lakes of various hues, set in temperate pine and oak forests. We set up camp in a tranquil village of Tziscao on the banks of Lago de Tziscao and enjoyed a spot of fishing (although unsuccessful) and glass of vino whilst watching the sun disappear behind the hills.
　
We could of easily of spent a few more days in Lago de Montebello but we knew that the clock was ticking and we had a well overdue appointment with the Guatemalan border. After nearly 4 months, it was finally time to say goodbye to Mexico.
　
In conclusion to our Mexican chapter, we'd just like to express to everyone what an amazing country Mexico is. From deserts, the wild Pacific coastline with pristine beaches, beautiful colonial cities, temperate highlands, mariachi's music and mystical ruins, plus a whole lot more. Mexico has it all. In the four months we were travelling around we did not feel that our safety was threatened once and even began to feel very confident and secure. The Mexican people were very warm and friendly and were often falling over themselves to help us out with whatever we needed. It's hard to imagine just where all these bad stories we heard before coming here actually came from? It's heartbreaking to see the devastation which is being inflicted on innocent families who make their living from tourism due to the inaccurate 'bad press' about the swine flu and other issues. Sure, you can get into trouble if you go looking for it, but that rule goes with any country in the world. If anyone is considering going to Mexico but is worried about what they've heard, we encourage you to go for it and experience the many things that Mexico has to offer. You won't be disappointed!