Mexico

San Cristóbal is one of the cheaper places to stay in Mexico, and I was long overdue for some shmontse and shmutter shopping in a Mexican market. So this morning, I headed on down to one of the city's bigger mercados, and found some nice stuff for my sisters back home. I got a pair of dolls; a pair of wooden flutes; a small herd of stuffed animals; and two beautiful little Mayan blouses. Cute stuff, don't you think?

This is a great bar in the centre of San Cristóbal, with a talented live band, with the 2-for-1 cocktails that seem to be so common around here, and with energetic dancing as the night wears on. A british girl named Billy, who I bumped into this afternoon — I met her about 2 weeks ago in Valladolid — recommended it to me, so I brought my Aussie mate Sean (from Posada Mexico Hostel) along and checked it out. This is the place to go at night in San Cristóbal.

This afternoon I finally did something that I've been meaning to do ever since I got to Mexico: I hired a bicycle, and went and explored the town on it. For just 25 pesos an hour, it's the best and most fun way to see San Cristóbal.

San Cristóbal is also perfectly suited for cycling, as:

• It's big but not huge.
• It has flat as well as fairly hilly bits.
• It has varying grades of road so you don't get bored (sealed, cobblestone, and unsealed).
• It has a nice variety of scenery (mountains, "colonial bits", slum bits, church bits).

The original attraction of San Cristóbal was that it was a cozy, quiet mountain town, with plenty of locals and not too many tourists. Unfortunately, this image has drawn a plethora of tourists to San Cristóbal, and it's ultimately been the town's undoing. There are Internet cafés, tour agencies, hotels, and herbal medicine stores on every street corner. And every second person you walk past in the street is a fellow gringo. Not quite the simple, spartan, unsophisticated place I was expecting.

I bought myself a long-distance phone card, called Marca Ya, when I was in Veracruz. Ever since, the damn thing has given me nothing but problems. First, it refused to work at all. Then, when it did work, it seemed to charge more per minute than it was meant to. And now, it's expired itself about 2 months before it was meant to. I am officially a dissatisfied customer. If you get to Mexico, stay away from Marca Ya phone cards: they suck.

San Cristóbal has an enormous selection of Internet cafés, none of which are rubbish, and none of which charge more than 8 pesos / hr. But there's one that stands out way above the rest. Over 40 brand-new PCs. Very high speed Internet. Everything working perfectly. And all for just 5 pesos / hr! The cheapest and the best Internet in Mexico.

This place is nice, but it has some serious shortcomings. It's definitely not the partygoer's hostel: after 10pm (yes, 10pm — ridiculously early!), they lock the front door, and you have to bang on it for up to a minute to get back in. The crowd was nice when I was here; but I heard that the crowd is much better over at the Backpacker's Hostel. I should have gone there instead; although I was happy with somewhere a bit quieter, I still like a good vibrant community. This time, Lonely Planet recommendations, you let me down.

Rather than catch a bus from Palenque to San Cristóbal, Alan and I decided to make the journey via colectivo (shared taxi / minibus). This was the first time I've undertaken a major intercity journey by colectivo, and all up, it was a great experience at a great price. Colectivos may be a little slower, and a little less comfortable (than buses), but they're also way more fun, and they get you where you're going, same as a bus does.

Tara, Dan, Alan, and myself got a colectivo back from Palenque ruins. Since Alan and I were planning to go straight into town and find some transport to San Cristóbal, and since Tara and Dan also needed to go into town, we convinced the colectivo driver to stop in El Panchán, and to wait for us for 1 minute. However, I hadn't already packed up, so I needed to do so in a hurry!

After two full days of just hanging out in the Jungle at El Panchán, I finally made it to the ancient ruins of Palenque this morning. Tara, Dan, Alan, and myself hopped on a colectivo (shared taxi / minibus) after breakfast (which we had at Don Muchos, of course), and gave ourselves a nice little tour of what I suspect is Mexico's best and most magnificent archaeological site.