Adios, Mexico! (by sarah)

Sorry, loyal blog followers, if this hasn't been as up to date as it should be. Jason and I talk about the blog alot more than any actual action. This will change.
Today we depart from Mexico and on to Chile. Since the last posting in Puerto Escondido, we've spent ALOT of time on buses. The ten days on the beach were filled with playing cards, swimming in the pool, cooking, and occasional beer drinking. I wish I could say I went to the beach more than once but...I didn't. As a fellow Ohioan once told me: Sarah, we are from the Midwest. The ocean is scary. Indeed. My fellow Californian travellers have no excuse.
We left PE Thursday night on a bus headed to San Cristobal de las casas. This town is in southeast mexico, known for its coffee and home of the Zapatistas. There are many indiginous cultures in San Cristobal (as well as the entire state of Chiapas) so it made for very lively markets. The state of Chiapas is mostly jungle and mountains, making for beautiful scenery. Lots of small streets and colorful houses-more of what I imagined mexico to look like. We spent two days there and then onto another bus to Palenque--about 5 hours northeast. Palenque is home to some great Mayan ruins--right smack in the jungle. I read about howler monkeys living there, so I was pretty excited when one of the guides who was hounding us for a tour pointed one out to me. I was obviously delighted since >I have never seen a monkey in real life (besides at the Mexico city zoo--another story all together, ask Jason for pictures). I am not sure if it was an actual monkey or not, it was pretty high in the trees, but the tour guides seemed to like my enthusiasm and kept repeating: monkey! monkey! and laughing. Hmmm.
After the ruins we hopped on yet another bus back to Mexico city where we should have had the day to relax and do research before going our separate ways. Jay is staying in mexico and heading to central america, Konrad is going to Ecquador. Adios Team Mexico!
Our 14 hour busride turned into 21 hours--yikes. Even our busdriver was sick of it as he started smoking cigarettes right on the bus. Apparently there was a hug accident that kept us from moving most of the night. Janet said she saw a passenger yell at the driver to wake up because traffic started moving. Luckily I slept through most of this but was quite confused when I woke up and we still had 8 hours to go!
We are excited to get to South America--for many reasons, one being able to eat fruits and vegetables without fear!! I know after my last post you probably thought I would never say this, but: I am officially sick of Mexican food.
Look forward to hearing from us (and adding pics) from South America!!