Comitan and the Lagos de Montebello

Peace and quiet at last. Sitting at Helen's Enrique Restaurant (no joke, that was the name) in the center of Comitan, I listened carefully to see if I really could hear what I thought I was hearing...almost nothing!
Comitan, a smallish city about 3 hours from Tuxtla near the Guatemalan border, made me feel like I wasn't in Chiapas anymore. In Tuxtla, the NOISE LEVEL always seems way too high (See my entry, 'Cultural Bumps'), and in nearby San Cristobal I find more tranquility, aside from being pestered to buy, buy, buy from local peddlers. Comitan was a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively. There were almost no horns beeping, chains clanging, people screaming "agua", music blaring... just quiet chatter, a few cars, and a group of birds in a tree.
Not only was Comitan quiet, but it was also quite CLEAN!! Not once did I smell that faint sewage smell that I catch a whiff of, ironically, in front of the Human Development Office on my street, and there was little or no litter in the street. And no tourists! Not that tourists are dirty, but they do fit into the "detracting from my experience" catagory, and they make up at least 1/2 the people you see in San Cristobal.
Comitan was only supposed to be a transfer point between Tuxtla and the Lagos (Lakes) de Montebello, a series of at least 12 lakes of varying blue hues. The lakes turned out to be quite pretty, but it was Comitan that was adorable. And cheap! We stayed for 7 US per person per night, it cost about 12 US for round-trip transportation to Comitan and 5 r/t to get to the Lakes, and 5 US per person to have a guide drive us to 13 different lakes, including one that borders Guatemala, for the afternoon. I think including food, this weekend was all-inclusive for about 50 US.