Day 7: San Cristobal De Las Casas

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Sitting fairly high up in the Chiapas rainforest, San Cristobal is a really intriguing little colonial town. With everything in walking distance, it provides the perfect retreat for backpackers, whilst not compromising the city's cultural heritage. San Cristobal has a high indigenous population both in the city and in the surrounding mountain villages. Its colorful and vibrant cobbled streets greatly differ to those seen in Oaxaca. The most bizarre pallet of colours you'll ever see, the yellow cathedral set inside the bright white Zocalo sticks out like a sore thumb and is an amazing architectural juxtaposition of both style and colour.

Chiapas and San Cristobal in particular, are highly acclaimed for their coffee. One major find in the city is the coffee house 'La Selva'. Try the 'Americano La Selva'. An Arabica blend, it is the most flavorsome and aromatic coffee I have ever had (and I consider myself a big coffee drinker). It's a steal at 15 pesos a cup, but if black coffee is not your bag, there's a pretty comprehensive menu and coffee guide that caters for everyone and the best part is that it's organic and fairly traded coffee from a local plantation, so you get the feel good factor too.


× I stayed at the Backpacker's Hostel which was very good. It has a great atmosphere with (as the name may suggest) lots of backpackers travelling through, exchanging recommendations around an outdoor bonfire in the evenings. It offers free internet, breakfast included, free salsa lessons and spanish tuition is also available. It was also a great place to organise onward travel arrangements particularly to Palenque and Agua Azul.
× La Selva Coffee House, very close to the Zocalo and big yellow Cathedral.
× 'La Pared' is a great bookshop and bookswap place that is run by a Floridian woman who's really on the ball with both classical and contempoarary literature. Slightly pricey, but where else am I going to locate a copy of Kerouac's 'On The Road' whilst travelling?!

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