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Published: January 28th 2011
San Cristobal
Na Bolom museumOnce again, you get one blog for 2 days as I stayed in the same place for a couple of nights. Also, I am being told that there is too much blog to read and people can't keep up!
As I'm typing this, I have just arrived at my next location (it's 1pm on the 26th), so you'll hear all about that in the next blog, but let me just say that a bit of rain never hurt anyone and living in Manchester, I can cope with it. But this isn't rain, this is more like “I might as well go out in my bikini and flip flops because they will dry quicker” kind of weather...
So... Can I remember 2 days back?
Oh, yes, I'd got on the night bus from Oaxaca to San Cristobal De Las Casas. I slept! Whoop! I reckon I got about 6 or 7 hours' sleep, which is amazing as most people I spoke to didn't sleep much, if at all. We arrived around 8AM and I knew the coach station was about 10 blocks from my hostel (15-20 minutes walk). As soon as we walked in the station, a couple of people
jumped on us and started telling us about their hostels. I was sorted but the Dutch couple I'd met the night before wasn't, so we listened to what they had to say and in the process managed to get a city map. Then they decided to come along to the place I was staying at to see if they had some rooms available. We got there about 20 minutes later and I was hoping they'd be kind enough to let me or us move in despite the early hours. We were greeted by a locked door but after pressing the bell insistently, we finally got an answer from a young Quebecoise called Christelle who was one of the guests and told us that the owner had been partying late the night before and was still asleep. So we had a quick chat to see if she knew about availability and at that point this little oldish lady(definitely too old to party late the night before) emerged. This was Yolanda (the amazing Yolanda). Unfortunately, there was no rooms for the Dutch so we said our goodbyes and they moved on. But I stayed and managed to drop my bag, have a
San Cristobal
market stalls shower and a good chat with some guests / residents about what to do in the city.
I was gone by 9.30, off to a museum (40 pesos): that of an explorer if I understand rightly, called Franz Bloom. The museum was a nice property with courtyards where some local women were selling their crafts. The rooms were filled with stuff found relating to the history of the area and its people, but also many pictures of the locals. The garden was amazing and never ending with a nice photography exhibition in the middle of it.
I stayed there for about an hour and then went off in the direction of the market. The market was huge and I promised myself I would head back home this way later to buy some food for lunch, but for now I was going to explore the centre, helped by my tourist map showing the main sites. The day had started cold and cloudy but soon turned sunny and hot and I was left with far too many layers on and no sun-tan lotion... But I had agreed to head back around lunch time to meet with the Canadian and her group so
I figured I'd be all right for a few hours.
I walked around and went to see the sites, mainly churches and the Zocalo (I wasn't too impressed by the cathedral), as well as walking up and down the busy shopping streets. At about midday, I felt like I'd had a good look around so headed back via the market.
As I arrived, I met a few more people staying at the “posada” and was invited to share some lunch that had already been made. I soon realised that this was probably the headquarters of the hippie world around there. They started telling me I should chill and stay and do nothing for a few days. Hmmm... As tempting as it sounded, that wasn't really going to work for me. So in the afternoon I went of to see “las Gruttas de Rancho Nuevo”, some caves with a lot of stalactites (and somehow not so many stalagmites). It was nothing I hadn't seen before but nice enough and for 10 pesos (+25 to get there and back on the colectivos), I wasn't complaining. After this and another walk around town (including climbing up to a mirador with an open air
free gym!), I got back to the hostel just before dark. One of the “long stay” guests suggested I should go for a walk to the centre around 7.30/8.00 as there would be a lot going on. But between some internet catch up, some dinner preparation and some chatting to yet more people, I never made it back out of the hostel.
I had decided (by lunchtime that day) that I would stay another night so I figured I could go the following day.
The next morning, I was woken up by my alarm, as I wanted to go and do a half day organised visit of a village called San Juan Chamula. A few enquiries the day before, had given me some options, all starting between 9 and 9.30am. The one I decided to go for was booked by Yolanda, our hostess, and at 130 pesos, it definitely sounded like the best deal around. I was even getting picked up by the lady doing the tour “between 9 and 9.15”. So at about 9.30, she turned up and told me that there were 2 more people joining us and that they were from Spain. All Spanish morning sounded good
to me. Then she asked me if I had experience of horse riding... What? Err... Yes... But... I'd heard that one of the tour options involved going to Chamula on horseback but I'd not even considered it because I thought it would be too costly. But this day was just getting better...
We went to meet Eva and Eduardo and then got on the colectivo to get to where the horses were being made ready for us. When we got there, We were told we had a 1 hour ride to get there, 1 hour in the village and 1 hour back. I was happy as I didn't think I'd be riding at all, but the Spanish thought they'd be riding for longer so weren't so impressed.
Then I was given the crazy horse... The one who just wanted to gallop all the way there and not wait for the others and would not do what I told him and just would not let anybody else lead. That last part was quite funny when we caught up another group of riders and my horse decided there was no way we would be following them. Thankfully, it knew where to go,
because our guide was at the back and not being all that much help.
We got to the town around 11am and the “guide” then told us: “OK, you have an hour to go and explore. Be back here for 12.” So it wasn't a guided tour at all! I was a bit disappointed but still, 130 pesos for 2 hours horse riding was very reasonable (probably because the horses were not in the greatest condition...) From what I understand, Chamula is like an autonomous state (something the population has fought hard for), so they have their own rules and police. Once a small authentic village, I think it has become a bit of a tourist hub and is full of locals begging or trying to sell you all sorts. The thing to do in Chamula is visit the church. You have to pay 20 pesos to get in and you are not allowed to take pictures (apparently they throw you out of the village if you try). I have since learnt that the reason is because they believe if you take pictures it will make the ghosts come out. You are not allowed either to take pictures of the
local, I suppose you could ask (I didn't try) but they're likely to refuse. The village itself doesn't have much to offer, other than a market. But the church is a different story. From the outside, it looks very clean, but not spectacular. But once you get in, it is amazing. Although the décor is very modest, the floor is covered in pine needles and there are lit candles everywhere: on the sides, on the floor... The atmosphere is hot and smoky with the smell of the pine and encens. With all the locals praying in little groups, it is a truly wonderful experience, well worth the 20 pesos.
An hour was enough to have a look around and the ride home was less eventful than on the way there (maybe my horse was getting a bit tired). After leaving the horses, we got back on the colectivo into town (although we didn't pay on the way there, we had to pay 4.5 pesos on the way back). Eva and Eduardo suggested we could get back to our respective hostels to freshen up and meet up an hour later for some food and afternoon activities. I was happy with that
as I thought they were both really friendly.
I got back to the meeting point via a stop at the cathedral where there was a big ceremony happening with tons of flowers and hundreds of people. When the other 2 arrived, we went to the market for some tacos and quesadillas. This was brilliant for me because they were able to explain a lot of the food to me (differences between all the flat breads and so on). I also tried a drink (can't remember the name) which tasted of coconut but was apparently made from rice. All that for 22 pesos... Why bother cooking!
For the afternoon, we couldn't decided whether to go to Arcotete (which I had read about in a guide book at the hostel but I couldn't remember what was there) or to Zinacantan (similar to Chamula). In the end, we asked some locals where to get the colectivo from and they only knew information about Zinacantan, so that's where we decided to go.
10 pesos and 11km later, we arrived in a bit of a ghost town. There had been a big fiesta which had ended the day before and the village must have been
recovering. The church didn't look as impressive as that of Chamula, either outside or inside. There was a sign at the entrance, asking us to pay at the tourist office before going in but we just wanted to have a peak so we walked in. I wasn't sure whether as in Chamula, pictures were forbidden or not, so I decided to tempt fate. Well... They weren't allowed. I got told off before I got the chance to take a picture and then escorted outside to read the sign! So off we all went.
Outside, there was a little girl who wanted us to go with her to “a house where the women make fabric”, so we went with her and had a look at her doing her work and made good noises about the pieces for sale before going off and back to San Cristobal.
Just as we arrived it started raining. I thought it never rained. And for the first time since arriving in Mexico I'd put my washing to dry outside! They wanted to go and investigate if there were any activities planned at the Zocalo. I had found out by that point that the big ceremony was
due to the death of Bishop Samuel, who was a very important religious person there as he was based in San Cristobal, but also because he had been very involved in bringing the peace years earlier at the time of the Zapatistas blood sheds (don't ask me any more than that, I don't know!). Anyway, I said I'd try to catch them up because I wanted to get my washing and we were near my hostel and off I went.
When I got to the hostel, Yolanda had taken my washing in and I was very grateful. I rushed back to the Zocalo but never found the Spanish couple so I decided to go to the bus station and organise my travels for the next day. There were many options from rival firms and in the end I decided that the best choice was the 6.30am direct 2nd class for 90 pesos – arriving at 12.30. On the way back I bought some food and then returned to the hostel for more Spanish chatting with a couple of the guys there. An early night was on the card as I had to get up at 5.30...
On a
slightly different note, this marked the end of my first 2 weeks and if I'm honest, I don't think I've had any hard times yet and I don't know how I will cope when they come. One thing I have realised so far is that I am not meant to be a lone creature and on the days when I don't get to meet and chat to other people, it does hit the morale a bit.
On a brighter note, I feel like I have seen an awful lot already and each day I feel proud to be doing what I'm doing and even more so to be doing it all on my own!
And the budget? Well, I'm averaging at just about £20 a day so far. I think I could do a bit better (definitely some space for improvement on the transport side) but I'm on target so I'm quite pleased.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Enjoy your blogging
You should share some of your experience in the forums.