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Published: December 2nd 2006
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After Palenque we traveled to the highland town of San Cristobal De Las Casas, another 6 hour coach ride and probably the worst journey to date! Due to the town being in the mountains there was switch back after switch back and the driver seemed to be under the impression he was a formula 1 driver! It was like being on a roller coaster for 6 hours and we both felt very travel sick. For the last hour I had to concentrate very hard on not being sick, it didn’t help that others behind us were pucking. I couldn’t hold it any longer, luckily Michelle had a plastic bag (without holes!) into which I spewed as discreetly as I could, anybody who´s seen/heard me being sick, should know that’s not something I do very easily! I was bent down on Shells legs and she had the pleasure of feeling the sick going into the bag on her legs! At first she said it was nice and warm, but that wore off with the realization that she was sitting with a bag of puke in her lap! Typically, 15 minutes later we arrived at our destination, I was gutted, if I’d have
known, I’m sure I could have held it in! The timing of the bus couldn’t have been any worse, not 5 mins after arrival the heavens opened similar to Palenque and we had to wait in the bus station for an hour hoping it would stop. We had waterproofs but even with them we would have been soaked! Looking back we should have just legged it to the first hotel instead of waiting, as after an hour all of the roads were flooded and we had to wade through them with our heavy bags and water up to our ankles, my shoes took about a week to dry! Finally after an hour of wading we found a hotel cheap enough, we were both soaked and looked like drowned rats, we stayed 3 nights to take advantage of the cold air and not have to worry about sweating or using sun cream! Typically though we both got a cold and all I wanted was my Mums chicken broth! Thankfully we found a good enough substitute, ´consome de pollo´ (chicken soup with rice and veg) that sorted us right out.
Michelle found her substitute in another way, retail therapy, this place
is renowned for its Amber and silver jewellery, all housed in quaint shops. The girls would have loved it, all very cheap and pretty unique, she bought a necklace and bracelet for 15 quid, bargain! Another thing it’s famous for is its hot chocolate, so she was obviously very much at home!
The area of San Cristobal due to its remoteness has lots of indigenous people and you see them selling their wares on street corners and in the market places. Their clothing is very bright and they look very colourful, they always had a nice smile which worked as a good selling technique as we bought some tacky souvenirs, just for the sake of giving them some money. The area has a resident rebel movement know as the Zapatistas, they are trying to break away from the Mexican government and become a self governing Mayan state, so they can have equality and fairness for the indigenous population. They have been a poor exploited people for a long time and want the rich to give some of the land they took´, back to the Mayan people, so you can understand their claims. When marching they all wear black balaclavas
and look a bit scary, similar to the old IRA. They have been fighting the government for the last 12 years, over the last few years though the protests have been peaceful with more propaganda over the internet, so we were safe enough.
The days we were there was the start of the 2 weeks leading up to one of their largest festivals, unfortunately for us the main church would ring its bells and set off huge fireworks at 6am and every 15 minutes after until 8am! We asked at the hotel why they did this and apparently the festival time is a time of partying, at 6am in the morning I don’t think so, not my kind of party anyway! So, as you can see, lots of bright and early starts for us each day, it’s just a shame it also rained every day and got soaked or stuck in a café for 2 hours waiting for it to stop!
San Cristobal itself has a lot of Italian influence with its bars and restaurants. On our last day we fancied some nice pasta, unfortunately, it was the worst pasta we’ve ever had, and it was even cooked
by an Italian chef to add insult to injury! The pasta was undercooked and the meat was like dog food, an Italian who can’t cook pasta, I didn’t think it existed. One of our other great buys was a 2 quid waterproof poncho that keeps us dry, it’s so big it even covers our rucksacks and it will come in very handy. Michelle thought I looked like Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable!
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