Blogs from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, North America - page 15

The Speech of a Boomerang On my last morning in Mazunte, I had breakfast on the beach, gratefully thanking my stomach for allowing me my new favorite dish of fruit and yogurt. I just can't get over how much I like fruit and yogurt these days, I can have it every meal. I was trying to remind myself of my writings the previous night, reassuring myself over and over that I was very happy to be alone on the beach, preparing to head into the mountains. Only, I was having some difficulty feeling quite as motivated as I had in the night. I checked into livejournal, something I haven't done probably since I left the country. And there I found a recent entry from the one and only Kirsten, one in which she was tackling ... read more

San Cristobal de las Casas is one of our favourite cities so far. It is surrounded by mountains, has a great city centre with standard colonial architecture, and has lots of shops and good restaurants. It also has a great artisan's market. Most of the things we have seen for sale in the Yucutan and elsewhere were actually made in the Chiapas (this state), and we therefore waited to buy these things until we got here, as they are several times cheaper (also, it is more likely that the money goes right to the artisans, since you are buying it from their stalls). We went to this artisan's market probably once a day, and wandered around the rows of stalls. There are great jewelery and textiles, mostly, and to get good prices, you really have to ... read more

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS I had the unfortunate idea to make the trip from San Cristóbal de las Casas to San Juan de Chamula on horseback, but the horses were poorly maintained and hard-headed, the guides were nothing short of rude and uncooperative with poor Miriam whose first ride it was; her stirrups were way too long and she felt understandably unstable, so we ended up taking the combi back to San Cris... San Juan de Chamula was worth the trip though. It is a community run independently by indigenous people, according to their own laws and traditions. While it surely is great that indigenous people have finally obtained official recognition and the right to live openly and freely, some of their traditions still involve extreme violence, mostly against women, that is legitimized ... read more

Hi All, Well we have left Puerto Escondido, been in the rain forest for 3 days and are now in San Cristobal. The rain forest was amazing although every thing gets damp, I cant imagine anyone could ever get used to it!! Howler Monkeys are brilliant, the noise they make is unbelievable and so loud, as soon as they started howling we set out to find them there were 6 or 7 in the trees I did a little video but i cant imagine it will be able to get across the fantastic noices they make!!! We swam in water falls and and went to the Mayen ruins both were amazing, and we are now in San Cristobal which isd one of the most pretty towns I have ever seen, we are just chilling and sitting ... read more

Day 9 We got the 8am bus from Palenque to San Christobal & we arrived at 4pm. On the way we could see the tree line change from tropical Ceibas & Cyprus's to cold climate conifers as we rose through the Lacondon Cloud Forest. We got a glimpse of 2 Zapatistas in the forest, they were in uniform & had bandanas on covering their identity. In 1994 the Zapatistas staged there rebellion here, this was crushed by the Mexican army. It has a typical colonial layout squares, avenues & churches. It's a little touristy but it's a fine city. The local people have a large market there. You can buy all sorts of hand made carpets, hats, bracelets etc. Some traders still wear the traditional clothes of their villages. These are the descendents of the Maya. ... read more