Blogs from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, North America - page 24

Arrived in San Cristobal today and already Palenque seems so far away. Is less that 225 km away (a 5 hour drive on a twisty 2 lane mountain road going up) but it seems worlds away. Drove past the falls where I was yesterday, and on the whole trip the poverty of the villages hit me and I questioned what I was doing. Past Ossingo the scenery starts to change and the temperature begins to cool. From jungle you get to pines(?), and yellowing grass, and somewhere the dominant crop changes from corn to coffee. The nature looks more like places in Canada than the lowlands and jungle. I think I will stay a little while is San Cristobal - cute town, many wonderful old churches, an artisans market which might prove to be my downfall ... read more

I have arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico! Yes, I was supposed to be studying in Oaxaca, but we received word on Christmas eve that the program would be held in San Cristóbal this semester due to the situation in Oaxaca (which is actually resolving as the 8,000 police troops of the Policía Federal Preventiva begin to leave the city). Luckily, our program (School for International Training - SIT) is at least somewhat mobile because we are not connected to any particular university here; we have seminars specialized to theme of Mexico Grassroots Development and Social Change, language classes, and our 1 month independent study project. I arrived on Tuesday, February 6 after a somewhat eventful travel day. During my red-eye flight to Mexico City I woke up to the plane making ... read more

Huehuetenango sounds like an Abba song. It is a town in western Guatemala. I arrive after three days of crawling up and down a rugged mountain range known as the Sierra de Los Cuchumaines. In those three days I have only travelled 160 km but it has been hard work. Although most of the road has just been paved the gradients are the steepest I have ridden so far on my trip. Guatemalan civil engineers are complete sadists, young children who torture animals are specially selected and groomed for years in special engineering institutions. Roads jump violently up valley walls for no good reason. Exhausted I navigate my way to the centre of town and roll into a pleasant if slightly shabby hospedaje. A bit damp perhaps but such things no longer concern me. At 3 ... read more

FRANÇAIS La corrida, c'est l'évènement idéal pour les sorties en famille le dimanche après-midi, ou bien aussi pour les rendez-vous des couples. Les enfants se goinfrent gaiement de cacahuètes au chili arrosés de jus de citron vert. Ils n'ont pas l'air d'être "atteints" par ce qui se passe dans l'arène, alors que moi, j'ai de la peine à supporter l'atrocité de certaines scènes... Les adultes boivent de la bière ou de la téquila et crient « Olé » quand le matador a fait du bon boulot. L'orchestre joue avec plein d’entrain. On agite des mouchoirs blancs et on crie pour une ou deux oreilles. Les femmes font voler leur chapeaux vers le matador qui salue la foule. Le soleil fait briller son habit de lumière encore davantage... C'est le moment de gloire. Je ne rentrerai pas ... read more

This was a beautiful place. Located high up in the mountains where there seems to be a fresh, sunny climate all year round. And for a small indigenous village, there is a suprisingly wide choice of accommodation and bars with live music (we actually saw an excellent jazz band). The people are reserved but incredibly helpful so there is no problem about catching lifts or transport to explore some of the lush, nearby jungle. Unfortunately, it seems that most people opt for tours where everything is sewn up and subsequently contact with locals is minimal. We took a lot of collectivo's. The thing about taking them is that it seems you can never catch just the one collectivo to where you want to go. Instead, it seems every journey involves getting off one bus and squeezing ... read more