San Cristopole de las Casas

 Subject: San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas

 

Hola once again,

 

I've just gone through about a zillion photos taken here at San Cristobal de las Casas.....it's hard to only choose 15 but I have to stop somewhere.

 

The drive here from the sea was well over 300 miles on twisty, tope (Mexican speed bumps) filled, narrow roads.  We climbed from sea level (duh) to 7,000 feet.  The temperature dropped about 30 degrees - which still isn't that cold actually.  It was 99 when we left Hualtulco and I'm sure it's near 80 here during the warmest part of the day.  It does tend to be a little cloudy at times since we're so high.  It's only about 100 miles to Guadamala from here.  Chiapas is the southernmost Mexican state though we mostly came east to this beautiful city.

 

San Cristobal is located in a valley but not too far below the surrounding peaks.  There are dozens of villages surrounding the city and many of them are extremely interesting.  We visited two of them today, with a guide, and my next email will have the photos and information about neighboring Zinacantan and San Juan Chamula.

 

The entire area is more like being in South American than Mexico.  The Indian influences are huge and it has a whole different feel about it.  The visitors are mostly from Europe - it's a very cosmopolitan city with a lot of ancient thrown in.  There are so many churches - we haven't been to see many of them yet.  There is a huge outdoor craft market that has so many beautiful things that you're afraid to buy anything because there will probably be something you see in the next few minutes that is way better.  The fabrics woven by the women of the neighboring villages are simply gorgeous.  And they make everything under the sun out of the fabrics.  Plus, they wear the best of the best daily and are quite amazing to see walking the streets selling whatever they can dressed in their native garb.  It's amazing.

 

We've spent three days so far and we plan to be here a couple more for sure.  We're in a little "rancho" that has spaces for RVs and tents and quite a few different little cabins.  It's Semana Santa (Saint's week - the week before Easter) and many people are out camping.  Our little park is filling up with tents with the local Mexican folks.  I think they are mostly the family of the guy parked next to us in a huge bus type motorhome.  How they ever got that thing into this little place is beyond me.  I know he had a driver for the last couple miles because we saw him park.  Anyway, can't explain it - you'd have to be here.  But just suffice it to say that we could hardly get our rig down the streets to this place.

 

We spent the first day just walking around town.  We found the town square and several churches, the local craft market, the local food market, just took in the sights.  Yesterday we went into town late enough to see what it's like in the evening.  Even though we are camped in the "country," we're only about a mile from the center of town and can walk it easily.  We've got fields with crops and animals - even a stream close by.  (We actually walked up the stream yesterday and saw a number of women doing their laundry in said stream!)  In the evening the town is very lively and we enjoyed being part of the fun.  We found a restaurant that has the kind of tacos we enjoy but with a wonderful ambience and nice bathrooms!  Much different from the beach palapas we've grown accustomed to. 

 

Today we visited the two villages I mentioned above.  I'll tell you about that in the next email.  Check out the style of dress of the women in some of these photos.  The hair braided with ribbons, the black skirts that are super heavy and hairy looking (made from wool), and the beautiful blouses and capes.

 

Here we go with the photos ............