On the road again...

Well we made it back to the beaches of Oaxaca, Mexico in one piece. Guatemala was amazing! We left Zipolite for the highland town of San Cristobal de las Casas on Nov 6^th. It's a good place to stay before crossing the border into Guatemala. We took a 5 hour bus to Juchitan, and after a short wait at the bus station at 3am, we were on the 7 hour ride to San Cristobal. It wasn’t the easiest travel day, Jay and I both had terrible colds and Oscar had to ride under the bus with the luggage, which always stresses me out. But, at last, we arrived and trudged the few kilometers with our giant suitcase to Posado 5 (cinco). Jason stayed here on his last visit to this town. It was a comfortable place with a huge back yard. Oscar was in heaven! San Cristobal is very mountainous and quite cold at night. They have an extremely large indigenous population of Mayan, mostly Tzotzil and Tzeltal. However, it’s a very tourist friendly city, with pedestrian only avenues with contemporary restaurants, bars and stores. The main Zocalo (square/central park) even had a Subway and much to Jay’s delight a Domino’s Pizza. Daily the Indians set up shop in the squares around town selling handmade clothes, jewelry, toys, masks, and knives. It was very eye opening to see the women wearing the traditional woolly black skirt, embroidered flowery tunic tops, and tight cloth belts holding it all together.  The first night in town, after a good nap and lots of cough medicine, we visited the square to shop the market and sway to the live marimba music. It was so so so cold, so I went a little over budget and bought a huge comfy sweater knitted by a Mayan. I spent 180 pesos, or around 12$US, such a good deal. It’s really mindblowing how cheap things are in Mexico! I even got a Christmas present or two from here to send home. San Cristobal is flanked by churches on all sides. Most of these churches are from the 17^th century and are some of the most beautiful I have seen.

Just as in America, there have been civil injustices suffered by certain population groups because of their ethnicity.  In Mexico , indigenous Indians have been persecuted, killed, kept out of jobs, schools, hospitals etc, because of their Zapotec or Mayan heritage. A small militia representing the interests of the indigenous (and now the poor as well) has been working to combat these injustices. The Zapatista revolutionaries raided San Cristobal in 1994 to demand equal and fair treatment for all people.  It was one of 4 cities chosen to launch their revolution.  They sacked government offices and seized buildings for a few days, before being thrown out by the Mexican military. From our experience, San Cristobal seems to be a town sympathetic with the Zapatista movement.

San cristobal is beautiful, artsy, fun and cheap, but we had to move on to Comitan to get Oscar’s documentation in order for Guatemala.

The largest church in San Cristobal, it was built in the 1500's, but has been repaired after many earthquakes.

Artsy Fartsy pedestrian street, church at the end of the road

The prettiest church in San Cristobal, from the 1700's, the stairs led down into a pretty little park.

Part of the Zocalo, a marimba band played nightly on the top floor of cafe seen in the middle of the park.

The nightly Mayan artisian market. They have a weird superstition about cameras stealing souls, so I couldn't use my flash.

Mayan Market where I bought my sweater

The building the Zapotista's took over in San Cristobal!

Oscar and I playing in the grass at Posada 5. Its a nice change from sand!