Is this Austria or Mexico? You can forget any pre-conceived ideas of scorched Mexican landscapes and adobe villages. We were 2.3km up in the Chiapas highlands, where very cold nights are the norm ( as in almost freezing)!! Gill shivered for 4 days! And wore a record six layers of icebreakers! Our very first drink in Mexico was mulled wine, with tapas!!
Not only was it nippy, but it rained a lot to, so San Cristobel de las Casas wasn’t a highlight of the trip, we did however, have some fun. We also, met some really nice fellow travellers, which is a by-product of the shuttle minibuses. A Kiwi couple, a couple of Dutch girls who live here and a pair from Camden.
San Cristobal de las Casas is a Spanish colonial 16th century highland town, Similar to Antigua de Guatemala in that it is on a grid system, pretty squares with bandstands, many large churches, convents and single storey houses. It is however, much more advanced than Antigua, better shops, restaurants, services, traffic etc – an easier place to live, but a less interesting place to visit.
We have noticed that finding Mexican food is tricky as night one, knackered we settled for an Argentine parilla. It was a lucky choice as right outside the door was the destination for the nightly processions ( posada) that occur for the nine nights up to Christmas. Mary on a donkey, carols, sparklers, Mariachi bands the works – much more genteel than Guatemala and no fire crackers.
Our hostel, slightly away from the centre was La Gite del Sol, it was clean and secure but suffered from incredible traffic noise.
On day one, Gill was under the weather (altitude sickness she reckons …..), so Ant was left to explore alone. The town was fun to wander around, with lots of coffee and cake breaks and it was a two pizza day – which must stop. Lots of silver and amber shops, fabulous churches, Cerro de San Cristobal was a climb of 284 steps, which at this altitude was a struggle.
Our favourite hang out joints were all on Calle de Guadeloupe:
Italian Coffee Shop – lattes obviously
La Vino de Bacca – fab, happening little wine bar, where we got the vino caliente, popcorn and tapas
Terra A - the Zapanista supporting café, where even Jesus in the nativity scene was dressed as a terrorist!
On our last night and upon the unprompted recommendation of a number of fellow travellers we attended a performance of Palenque Rojo – a spectacular modern dance representation of a famous Mayan event from 700AD, it was entirely in Mayan – so we had gone for the spectacle! Our Spanish is improving, but Mayan is a language too far.
We had ‘done’ SCDLC and so were ready to leave after four nights and so at 6am on Tuesday 22 Dec we took the seven hour shuttle (for shuttle, read cramped mini bus) back to sea level, the plain and some warmth.
Not only was it nippy, but it rained a lot to, so San Cristobel de las Casas wasn’t a highlight of the trip, we did however, have some fun. We also, met some really nice fellow travellers, which is a by-product of the shuttle minibuses. A Kiwi couple, a couple of Dutch girls who live here and a pair from Camden.
San Cristobal de las Casas is a Spanish colonial 16th century highland town, Similar to Antigua de Guatemala in that it is on a grid system, pretty squares with bandstands, many large churches, convents and single storey houses. It is however, much more advanced than Antigua, better shops, restaurants, services, traffic etc – an easier place to live, but a less interesting place to visit.
We have noticed that finding Mexican food is tricky as night one, knackered we settled for an Argentine parilla. It was a lucky choice as right outside the door was the destination for the nightly processions ( posada) that occur for the nine nights up to Christmas. Mary on a donkey, carols, sparklers, Mariachi bands the works – much more genteel than Guatemala and no fire crackers.
Our hostel, slightly away from the centre was La Gite del Sol, it was clean and secure but suffered from incredible traffic noise.
On day one, Gill was under the weather (altitude sickness she reckons …..), so Ant was left to explore alone. The town was fun to wander around, with lots of coffee and cake breaks and it was a two pizza day – which must stop. Lots of silver and amber shops, fabulous churches, Cerro de San Cristobal was a climb of 284 steps, which at this altitude was a struggle.
Our favourite hang out joints were all on Calle de Guadeloupe:
Italian Coffee Shop – lattes obviously
La Vino de Bacca – fab, happening little wine bar, where we got the vino caliente, popcorn and tapas
Terra A - the Zapanista supporting café, where even Jesus in the nativity scene was dressed as a terrorist!
On our last night and upon the unprompted recommendation of a number of fellow travellers we attended a performance of Palenque Rojo – a spectacular modern dance representation of a famous Mayan event from 700AD, it was entirely in Mayan – so we had gone for the spectacle! Our Spanish is improving, but Mayan is a language too far.
We had ‘done’ SCDLC and so were ready to leave after four nights and so at 6am on Tuesday 22 Dec we took the seven hour shuttle (for shuttle, read cramped mini bus) back to sea level, the plain and some warmth.
