San Cristobal de las casas and more......high in the Sierra Madres

Hi - thought we'd send another quick email ... So much to tell!!!

What an interesting place San Cristobal de las Casas is. Reminds us a lot of Nelson, BC! It's everything Nelson would like to be...dreads and all.



Our tour of a neighbouring Indian village was very intriguing!




We got to see how these people create beautiful pieces of art in their clothing, sometimes taking months to complete the hand stitching.

This was called a waist loom.

Shayne tried a traditional outfit on but didn't buy it.

These women belong to a cooperative of abut 20 families that design and
sell their handicrafts.


After we toured their 'shop' we went into the back room where other family
members served us fresh made tacos cooked over an open wood fire...  very delicious.

After this village our guide took us to a second village where there was unrest in the morning due to a municipal election. They didn't like who got in so they started throwing stones at one another. Trucks and barrels had stones in them ready for further confrontation.  Seems things are a bit edgy in the villages surrounding us. We aren't advised to travel in on our own. Hopefully not so at home!

Traditional Chiapan 'native' clothing.

So, we continued to the temple and were told to put our cameras away. We watched women in their traditional clothing going into the temple carrying live chickens.





There is no furniture in the temple, only tables with thousands of lit candles. On the floor is dried grass and pine needles along with incense burning. Families came in, sat somewhere on the floor, than started chanting, waving the incense around each other (usually around a sick member), then proceeded to strangle the chickens while they were chanting. Then we had to leave as groups of men started entering the church. These men were dressed in their traditional black clothes made out of local sheep's wool. There is no police in these smaller villages, just self appointed men who seem to keep the peace, or not!  Police seem to stay out of regions that aren't theirs to police. Our guides were a bit nervous about it all, especially when these men gathered in the church and in the church plaza. They shuttled us away to keep us safe. We never did find out if there was more trouble.

San Cristobal seems to exist in some happy chaos. Music, parades, church services, political rallies and fireworks all seem to happen at the same time and occupy nearly the same space. People take it all in stride. Parades go on and on at seemingly random times...

Some costumes were very interesting too...

The San Cristobal Market is very well known for not only its size but also for its
unique wares.  Have a look...

One of  the entry points...


Yes, those are plucked chickens.  The live ones were in a different area.
















Here are some live chickens...





And there ends my Market pictures.

We're getting tired of the cold here so tomorrow we're heading to  the Puerto Arista area and Boca del Cielo on the Pacific, west of Guatemala, and follow the coast up from there.  

More adventures to come!

Hugs to all!

Road south along the Gulf - Campeche...the walled city....

Hi again.  

Kind of random comments today.

Since we last wrote, we spent a great day with our new friends driving to the nearby town called Izamal - east of Merida. This town has 95% of its buildings painted in bright yellow with some white trim. Simply stunning!

Convent at Izamal.








En route saw a small Mayan ruin...





 an old henequen factory where they make sisal...


The henequen plant...


The old carts used to transport the plant...

The finished sisal...

And we saw flamingos in a lagoon.

Next we went to the gulf town of Campeche after a 2.5 hour bus trip that cost about $20 per person to get there from Merida.

Such a beautiful town where almost every building is a different bright colour and lots more yellow buildings.





And cute statues everywhere like these ones...

After two days it was off south to Palenque in the Chiapas region of Mexico.  The bus system sure  is efficient here in  Mexico. They leave on time, arrive on time, have plenty of leg room.  Was kind of strange to see the sign: Guatemala Frontier. Lots of police everywhere in Mexico.

One great aspect of restaurants here is that they provide a special coat-hook-type stand to hang your purse. When you sit down, they bring it to your table right away. It's as high as your table and has many hooks. Think we could use those at home rather than having to put our purses on the floor!  Huh!

The world famous Palenque ruins were pretty spectacular!  They are in the middle of the humid jungle with well groomed pathways and plenty of steps to climb!!!  We found Pikal's sarcophagus inside one of the pyramids as well as frieze's.  Just for you Susie!

Look at these pictures of this magnificent site!

Yesterday we arrived in San Cristobal de Las Casa 6 hours further south again down/up a windy mountainous road. Yvonne had to really concentrate...  We watched 3 movies in Spanish to help with the ride while the driver listened to his music. Beautiful scenery but much of it was fogged in.



San Cristobal sits at 2100 metres, so it's quite cool.  The first thing we did after finding a room was to buy a cheap sweater. Got down to 8 C overnight. Part of the Arctic Chill effect going on at home. 

Felt like fall camping in our room.  Today we are taking a tour into some mountain villages ...

We are in the middle of nowhere in San Cristobal. Blue, crisp skies this am.

 Not sure which direction we will head in the next few days.

 Distances in the mountains are long and slow.

Take care. Drop us a note when u can...

Hugs to all!