I left Xela early Sunday morning and made it to San Cristobal at about 4pm. I met up with Marissa and her friend Clare at the hostal and that evening we went out for a great "comida economica." For about 30 pesos (2 dollars)a plate, we had chicken with mole sauce and a form of nachos with chicken, vegetables and a tomato sauce. Although I think I´ve realized the mole isn´t my favorite, it was still pretty good. The next day, we explored the city. San Cristobal is a really cute city that reminds me of a mix between Antigua, Guatemala and Xela. It is a colonial city, so has spanish style buildings and tons and tons of brightly colored and intricate churches - like Antigua. At 7.000 feet, a little more then Xela, it´s mountainy and a little less toristy then Antigua.
The next morning we rented bikes to see some of the areas outside of the city. We didn´t go very far, but had a view of some of the fields and residential areas away from the touristy parts. The surrounding area is beautiful and lush. We then walked around town and visited Cerro San Cristobal, and the church on top of the hill - with a good 300 steps to get to the top. The church wasn´t open for us to enter it, but we had a nice view from the top. Next to the church on the side of the hill, was the largest Mexican flag I have ever seen. I think if you had laid it on the ground it would have been at least 1,000 square feet. In case you ever got confused, there was no mistaking that you were in Mexico! That afternoon and evening we explored the market and went a little shop crazy. Everything in Mexico is a good bit cheaper then in Guatemala, so we felt completely justified in all of our purchases. And, given that it was Semana Santa, when everyone is travelling in Mexico, there were markets galore.
After Marissa and Clare headed back to Guatemala, I stayed in San Cristobal another day and went to the Canon del Sumidero. The canyon is 42 miles long and over 1,000 meters high and ends at Mexico´s largest hydroelectric plant. The canyon was beautiful and the two hours on the boat just taking in the amazing natural wonder was great. I couldn´t believe it though, there were even sellers on a boat at the end of the 42 miles (before you turn around and head back) selling the usual nuts, jicama, mangos with lime and chili, "aguas", etc... They´ll really take any opportunity to sell you things, even in a beautiful canyon where you thought you were free of such scemes. Our boat driver/guide really liked to drive fast, and into waves, so there were some cold and wet (but fun) moments. Since I had been hoping to see some crocodiles and there didn´t appear to be any, I couldn´t help but wonder if he was really able to spot them because he was driving so fast...
In the canyon there were also some interesting rock formations like this on - the christmas tree. Apparently during the rainy season it´s an stunning waterfall.
The rest of my time in San Cristobal (that night and then a day when I got back from Palenque) was spent wandering around, enjoying the coffee shops, restaurants and relaxing. On Thursday night and friday, the easter festivities were in full swing. The city was packed with toursits, mostly from Mexico, Italy and France, who were there to watch the easter processionals and enjoy the easter festivities. There was a food fair, like the one at Carnival in Xela, in the main square with taco, quesadilla, churro and tamale stands.
I went to the traditional Mayan Medicine museaum, where I learned about various tradition healing methods, including certain animals like chickens and squirrles that healers will hold over you to heal certain ailments. There was also an entire room dedicated to the end of "biopiracy" - the patening of traditional medicine by western companies. There was a list of all the medicines that had been used for thousands of years and the companies and doctors that had taken them back to the US (primarily) and patented them. They had biographies on explorers and doctors over the past 400 years that had been biopirates. I was really fascinated with this, as I had never heard of biopiracy, much less even thought of it as problem.
I was really surprised with the number of european tourists in Mexico. I felt like everytime I turned around someone was speaking french. I actually spoke spansh 90% of the week, as I met very few americans or people that spoke english. When I explained to the europeans I met that I was living in Guatemala, the usual response was "oh, isn´t it dangerous there??". It made me wonder what sort of international PR guatemala is getting, or if it´s just word of mouth after someone reads a story about the dangers in Guatemala City.
One final anectode before I leave this blog entry, to write one more about Palenque... The number of young children street vendors in Guatemala has always struck me. Children wander around selling nuts, food at soccer games and on buses. However, San Cristobal seemed to have about 10 times more child vendors then any place i´d been before. The boys, who looked between 7 and 12, were mainly selling little wooden animals. The girls, would sell bracelets and scarves, often with their mothers along side them selling other items. I was surprised as to how many Mexicans purchased items from them and how accepted they were in the culture - eventhough I know i shouldn´t be. Sometimes they were left to man a market stand, which made bargining more difficult as you could tell they were only authorized to go down to a certain amount. The children vendors bombard you when you are eating in restaurants or drinking a cup of coffee, standing right by your table saying only a few words "scarves, nice scarves, 30 pesos, for you 25." When you ignore or say no, they would walk away and move on to the next. This happened to me when I was eating dinner one night. I was done with my meal and a few avocado slices, chips and refried beans were left on my table as I was reading. 2 girls came up to me and I ignored them as is my general policy. They persisted for a while and then instead of leaving, they pointed my leftovers and asked if they could have them. When I quickly nodded my head, the two girls scooped it all up quickly and ate it right there, picking away until it was all gone. I was worried the restaurant owner was going to say something to me. They then asked me for some napkins, put whatever was left on the napkins, wiped their faces, and said thanks. This 5 minute interaction made me pause and put their night´s work into perspective.
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