The Cry of Independence: Last Days in San Cristóbal de las Casas

15/09/09-16/09/09

Having fallen in love with San Cristóbal and having already spent ten days here, we decided to extend our stay for just a couple of extra days to witness the Cry of Independence in our favourite Mexican city (granted, it's the first one we have visited, but I'm sure it will still be our favourite by the time we leave Mexico). The Cry of Independence is celebrated every year on the evening of the 15th September, and this year, 2009, the Mexican people are celebrating the 199th year of independence from Spain. At around 11pm we went to the main square in front of the town hall and joined the already huge crowd waiting for the special moment when the mayor would come out on to the balcony of the town hall and give the cry: Viva Hidalgo! Viva Moreles! Viva Chiapas! Viva Mexico! There were several other names mentioned as well, which I have since forgotten, but they all relate to men who were active in Mexico's strive for independence. At every cry of the mayor, we would shout back Viva! Vic was tempted to cry out "Long live Fernando VII" who was King of Spain at the time that Mexico was fighting for its independence, but I think my hesitance to join in made him decide against it. After all the shouting, there was lots of cheering and clapping, followed by a rendition of the national anthem and an amazing, albeit brief, firework display. The atmosphere was buzzing...it was so great to be a part of it! The army also play a big part in the proceedings, raising the flag of the town hall to full mast and providing musical interludes, and this year was particularly special, as it was the first time in fifteen years that the army has been able to join in the celebration. Until now, and ever since the Zapatista Revolution in 1994, the army have been unable to enter the state of Chiapas...we're yet to find out why!

The next day, celebrations continued with a military-civic parade around the centre of town. We watched for an hour as armed soldiers marched by on foot, and others passed by in army trucks or tanks equipped with huge guns. Following the soldiers were groups of students from the various educational institutions of San Cristóbal: school children in uniform, trainee chefs and nurses, also in uniform, they all took part, and luckily I had a good view for a change, as I managed to get up a bit higher than the majority of the crowd so I was snapping away for the duration and I also got a few videos too. I haven't checked them yet, but if there is a good one, I will upload it soon. I have a great one of the Cry of Independence, which I will definitely put on here as soon as I can!

Sadly, our time in this wonderful city has finally come to an end, and we will be heading next to Palenque, where we will see the first of many Maya ruins. How exciting :)

16 de Septiembre, último día en San Cristóbal de las Casas

Después de doce días en esta maravillosa ciudad, hemos decidido seguir adelante hacia el norte, Palenque. Pero antes queríamos contar los últimos días aquí que casualmente coincidieron con el grito de independencia, el 15 de septiembre se cumplieron 199 años del grito de independencia en Mexico. A las once de la noche fuimos a la plaza central que estaba llena de gente esperando a que el alcalde saliera al balcón del ayuntamiento a dar el grito! Tambien había muchos militares que portarían la bandera hasta el ayuntamiento como era tradición aunque llevaban sin poder hacerlo quince años ya que desde la revolucón zapatista el ejército no podía entrar en Chiapas. Ya han hecho las paces así que pudimos ver a los militares portando la bandera y al día siguiente, nuestro último día en la ciudad, un desfile cívico-militar en el que desfilaron militares y diferentes escuelas de Chiapas. Y allí estábamos nosotros, una inglesa y un español entre una multituda de gente gritando Mexico, Mexico.... Salio el alcalde y gritó con fuerte acento mexicano... Viva Hidalgo! Viva Morelos! Viva Mexico! Y la gente contestaba a los gritos del alcalde Viva! Viva! Viva! Después cantaron el himno nacional y tiraron fuegos artificiales. Yo quería, por eso de darle un toque español a la celebración, haber gritado viva Fernando VII! haha, pero quizás no era buena idea y lo dejaremos para otra ocasión. Antes de acabar, queríamos recordar la noche que salimos a cenar con Erika, una mexicana del DF que nos presentó a un matrimonio, Jasmín y Arturo, tambien del DF y a unos recien casados de Cantabria, Juan y Esther (que estaban de luna de miel.) Más tarde vino otro hombre de Valladolid (le dejo sin nombre porque no me acuerdo) y juntos cenamos hasta muy tarde. Nos reimos muchísimo, contamos chistes de vascos y del lepe mientras ellos nos contaban alguno de "gallegos" que es como se nos llama a los españoles en Latinoamérica. Fue muy divertido!

Some Great Days Out: Sumidero Canyon and Montebello Lakes

Another tour that I really enjoyed took us to the town of Chiapa de Corzo, from where we took a speedboat along the Grijalva River to visit the Sumidero Canyon. The river has not always been navegable. It has only been possible to visit the Canyon by boat since 1981. In the same year it was converted into a protected area and named a National Park. You can also view the Canyon by land from a series of look out points. The canyon is so important to the people of Chiapas that it forms the base of the state´s Coat of Arms.

The entrance to the canyon lies about 15km from where you take the speedboat, and just before you get to this entrance, in the centre of the left-hand wall, is a small alcolve with a stalactite in the shape of a sea horse, which we stopped to photograph. We also stopped a few more times to see other things of interest, the most fantastic of which had to be the waterfall known as the Christmas Tree. The water falls over a formation of rocks covered with moss that look exactly like a Christmas Tree. Our driver took us right underneath it to feel the spray...it was very refreshing on such a hot day :)

Our journey took us along just 42km of the Grijalva River (a total of 84km there and back) with a journey time of just under two hours. Upon entering the Canyon the walls on either side measure 200m high, the tallest point along the way being a staggering 1000m. The river´s deepest point (within the limits of the Canyon) measures 250m.

At the end of the first 42km before making our way back we got to see a huge hydroelectric dam (the biggest of four which can be found along this river), which is Mexico´s biggest source of energy production. This dam is also able to export electricity throughout Central America. The dam was opened in 1981, which helped to make the river navegable as it calmed the rapids which had been present in the river prior to its opening. On the way back to the dock we stopped just once to photograph some crocodiles sunbathing on the river bank and then it was back to the centre of Chiapa de Corzo to spend a bit of time before heading back to San Cristóbal.

Chiapa de Corzo was founded in 1528 when Diego de Mazariegos successfully conquered the area with the Spanish. It is said that several of the local indigenous people threw themselves into the Sumidero Canyon, preferring death to a life of slavery under the new Spanish rulers. In the main square is a beautiful fountain, built by the Spanish some time after founding the town. Unfortunately we did not get to explore much more as we only had 45 minutes there, but what we did see we enjoyed all the same.

Our third and final tour from San Cristóbal took us to three different places: firstly to some caves at a place called Rancho Nuevo, secondly to Chiflon Falls, a nature reserve with several waterfalls, and finally to the Montebello Lakes, which, as the names suggests, is an area with several lakes of varying colours. We didn´t enjoy this tour as much as the others as it lasted the entire day with a lot of driving involved (we spent the majority of the day inside the minibus), but most of what we saw that day was very beautiful and Vic got to have a swim in one of the lakes, so although tiring, it was worthwhile.

By far the most disappointing part of the day was the visit to the caves. The stalactites and stalagmites were remarkable but in general it was too dark and too wet inside the caves, making it difficult to get any photos and also making it dangerous to walk. Vic and I almost slipped a couple of times so we were relieved to get back out into the sunshine again :)

Next it was an hour and a half´s drive to the nature reserve of Chiflon Falls. The visit here involved a thirty-five minute climb (of more than 500 stairs) through the forest alongside a river, with several waterfalls to admire along the way. At the summit you can cool down in the vast spray of the reserve´s tallest waterfall called El Velo de Novia (bridal veil falls in English), approximately 120m high. Although not an easy climb due to the excessive heat and humidity (not to mention all those stairs), we both really enjoyed this stop :)

Our final port of call was the Montebello Lakes, a further two hours away (we were also starving by this point not yet having had an opportunity to get any lunch). This area of Mexico comprises a total of 60 lakes of different sizes and colours. I can no longer remember the name of the first one we stopped at, but there is a photo of Vic in front of it above, and on the opposite side of the lake, approximately half way up, is the border with Guatemala. (I think some of the Montebello Lakes are actually situated in Guatemala).

The next lake we went to was Lake Pojoj, and this is where we finally got something to eat, although only something small as there was nothing hugely appealing on offer :) There is a small island in the middle of this lake and to get across you can either go by kayak or on a raft made of what look like narrow tree trunks, held together with rope. (They don´t use motors to avoid polluting the crystal clear water). We chose to go by raft, which we shared with a local family and our driver. It didn´t occur to us until a few minutes into the journey that we should probably help with the rowing, as we were quite a lot of people for one person alone :) Vic and I got to have a go at rowing on the return journey (see photo below). The island is tiny with a small orchid garden and people usually come here in order to go swimming. Unfortunately I didn´t have my swimming things with me, and I refused to go in in just my underwear (other people did!), so Vic was the only one of us who got to enjoy the refreshingly cool water. I took photos instead :) From the other side of the island to where you can go swimming, if you shout, you get a really great echo. I took a video of Vic doing this, but you can´t hear the echo all that well so I´ve decided to not put it on here for the moment.

Finally, before making the three-hour journey back to San Cristóbal, we stopped off to see three more lakes, which together with another two make up the so-called Coloured Lakes, which range in colour from midnight blue to emerald green. The three we got to see were called Encantada (Enchanted), which was a kind of olive green, Ensueño (Dream), which was a greeny turquoise, and Esmeralda (Emerald), which, funnily enough, was an emerald green. They were all truly beautiful and well worth the visit. It´s just a shame that we had such a long drive back. Once we arrived in San Cristóbal there was only one thing on our minds: dinner :) I can´t remember what we ended up having, but if this was the night we unfortunately ended up in the awful italian restaurant, this day really was the worst day for food!!!

Cañón del Sumidero y Lagunas de Montebello

A poco más de una hora de San Cristóbal de las Casas se encuentra Chiapa del Corzo. Pequeño pueblo Chiapaneco desde donde se toman las barcas para navegar el cañón del sumidero por el rio Grijalva. Durante el trayecto vimos varias cascadas, una de ellas llamada el árbol de navidad porque las rocas con musgo reflejan la imagen de un gran árbol de navidad. Navegamos unos veinte kilómetros hasta llegar a una presa donde se genera energía. La altura de las paredes ronda entre los 600 y 1.000 metros y la zona más profunda del río tiene unos 200 metros. Cuenta la leyenda, que tras la lucha entre los españoles y los chiapanecos, los indígenas usaron el cañón para autosacrificarse. Se suicidaron en masa para no tener que ser esclavos. Cuando navegas por el río, se ve una formacíon de rocas al fondo, en una pared que parece unirse a las paredes laterales y que hoy en día representa el escudo de Chiapas. A la vuelta pudimos ver tres cocodrilos en las orillas del río. Nos gusta muchó ver cocodrilos.... toman el sol en la orilla como las personas (eso sí, sin protector solar)

Otro día decidimos visitar el Chiflón y las lagunas de Montebello. El chiflón es una cascada muy bonita. Mejor que veais las fotos. Era muy refrescantes aunque no podíamos bañarnos. Si pudimos sin embargo bañarnos en las Lagunas de Montebello. Es una laguna de aguas cristalinas con una pequeña isla en el medio. Para llegar a la isla montamos en una balsa de troncos de madera unidos por cuerdas... Y remamos ya que no pueden usar motor en la laguna para no contaminar. Cuando llegamos a la isla podíamos gritar y oir el eco al fondo.... El agua estaba bien fría pero merecio la pena!!

Indigenous Territory: San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán

One of our tours took us to the nearby Tsotsil communities of San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan. It was during this tour that we got to meet Erika (the girl from Mexico City who we had dinner with that evening), a married couple from near to Mexico City, Claudia and Enrique, and two English people, Matthew and Elena. The whole group got on really well, talking lots and sharing their travel experiences. It makes such a difference when you get chatting to the other people on your tour, and this was by far the most friendly of the three groups we found ourselves in.

Our first stop was San Juan Chamula, only a 20 minute drive from San Cristóbal. The first thing our driver said to us was that we could only take photos when he told us it was fine to do so. The people of this community believe that if you take a photo of them, the camera steals their soul, so obviously you have to be very careful about where you point your camera :) We were able to take panoramic shots only and we had to be standing a good distance away from any of the locals. (I managed to get a sneaky one of some women on a bench with plenty of zoom...Vic has uploaded it in his post below). Some of the younger people will let you photograph them but only if you give them money, and otherwise, if someone suspects that you have taken a photo of them they will demand to see your camera and in the best case will simply get you to delete it, but apparently there have been cases where people´s cameras have been destroyed, which is obviously a complete disaster for any traveller. Luckily we didn´t have any issues while we were there :) And while we´re on the subject of photo-taking, it is completely forbidden to take any photos inside the church, as this is considered as stealing the soul of God. They don´t even like you to have your camera out while you are in there and it is such a shame, because the sight inside the church is unbelievable....completely different to anything I have ever seen before, but rules are rules :) (Actually, at a museum later that day, I saw a photo of the inside of this church, so all I´ve got is a photo of a photo meaning that it´s not very clear, but I hope you can get the idea).

So the church...there are no pews, nor chairs. Everyone sits in groups on the floor, which is covered with grass, as contact with the Earth purifies both the church and the people who walk upon it. The people are Christians but they don´t have priests and neither do they hold mass. The rituals they perform are specific to each family group and include a healer, several burning candles of different sizes and colours, live hens, eggs, fizzy drinks and a good deal of chanting. I told you it was different :) The healer sits in the centre of the group and feeling for the pulse of each member of the group and 'listening' to their blood, he can determine what they should pray for. The candles represent each of their prayers, ranging from small to big, depending on how important the prayer is. (I´m not sure what the different colours represent). When we were there I think there must have been about 1,000 candles alight, the amount of smoke and the smell was incredible. As for the hens and the eggs, these get passed from person to person, but again I´m not sure of the significance. Finally, the fizzy drinks are for drinking towards the end of the ritual...the gassy sensation makes them feel like they are being 'cured' or 'cleansed within'. The first fizzy drink to arrive in San Juan Chamula was obviously Coca Cola, which they used to consider as sacred, but with the arrival of Sprite and Fanta etc. and realising that these had the exact same effect, Coca Cola ceased to be sacred and now any old fizzy drink will do. Coca Cola seems to still be the preferred favourite though :) Before Coca Cola, they used a herb, which made them vomit upon eating it. With the introduction of Coca Cola, they found a similar effect without having to vomit, which is obviously a lot more pleasant, and it tastes better too!

Apart from the church, our guide told us several other interesting facts about this community of 60,000 people. Firstly, they are very protective of themselves and do not like the intrusion of foreigners (which makes me think why do they allow tourist groups to visit them?, but anyway...). Hence there are no hotels or any kind of accommodation for visitors, limiting them only to a visit of an hour or so with a guide. I think you could go there of your own accord, but most of the guide books recommend going with someone with a knowledge of the community, as you can get into all sorts of trouble if you do something that the locals don´t like (i.e. take a photo of them). As a result of not wanting to mix with others, they marry among themselves and although there is a fair-sized population of 60,000 people there are only 10 or so different surnames!! The town is kept in check by the 'authorities' who are changed each year on the 1st January (the new authorities are chosen by the previous ones, and they are usually thought to be the people with the highest education within the community). They wear hats with coloured bits hanging off them and walk around with truncheons. The community is subject to its own set of laws, kept in force by the authorities. No-one is allowed to follow a different religion or vote for any political party other than the PRI, who generously donate money to the community (talk about buying votes!). If anyone goes against this way of thinking, they are expelled from the community. Vic asked our guide if anyone has ever questioned this complete disregard for man´s liberty, to which our guide replied that if this ever does happen, that person will also be expelled from the community. This got us to wondering if all the Tsotsiles living in San Cristóbal are people that have been expelled from Chamula. Who knows?

The men are the rulers of the community and the women have no say whatsoever. Fathers still arrange their daughters' marriages, selling them to their prospective husbands for an agreed fee. If on the wedding night, the husband should find that his new bride is not a virgin, he can return the girl to her father and get his money back, and even fine the family for the disgrace. Girls are married as young as 11 and 12, and they start having families around this age as well, having anywhere between 6 and 15 children. As soon as they can walk, their parents give them something heavy to wear on their backs, increasing the weight as they get older, so that they grow accustomed to working while carrying a baby. I was completely shocked by all of it, but this is the way of life for the women of this community, and it doesn´t seem that it will change anytime soon.

One last interesting thing that we found out, is that sheep are sacred animals for these people, and as such, they never eat lamb and do not rear them for anything other than their wool, from which they make items of clothing. Women traditionally wear skirts made of black wool and the men wear whole outfits made of white wool. Their sheep tend to live for about 15 years, and when they die (naturally of course), they hold a funeral and bury them like they would a member of the family.

After spending some time wandering around the market outside the church, we got back in the minibus to drive the few kilometres to Zinacantan, where we visited the home of a family who make their living from handicrafts. I say a family, but there were only women there, so I don´t know what the men do all day. When we first arrived we were shown all of the different products that they make including clothes, shawls, bags and table runners. They also gave us a short demonstration of how they make a scarf. After that they brought out some traditional wedding clothes and started dressing members of our group. First Elena was dressed up as the bride and then Vic volunteered to be the groom. I ended up as the mother of the groom I think, and I assume Enrique must have been the father of the bride. While in 'costume' we were treated to a taste of three different flavours of pox (pronounced posh), which is an alcoholic drink, similar to tequila, made from corn and sugar. The flavours were jamaica, which is difficult to describe, cinnamon and natural. The natural was the strongest of them all and my favourite was the jamaica. It was lots of fun getting dressed up and we took several photos, one of which Vic has uploaded below. No mocking comments please :)

Before heading back we got to taste some of their home-cooking. We had quesadillas filled with cuajada (a kind of soft cheese) and tortillas which we filled ourselves from a selection of avocado, tomato, more cuajada, beans and a few different salsas. It was all delicious and it was good to be able to watch them prepare it all. They cooked over a wood fire and they had a wooden contraption with which to flatten out the tortillas....in Tortuga, Nicaragua, we had to shape the tortillas with our hands :)

We didn´t see anything else of Zinacantan but the experience we did have was more than enough for us. In front of the house we visited we noticed a huge hill with a building on top, which our guide told us was the church. Curious as to how long it would take to walk up to, he told us that the people say that it takes about an hour, with the help of God of course :) We had a really fantastic day, and it was definitely the most interesting and eye-opening of the tours that we went on from San Cristóbal, although another favourite of mine was the Sumidero Canyon, but more about that in my next post.

San Juan Chamula y Zinacantán

A pocos kilómetros de San Cristóbal de las Casas se encuentran las comunidades Tsotsiles de San Juan Chamula (60.000 habitantes) y Zinacantán (25.000 habitantes.) El 100% de los habitantes de estos pueblos son Tsotsiles (descendientes de la civilización Maya.) Éramos siete turístas, 3 mexicanos de la capital, entre ellos, Erika con la que más tarde saldríamos a cenar por San Cristóbal, una pareja de ingleses y nosotros. Los Tsotsiles mas conservadores, según sus creencias, no se dejan fotografiar ya que piensan que se les quita el alma (la primera fotos es de mujeres Tsotsiles de Zinacantán que si se dejan fotografiar. Como veis, la mayoría son muy bajitos comparado con nosotros.) Ha habido problemas con algunos turistas y han llegado a romper cámaras de los turistas cuando les han tomado fotos directamente. Tampoco se pueden hacer fotos en la iglesia ya que según ellos sería robar el alma de Dios. Son "católicos Sincretistas" lo que significa que creen en cristo y rezan a los Santos (tienen 87 santos en la iglesia) pero no tienen curas, ni hacen misas y mezclan con sus religiones ancestrales, con curanderos y una especie de brujos. Al entrar en la iglesia te sientes extraño. El suelo está lleno de hierba de pino porque dicen que purifica. Se sientan en circulos alrededor del curandero que hace rituales de curación o limpieza. Este les toma el brazo y les toca para controlar sus pulsaciones. La gente lleva gallinas, huevos, posh (una bebida local hecha de maiz y azúcar con un sabor parecido al tequila) y refrescos. La gallina no es sacrificada sino que la van pasando de mano en mano, al igual que los huevos de gallina. El refresco se lo beben para ayudar a curar. Hace años pensaban que la Coca Cola era sagrada porque les hacía eruptar y con esto se curaban.... después descubrieron que la Fanta y el Sprite tambien hacían el mismo efecto asi que la Coca Cola dejó de ser sagrada. No obstante la siguen usando para sus rituales de curación. En la iglesia no hay bancos, se sientan en el suelo, en circulos y ponen velas encendidas (de distintos colores y tamaños según les haya pedido el curandero y que este se encarga de colocar en el suelo haciendo distintas formaciones según la enfermedad) que dan un olor a cera impresionante y puede verse y olerse el humo de todas las velas en el aire...... Creo que no exagero si digo que había más de mil velas encendidas por todo el recinto..... La comunidad es muy cerrada y tienen sus propias leyes ajenas a las del Estado Mexicano. Las mujeres no tienen voz, los padres arreglan los matrimonios y venden a las hijas a su futuro marido, si la mujer engañara a su marido, este tiene derecho a reclamarle al padre el dinero de la "compra" más una multa y el destierro de la mujer. Todos en la comunidad tienen que ser católicos (si alguno decide hacerse evangélico lo expulsan del pueblo) y por conveniencia todos tienen que votar por el mismo partido político que aconsejen las autoridades indígenas Tsotsiles ya que así reciben ayuda económica de este partido (el PRI) (esto es compra de votos?) Si alguno no vota por este partido también es expulsado de la comunidad. Pregunté a nuestro guía si alguien alguna vez cuestiona la falta de libertad de expresión de la comunidad. Me dijo que sí y cuando eso pasa, es inmediatamente expulsado del pueblo. Al parecer, la población indígena que vive en la ciudad de San Cristóbal de las Casas son gente que habían sido expulsados del pueblo años atrás. (Esta segunda foto está hecha en Chamula con mucho zoom y panorámica para que no nos quitaran la cámara. Sentimos que fue totalmente imposible hacer una dentro de la iglesia, además hay que respetar sus tradiciones.) Tambien nos dijo que cuando hay algún alborotador o algún extranjero que intenta hacer una foto, inmediatamente empiezan a rodear a la persona (son como hormigas dijo el guía) para controlarle o tomar la cámara.... Se protegen unos a otros. La oveja es un animal sagrado para ellos. No pueden comer cordero y cuando una oveja muere, la velan como a una persona y la hacen un entierro. Lo único que usan de ellas es la lana. Las mujeres visten con faldas de lana negra y los hombres visten totalmente de blanco. Las autoridades llevan unos sombreros con unas tiras de colores y unos bastones de mando. Cada año le hacen una fiesta a uno de los Santos. Las autoridades eligen quien será el encargado de hacer la fiesta y esto significa dar de comer y beber a todo el pueblo (60.000 personas!!) durante tres días que duran los rezos al Santo. Esta persona puede no ser rica y tiene que arreglárselas para juntar el dinero para la fiesta (le avisan con un año de antelación.) Normalmente dejan el pueblo y se marchan a trabajar un año a la ciudad para juntar el dinero suficiente. Si no son capaces de llevar a cabo la fiesta en honor del Santo, esta persona acabaría desterrada del pueblo. Para que os deis cuenta de lo cerrada que es esta comunidad, solo se casan con gente del pueblo (nunca de fuera) y no hay hospedajes para nadie de fuera. A pesar de los 60.000 habitantes, solo hay una docena de apellidos. Las mujeres llevan a los bebés a la espalda, envueltos en una tela. A las niñas, las ponen una especie de saco a la espalda con una bola de hierro de un par de kilos para que se vayan acostumbrando a cargar el peso de un bebé y le aumentan el tamaño de la bola según crecen. A los 12 o 13 años son casadas obligatoriamente y tienen entre seis y quince niños. Los hombres pueden tener tantas esposas como quieran según las autoridades, siempre que puedan mantenerlas económicamente. Así es como viven en San Juan Chamula en el año 2.009 y posiblemente sigan en los próximos siglos. Zinacantán tiene un ambiente algo distinto. También son Tsotsiles pero parecen más abiertos y alegres. Esta tercera foto es en Zinacantán y estamos vestido con trajes típicos para una boda. Nos invitaron a tres chupitos de posh (de un sabor distinto cada uno.) En Zinacantán, además de Tsotsil, hablan castellano y tienen una iglesia en lo alto de una montaña muy empinada a la que tardan en llegar (con la ayuda de Dios) alrededor de una hora. Allí visitamos una familia que nos dio de comer tortillas mexicanas y aproveché para comprarles unos pantalones indígenas.

A Magical Place: San Cristóbal de las Casas

04/09/09-14/09/09

From San Salvador we took our second Ticabus to Mexico, passing through Guatemala along the way. The journey was a long 12 hours, and the last part of it was spent trying to understand the constant ramblings of the man next to us. He was from Atlanta with a very strong accent, meaning that even I had trouble understanding him at times :) The bus dropped us off in Tapachula, Chiapas (the most southern state of Mexico) and after checking into a hotel we went and had some sincronizadas (soft flour tortillas with avocado, cheese and tomato). We only stayed in Tapachula the one night and the next day took another 8 hour bus to the very heart of the state, San Cristóbal de las Casas. Even arriving at 11pm we could tell that it was a beautiful town and that we were going to enjoy our stay here. At night the main square is lit up and is always full of people. It is good to be back in a place where you can still find bars and restaurants open after 8pm (not the case in San Salvador!!)

San Cristóbal was founded in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos, and it´s full name of San Cristóbal de las Casas is in honour of fray Bartolomé de las Casas, who arrived here in 1545 as the first bishop of the diocese. He was one of the few that defended the indigenous people at the arrival of the Spanish. It is popular with tourists as there are so many things to see and do in the area, and the town itself is captivating, very clean and safe with beautifully coloured buildings, several churches, museums, bars and restaurants....it has something for everyone and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to visit Mexico.

The state of Chiapas has the highest population of indigenous people (descendants of the famous Mayas) than any other state of Mexico, and a high percentage of them are concentrated in and around San Cristóbal. Their culture is still very much alive and apparent here, especially so in the surrounding villages which are 100% indigenous. They still wear their traditional clothing and speak their own language, although many of them also speak Spanish. They make their living from handicrafts, mainly jewellery and clothing, which they sell either at the markets or on the streets. The biggest indigenous groups in this area are the Tsotsiles and Tzeltales, their respective languages being Tsotsil and Tzeltal, which are the 5th and 6th most widely spoken indigenous languages in the whole of Mexico. The most widely spoken is Nahuatl. At 62, Mexico has the second largest number of indigenous languages in the world (India has the most), and before the arrival of the Spanish there were 180!!! As we were planning to visit a couple of the nearby indigenous villages, Vic and I decided to do a 3 hour intensive course of Tsotsil so that we could exchange a few words with the locals. Our teacher was brilliant and got through so much in the few hours, and after practising for a bit that same afternoon, we had managed to learn a few of the basics such as: K'uxa elan? (how are you?), vo'one lek oyun (I´m fine), kolaval (thank you), k'usi abi? (what is your name?), jbi Lauren (My name is Lauren), bu likemotal? (where are you from?), likemuntal ta Inglaterra (I am from England), jun, chib, oxib, chanib, vo'ob (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). I can count from 1 to 20 but I don´t want to bore you all :) It was really fun learning a new language, especially such an unusual one, and although we didn´t need it when we visited the indigenous villages (everyone we spoke to could speak Spanish) we did manage to make ourselves understood so it was completely worth it!

San Cristóbal is 2,100m above sea level, and although it can still get quite hot during the day, we were surprised by the sudden drop in temperature, and we had to dig out the few warm clothes that we have in our backpacks :) The main part of town is not very big and you can see most of the sights on foot. There is a city tour you can do by tram (well, it´s not actually a tram, it just looks like one), but there has to be a minimum of 4 people to do it, and as yet we have not been lucky enough to arrive at the same time as other people. We have since done the tour ourselves on foot, but it´s not the same without a guide pointing things out and explaining the history behind it, so we might still try and do it before we leave. The main sights here are the cathedral and several other churches of various colours, the most spectacular of which has to be Santo Domingo (see Vic´s first photo below).

We have also visited a couple of interesting museums. The first was Na´Bolom (house of the jaguar), which was founded in 1951 by Frans Blom, a danish archaeologist and explorer, and his wife, Gertrude Duby Blom, a Swiss conservationist and photographer. After studying at Harvard, Frans came to Chiapas in 1919 and on one of his archaeological treks he came across the Lacandones, another group of indigenous people, inhabiting the Lacandon jungle. He and the Lancadones became great friends and he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to studying and helping this ancient tribe. Unlike the other indigenous groups, the Lacandones had never come into contact with the Spanish and for this reason they are considered to be the purest descendants of the Mayas. They don´t speak Spanish and they still believe in their own God, whereas the Spanish christianised many of the other indigenous communities. Since its discovery, the Lacandon jungle has become increasingly accessible to outsiders and much of the land has been destroyed. Na´Bolom has a reforestation project in place in an attempt to maintain the Lacandones homeland and even though Frans Blom and his wife have since passed away, the organisation continues to carry out the work that they started so many years ago. Sadly, only 400 of the original Lacandones remain alive today, and due to the intermarriage between members of the same family, there are an increasing number of abnormalities apparent in the younger generations. In an attempt to reduce the frequency of these genetic mutations and to ensure the longevity of this unique people, the Lacandones are now being encouraged to marry into other indigenous groups, which has been met with positivity, and already there exist a few of these 'new' communities. The second museum we visited was about the state of Chiapas, which is made up of 9 regions. We are in the region called Altos, of which San Cristóbal is the capital. The museum was split into the nine different regions with information on the typical food and drink to be found, what indigenous groups live there and the typical regional festivals. It was only very small and did not take long to walk around, but I found it really interesting.

As well as exploring the town, we have been on a few excursions to places of interest, some nearby and others quite far away. On each of the tours we have had the opportunity to meet some lovely people, such as Erica from Mexico City, who we met on our tour to the indigenous villages, and who in turn introduced us to people she had met on her previous tours: another couple from the capital, Arturo and Jasmin, a newly married couple from Santander, Juan and Esther, and another man from Madrid, whose name I can´t remember :( Also, on our first night in San Cristóbal we met two brothers, Juan Carlos and Fernando, who live in the capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutierrez, but who spend their weekends in San Cristóbal. They invited us over to have a few drinks with them and when the first bar closed we went on to another place, where we got chatting to a group of travellers (four English people and two Germans) until the early hours of the morning! Finally, on our last tour to the Lakes of Montebello, we met three lovely women (a mother and daughter and a friend of the family), who laughed and giggled all day long, making all of us laugh too :) They were really friendly, happy people and they made the experience so much more enjoyable. We didn´t catch their names, but we hope they have continued to enjoy their holiday in San Cristóbal. They were also from Mexico City. So not only has San Cristóbal been a great place for things to do, we have been lucky to meet some great people who have helped to make our experience here even better! More about the tours we have done in the following posts.

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas 5 al 16 de Septiembre

Dejamos San Salvador para dirigirnos hacia en noroeste, al Estado mexicano de Chiapas. El viaje duró unas 12 horas y la mitad del camino tuvimos a un norteamericano de Atlanta, de 69 años que no paraba de contarnos cosas con un fuerte acento sureño. Lo más divertido que escuché en esas seis horas de monólogo fue que no bebía agua. Solo bebe pepsi porque dice que el agua no le aporta nada a su cuerpo.... Llegamos de noche a la ciudad de Tapachula al sur de Chiapas y tras buscar un hostal económico (no había muchos) fuimos a cenar unos tacos mexicanos.
Al día siguiente fuimos hacia el corazón de Chiapas, San Cristóbal de las Casas! Es una ciudad preciosa que recomiendo a todo el que esté leyendo esto. Hay muchísimas cosas que ver y hacer por aquí y no es la imagen que tenía de Mexico. Es muy limpia, segura y se come bastante bien.
San Cristóbal de las Casas fue fundada en 1.528 por Diego de Mazariegos y debe su nombre al obispo Bartolomé de las Casas que fue uno de los pocos que defendió a los indígenas durante la conquista española. Chiapas tiene alrededor de un 20% de población indígena descendiente de los mayas (la más alta de Mexico) y puedes verlos con sus llamativos trajes andando por las calles mientras venden artesanías, principalmente textiles. En México hay 62 lenguas indígenas (180 antes de la llegada de los españoles) como el Nahuatl, Tsotsil, Tzeltal o el Lacandón. Como decidimos visitar una de las comunidades Tsotsiles, hemos hecho un curso intensivo de Tsotsil, una de las lenguas mayas más habladas en la zona. No es que vayamos a escribir el blog en Tsotsil desde ahora, hehe pero pudimos preguntar cosas básicas a los indígenas como Kuxa elan? ¿Como estás?, Lek oyun estoy bien, Kusi abi? ¿Cómo te llamas?, Bu likemotal? ¿De dónde eres?, likemutal ta España soy de España...... Fue muy interesante aprender a chapurrear algunas frases en un idioma maya.
El clima es algo fresco durante la noche (estamos a 2.100 metros de altitud) y muy agradable durante el día. En la ciudad hay una catedral y más de una docena de iglesias con distintos colores. Una noche fuimos a tomar algo y conocimos a dos hermanos, Juan Carlos y Fernando con los que hablamos de cantantes como Joaquín Sabina, Amaya Montero a la que Fernando conocía y hombres G ya que eran los ídolos de Juan Carlos. Después fuimos a otro bar con ellos y conocimos a un grupo de ingleses y alemanes. También descubrimos que Juan Carlos hace doblaje de películas en Mexico y puso la voz del guasón (joker) de la versión mexicana de Dark Night de Batman. Doblabá a Heath Ledger y nos hizo una demostración a todos que nos hizo reir durante horas.
Visitamos el museo Na Bolom (casa del Jaguar) fundado por Franz Blom y su esposa Gertrude Duby. Franz Blom fue un arqueólogo danés que tras estudiar en Harvard vino a Chiapas en 1.919 a buscar petróleo y se encontró con una comunidad de indígenas conocida como los Lacandones. Dejó la empresa petrolera y dedicó su vida a estudiar y ayudar a estos indígenas- Su esposa, era una fotógrafa suiza que documentó con miles de fotografías a esta tribu indígena. A diferencia de los Tzeltales, Tsotsiles y demás, estos indígenas (Lacandones) nunca estuvieron en contacto con los conquistadores ya que viven en una selva sin ningún interés mineral. Por lo tanto están considerados como los descendientes mayas más puros, no conocen el español, ni fueron cristianizados como el resto de comunidades por lo que aún creen en un dios maya con un nombre muy extraño. Lo malo es que sólo quedan 400 lacandones en la actualidad y como sólo se casan entre ellos empieza a haber un alto número de enfermedades genéticas como albinismo, mongolismo, etc. En la actualidad se les está convenciendo de que se mezclen con otros grupos indígenas para que no desaparezcan. En el museo Na Bolom, conocimos a un chico inglés, Alex, con el que estuvimos tomando un café mientras pasaba la tormenta- Alex ha vivido casi toda su vida en Chipre y se muda a Londres para trabajar una vez termine de viajar- por el momento está viajando por su cuenta por la misma zona que nosotros y probablemente volvamos a encontrarnos con él en Belice o Guatemala....

El Salvador Part Two - Suchitoto and San Vicente

29/08/09-03/09/09

By far the nicest of all the places we visited in El Salvador was the small town of Suchitoto, an hour and a half´s bus ride from San Salvador. It is completely geared towards tourism with a plethora of hotels, bars and restaurants and yet it has still retained its charm with its cobbled streets, colonial architecture and friendly locals. On the day we went there, we think they were celebrating independence from Spain, (we don´t know for sure), but the main square was filled with people in uniform and several musicians, making for a great atmosphere. Half an hour´s walk from the centre is the Touristic Port Centre, where you can buy handicrafts from local artesans and enjoy a meal at one of the several restaurants, with a great view of Lake Suchitlán. They usually have boat rides around the lake, with the chance to visit a couple of islands, but it wasn´t possible for us to get a boat, as the lake had been invaded with plants. When we had first arrived I had thought that the lake was quite small, but that was because all the greenery I was seeing was in fact the lake, but the water was no longer visible :)

On our last day in El Salvador, we moved back to the first hotel we had stayed in at the Ticabus terminal and arranged tickets to Tapachula, Mexico for the following day. We then went to the small and rather uninteresting town of San Vicente, another hour and a half´s journey by bus. We had read somewhere that San Vicente had a museum with information about the civil war, which occurred here between 1980 and 1992, but after asking a couple of people where it was and being told that they hadn´t ever heard of a museum, we assumed that we must have been mistaken and so we just walked around for a while, visiting the two churches, neither of which were anything spectacular, and making a trip to the post office to send a postcard, which Vic had been carrying around since San Juan del Sur :)

Before making our way back to San Salvador we bought ice creams at a small shop and the owner kindly provided us with chairs so that we could rest for a while and enjoy them sitting down :) We obviously got chatting to him and found out that he was a teacher at one of the local schools. He also told us a bit about the war and how he fled San Vicente to avoid the fighting, first of all staying in the country but in the safety of the mountains, and then later fleeing completely to Costa Rica, where I assume he stayed until the war ended. A permanent problem in El Salvador is the amount of earthquakes that occur. In 2001 the small country experienced two severe earthquakes within one month of each other, the second one causing much damage to San Vicente, and which was followed by several aftershocks, at the time rendering it almost impossible to rebuild. Thankfully, San Vicente appears to have recovered since then.

Tomorrow (04/09) we´re off to Chiapas, the 8th biggest and most southern state of Mexico and we can´t wait. We´ll tell you all about it soon so keep reading :)

Suchitoto y San Vicente 2 y 3 de Septiembre

Después de la visita a Panchimalco (pueblo a 15 kilómetros al sur de San Salvador), visitamos dos pueblos más en El Salvador. Suchitoto, a unos 35 kilómetros al norte y Sa n Vicente a unos 30 kilómetros al Este. Suchitoto es sin duda el pueblo más bonito que hemos visto en este pequeño país. Tiene casas coloniales, con techos de teja rojiza y calles empedradas. Si caminas al final del pueblo llegas a un embalse donde normalmente puedes alquilar unas barcas. No tuvimos suerte ya que el día que fuimos allí, había muchos lirios en el agua y las barcas no podían salir a navegar. Decidimos comer junto al embalse porque aún así la vista era muy bonita. El último día en El Salvador lo pasamos al este de la capital, en San Vicente. Habíamos oído que había un museo de la guerra civil (1.980-1.992) pero al parecer no era verdad! Visitamos varias iglesias y una moderna catedral (la vieja se cayó en el terremoto del 2.001) En una de las iglesias tienen a un Santo gallego asesinado en el siglo VII que no sabemos que conexión tiene con El Salvador..... Compramos unos helados en una librería y nos sentamos a charlar con el dueño que era un maestro de la localidad. Nos contó cosas de la guerra y de como tuvo que huir por las montañas primero y por mar después hacia Costa Rica. La guerra terminó en 1.992, triunfando los revolucionarios del FMLN (Frente Faribundo Martí de Liberación Nacional)

El Salvador no nos ha parecido un país tan interesante como como Costa Rica y Nicaragua por lo que decidimos no pasar más tiempo por aquí y dirigirnos al bonito estado mexicano de Chiapas! (De momento saltamos Guatemala ya que solo nos quedan unas tres semanas de visado en esta zona -Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador y Guatemala expiden 90 días para los cuatro países juntos y queremos dedicarle cuatro o cinco semanas a Guatemala, uno de los países más fascinantes según los viajeros que hemos conocido. Nuestro plan desde ahora es Mexico (Chiapas y Yucatán) Belice, quizás Honduras y finalmente Guatemala aunque puede que terminemos haciendo Guatemala antes de Belice si se confirma la visita de Tony, hermano de Lauren, a Belice.)

El Salvador Part One - San Salvador and Panchimalco

29/08/09-03/09/09

As if we had not already been to the cinema enough in the past few weeks, on the morning of our first full day in San Salvador we went to see the new Harry Potter film. I had first heard that it was being shown when we were still teaching in Nicaragua, but not having a cinema anywhere nearby meant that I had to wait. By the time we got to a place where there was a cinema, however, they had already stopped showing it, so when I saw that it was still showing in San Salvador, I was over the moon. Usually, all the English-speaking films are shown in English with Spanish subtitles here, which is great for me, as I always prefer a film in its original language. Unfortunately that wasn´t the case with Harry Potter, which they were showing in Spanish, so not only did I not understand everything, but in general I didn´t find it all that good. I don´t know what anyone else thought about it? The films will never be as good as the books, but the latest one just doesn´t seem to have much of a story. I will have to watch it again in English to see if it changes my mind at all :)

Our first impression of San Salvador was not a great one, and our impression didn´t change much during the week that we spent there. It´s very hot, dirty and polluted...the several ancient buses running around town emit clouds of black smoke, which force you to hold your breath when they go past. There are also people selling food at little stalls all over the place meaning that it smells wherever you go and there is rubbish everywhere! One afternoon when we went to see the few sights that the city has to offer, we were pleased to find that at least this area felt a bit cleaner and was even quite pretty. The cathedral is relatively modern, but is quite striking, both inside and out, and adjacent to it on another side of the main square is the National Palace, which we visited inside another day, and which served as the base for the three powers of State until 1974. There is a green room which served as the President´s office, a yellow room, which was the seat of the Supreme Court, and a blue room, which was home to the Legislative Assembly. If the number of seats on show in the room reflect the size of the Assembly at that time, it must have been quite small as there were only 32 seats. Nowadays the Assembly is made up of 84 deputies. The current building dates from the beginning of the 20th century, the original building having been destroyed in a fire in 1899. The idea for a National Palace was originally suggested by General Gerardo Barrios, and the main square on which the palace and cathedral sit is dedicated to this national icon. The first day we visited the square they were celebrating the centenary of his death and the army were holding a concert in his memory. The army´s orchestra were playing and there were several soldiers around the square with guns, I assume keeping an eye on everything. We watched for half an hour or so, and it was great to see something that was obviously so important to the local people. (There is a short video of part of the concert below).



Another thing that wasn´t great in El Salvador was the food. There are fast food places everywhere (Pizza Hut, Burger King and Pollo Campero, which is similar to KFC) and local food does not seem very easy to come by. We managed to find decent local food for a reasonable price a few times, but on several occasions we ended up taking the easy and unhealthy option of fast food. Also, the bars and restaurants close really early, at around 8pm-9pm, so if you leave it a bit late for dinner, you end up going hungry. One evening at around 9pm we were walking around trying to find somewhere open to eat, and all we managed to buy were some chips from one of those food stalls. They were good chips but it´s hardly what you could call a wholesome dinner :) Oh well!!!

Only spending a week in El Salvador obviously meant that we would not have the opportunity to see much of the country, but whenever we could we spent the day visiting places of interest near to the capital. The first village we visited was Panchimalco, which we had been told was one of the few remaining places where you could still see indigenous people wearing the traditional clothing and speaking their indigenous language. Unfortunately we didn´t see anything near as interesting (the only traditional clothing we saw was on little dolls in the local museum) and even the churches were closed the day we went, so we went back to San Salvador feeling a little disappointed. The highlight of the visit was when we got chatting to a couple of locals during lunch, one of whom had spent some time in Barcelona. Needless to say, he and Vic got talking about football and the rivalry between Real and Barcelona :) As we were about to leave we were treated to a cup of atol de elote, which is a kind of hot soup made from corn, but which they add a lot of sugar to to make it sweet. It is a common dessert here and we both really liked it :) On the way to Panchimalco we had also met a very friendly old man who was asking with interest about where we were from and telling us about other places that we could visit nearby. When we asked him if Panchimalco was nice, he said quite honestly that he didn´t like it, so I suppose we should have known then not to expect too much :) It was better than spending another day in San Salvador though. Our next two visits were to the towns of Suchitoto and San Vicente, more about them to follow in the next post.