Hello!
Just a quick note to pass along the link our photo album and explain that during its creation I changed the original location of the photos... thus causing all of the pictures previously posted in the blog to disappear. I´ll fix it soon.
As a quick update: Andy and I did manage to meet up in a bus station, just not the one we had intended to go to. My bus and his taxi driver took us to the same, wrong station. So it worked out! We just got back from Palanque (incredible!) and leave early tomorrow morning for Guatemala. A full post to follow soon.
Love to all.
-C & A
Friday, October 30, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Week Two in San Cristobal
Hello everyone!
So my time traveling alone is rapidly coming to an end - I go to Tuxtla to meet Andy in a few hours, assuming we pull off our fail-proof plan of running into each other somewhere at the bus station. It´s been a wonderful, rewarding and challenging experience but it will certainly be more fun once he gets here. Here are some more pictures of San Cristobal.
We also explored the cemetary out of town. Most people have house-like tombs (I´m sure there´s an official word for these buildings) and they are supposed to be replicas of the home where the deceased person lived.
On Saturday Julien and I decided to get out of the city and explore the surrounding hills. We climbed a steep switchback road to the north of San Cris and ended up in the tiny village of Pozuelos. It consisted of a few huts, maize fields, vegetable gardens and goat and sheep pastures. The people were all very nice and also very curious and amused as to how we ended up all the way out there. The hills are covered in forest and flowers and the climb provided stunning views of San Cristobal and surrounding areas. Plus, it was great to get away from all of the noise and bustle of the city for a few hours.
Once Andy arrives I think we plan to stay here for another day or two so I can show him around the city... although those of you who know me well won´t be at all surprised that I still get myself lost on a daily basis. Then we´re headed north to the jungle to see the Mayan ruins in Palanque and then south into Guatemala.
Abrazos,
So my time traveling alone is rapidly coming to an end - I go to Tuxtla to meet Andy in a few hours, assuming we pull off our fail-proof plan of running into each other somewhere at the bus station. It´s been a wonderful, rewarding and challenging experience but it will certainly be more fun once he gets here. Here are some more pictures of San Cristobal.
And the markets. The last of these is a picture of chicks that they dye all different neon colors and all of the kids in the market freak out about them. PETA would be all over this in the US.
I spent the past week enjoying the city and working on my Spanish. I bought a book of Mexican short stories, but it´s slow going when you have to look up every other word. It´s bound to get easier with practice, right? I also spent a lot of time at the market with Julien, my French friend from the hostel. I introduced him to sweet potatoes (which are white here not orange like yams in the US) and he bought me my first pitahaya- a delicious cactus fruit with hot pink and white flesh and black seeds. Naturally I´m including some pictures of our meals.
I spent the past week enjoying the city and working on my Spanish. I bought a book of Mexican short stories, but it´s slow going when you have to look up every other word. It´s bound to get easier with practice, right? I also spent a lot of time at the market with Julien, my French friend from the hostel. I introduced him to sweet potatoes (which are white here not orange like yams in the US) and he bought me my first pitahaya- a delicious cactus fruit with hot pink and white flesh and black seeds. Naturally I´m including some pictures of our meals.On Saturday Julien and I decided to get out of the city and explore the surrounding hills. We climbed a steep switchback road to the north of San Cris and ended up in the tiny village of Pozuelos. It consisted of a few huts, maize fields, vegetable gardens and goat and sheep pastures. The people were all very nice and also very curious and amused as to how we ended up all the way out there. The hills are covered in forest and flowers and the climb provided stunning views of San Cristobal and surrounding areas. Plus, it was great to get away from all of the noise and bustle of the city for a few hours.Once Andy arrives I think we plan to stay here for another day or two so I can show him around the city... although those of you who know me well won´t be at all surprised that I still get myself lost on a daily basis. Then we´re headed north to the jungle to see the Mayan ruins in Palanque and then south into Guatemala.Abrazos,
-C
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Zinacatan and San Juan Chamula
I´ve spent my first week in San Cristobal, and I´m liking the city more and more every day. There has been a music, theater and dance festival in the main plaza all week, which makes for fun evenings. I´ve found a wine bar (great Mexican wine for 20 pesos!) where I love to sit and people watch, there are lots of bars and cafes with live music every night and plenty of cheap and delicious places to eat. Here are a few more pictures of the city:
Without my Spanish class yesterday I was able to take a short day trip to some of the indigenous villages nearby. I went with a tour group, which was great because a guide was necessary to understand much of what we saw- plus I was able to meet other travelers from Chile, Argentina, Germany and other parts of Mexico. Both villages are indigenous Maya, but have surprisingly different cultures and customs.
In the first village, Zinacatan, we visited a home (it was interesting but a little too much of a tourist set-up for me) where we saw women weaving in the traditional manner- with the tapestry attached to them by a belt- the picture explains it more clearly. We also got to watch a woman making tortillas by hand and got to try them with guacamole, beans, cheese, salsas and crushed pumpkin seeds.
The next town, San Juan Chamula, is much bigger and is actually an autonomous city- they don´t pay any taxes to Mexico or Chiapas and have their own government and police force. The most interesting part of the city is their religion- a mix between the ancient Mayan and Catholicism.
We were able to go inside the church and observe some of the rituals- it was unlike anything I´d ever seen before. The floor of the church is covered in pine needles and there are candles lining every table top and even parts of the floor. Statues of saints in glass boxes line the walls and people sit on the ground in front of the saint they need to call on- there are no pews or seats anywhere in the building. Then, the people perform traditional Mayan rituals- we saw a woman rubbing eggs all over a baby who had a fever. In another group an old woman rubbed a live chicken all over a man who had a more serious illness (I don´t know what was wrong exactly) and then broke the chicken´s neck. It´s essentially an exorcism- the chicken or eggs extract the sickness, sin or bad spirit from the person and are then sacrificed. Another, less intense tradition involves the drinking of posh, an alcohol made from sugarcane. The Maya used to make posh by letting it ferment underground for three weeks and something about the earth and chemicals in the soil and such would end up making it carbonated. Then, when the people would drink it after a prayer it would make them burp- and this is believed to be the sin or confession leaving the body. Now, instead of making posh underground and waiting three weeks, the people drink a shot of uncarbonated posh and follow it with Coke! Coca Cola now plays a serious role in their religion and rituals! (It´s true- I swear!)
It´s a fascinating mix of the pre-colonial, colonial and modern eras. Oh, another interesting point- all of the statues of the saints have mirrors and reflective coins covering them to deflect the bad spirits and sins that leave people´s bodies during the rituals. All, that is, except for the first six statues when you walk in- these are saints who have failed to help anyone in the community so have been shunned and left mirror-less so they have to absord all of the bad that comes out in the people praying in the church.
Finally, here are a few pictures from the markets (these are especially for you mom!)
More to come soon!
-C
Without my Spanish class yesterday I was able to take a short day trip to some of the indigenous villages nearby. I went with a tour group, which was great because a guide was necessary to understand much of what we saw- plus I was able to meet other travelers from Chile, Argentina, Germany and other parts of Mexico. Both villages are indigenous Maya, but have surprisingly different cultures and customs.
In the first village, Zinacatan, we visited a home (it was interesting but a little too much of a tourist set-up for me) where we saw women weaving in the traditional manner- with the tapestry attached to them by a belt- the picture explains it more clearly. We also got to watch a woman making tortillas by hand and got to try them with guacamole, beans, cheese, salsas and crushed pumpkin seeds.
The next town, San Juan Chamula, is much bigger and is actually an autonomous city- they don´t pay any taxes to Mexico or Chiapas and have their own government and police force. The most interesting part of the city is their religion- a mix between the ancient Mayan and Catholicism.
We were able to go inside the church and observe some of the rituals- it was unlike anything I´d ever seen before. The floor of the church is covered in pine needles and there are candles lining every table top and even parts of the floor. Statues of saints in glass boxes line the walls and people sit on the ground in front of the saint they need to call on- there are no pews or seats anywhere in the building. Then, the people perform traditional Mayan rituals- we saw a woman rubbing eggs all over a baby who had a fever. In another group an old woman rubbed a live chicken all over a man who had a more serious illness (I don´t know what was wrong exactly) and then broke the chicken´s neck. It´s essentially an exorcism- the chicken or eggs extract the sickness, sin or bad spirit from the person and are then sacrificed. Another, less intense tradition involves the drinking of posh, an alcohol made from sugarcane. The Maya used to make posh by letting it ferment underground for three weeks and something about the earth and chemicals in the soil and such would end up making it carbonated. Then, when the people would drink it after a prayer it would make them burp- and this is believed to be the sin or confession leaving the body. Now, instead of making posh underground and waiting three weeks, the people drink a shot of uncarbonated posh and follow it with Coke! Coca Cola now plays a serious role in their religion and rituals! (It´s true- I swear!)
It´s a fascinating mix of the pre-colonial, colonial and modern eras. Oh, another interesting point- all of the statues of the saints have mirrors and reflective coins covering them to deflect the bad spirits and sins that leave people´s bodies during the rituals. All, that is, except for the first six statues when you walk in- these are saints who have failed to help anyone in the community so have been shunned and left mirror-less so they have to absord all of the bad that comes out in the people praying in the church.
Finally, here are a few pictures from the markets (these are especially for you mom!)
More to come soon!
-C
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Arrival in Mexico
Hello Everyone!
I finally got around to setting up the blog and hopefully can upload some pictures, but with the sluggish internet I might run out of patience (or pesos) before that happens. I arrived in Mexico on Saturday evening and spent my first, unfortunately, all-to-forgettable night in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas. It´s a big, hot, humid city without much charm and my filthy and flea-infested hotel did little to help. But...what Tuxtla lacked in beauty, San Cristobal de Las Casas- where I´m spending the two weeks until Andy joins me- makes up for many times over. It´s a small, walkable, lovely town with cobblestone streets, building painted all sorts of vibrant colors and seemingly endless markets, churches, museums and restaurants to explore and enjoy. Even the weather and traffic mirror the energy and chaos of the town.
I´m spending my days here taking Spanish lessons in the morning, which are already making a big impact on my very rusty Spanish, and exploring the city by foot in the afternoon. Today I walked through the main market, about 5 minutes from my hostel, and felt like a giant among all the tiny indigenous women (most are hardly 4 feet tall) selling a beautiful array of vegetables, tortillas, dried beans and herbs- and live chickens that they slaughter and pluck while you wait.
Which brings me to another important point, the food. It´s delicious! I made a rule that I would not eat the same dish or at the same place twice- but these tamales chiapanecos at Tierradentro Cafe might make me break it.
Another interesting point, that restaurant, along with many of the cafes and shops in the area are run by Zapatista supporters and have Zapatista displays and propoganda lining the walls. (The Zapatistas are a pro-indigenous and anti-capitalist rebel group that rose up in 1994 after the passage of NAFTA and briefly held a few cities in Chiapas- including San Cris- but are now a political and largely peaceful movement.)
Finally, my hostel is wonderful. It´s beautiful with gardens and a fire pit, where everyone hangs out in the evenings to exchange stories and travel suggestions. The free internet, breakfast and laundry on-site only sweeten the deal. So far I´ve made friends from Wales, Germany, Canada, France and Spain. Here are a few pictures from the hostel.
Well, I´m off to enjoy the sunshine before the thunderstorms building on the horizon arrive. More to follow soon!
-C
I finally got around to setting up the blog and hopefully can upload some pictures, but with the sluggish internet I might run out of patience (or pesos) before that happens. I arrived in Mexico on Saturday evening and spent my first, unfortunately, all-to-forgettable night in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas. It´s a big, hot, humid city without much charm and my filthy and flea-infested hotel did little to help. But...what Tuxtla lacked in beauty, San Cristobal de Las Casas- where I´m spending the two weeks until Andy joins me- makes up for many times over. It´s a small, walkable, lovely town with cobblestone streets, building painted all sorts of vibrant colors and seemingly endless markets, churches, museums and restaurants to explore and enjoy. Even the weather and traffic mirror the energy and chaos of the town.
I´m spending my days here taking Spanish lessons in the morning, which are already making a big impact on my very rusty Spanish, and exploring the city by foot in the afternoon. Today I walked through the main market, about 5 minutes from my hostel, and felt like a giant among all the tiny indigenous women (most are hardly 4 feet tall) selling a beautiful array of vegetables, tortillas, dried beans and herbs- and live chickens that they slaughter and pluck while you wait.
Which brings me to another important point, the food. It´s delicious! I made a rule that I would not eat the same dish or at the same place twice- but these tamales chiapanecos at Tierradentro Cafe might make me break it.
Another interesting point, that restaurant, along with many of the cafes and shops in the area are run by Zapatista supporters and have Zapatista displays and propoganda lining the walls. (The Zapatistas are a pro-indigenous and anti-capitalist rebel group that rose up in 1994 after the passage of NAFTA and briefly held a few cities in Chiapas- including San Cris- but are now a political and largely peaceful movement.)
Finally, my hostel is wonderful. It´s beautiful with gardens and a fire pit, where everyone hangs out in the evenings to exchange stories and travel suggestions. The free internet, breakfast and laundry on-site only sweeten the deal. So far I´ve made friends from Wales, Germany, Canada, France and Spain. Here are a few pictures from the hostel.
Well, I´m off to enjoy the sunshine before the thunderstorms building on the horizon arrive. More to follow soon!
-C
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