Good question, but the answer remains an unsolved mystery…
Just thought I’d throw that in there, we thought it was one of the funnier things the whole trip; up there with the amateur taxidermy wing of the museum in Xela.
07.10.10
We splurged for a more comfortable tourist van for the ten hour trip from Xela back into Mexico to San Cristobal de las Casas. There were only two eventful occasions the whole ride; the first was a money changer at the border who carried a fancy gold decorated gun in a brown leather side holster, wore a massive cowboy hat, manly black handlebar mustache, and a tangled mess of gold necklaces around his neck. I only describe him because I want to portray his awesomeness without the use of a picture which we were terrified to take.
The second interesting event was when we boarded the next van over the border in Mexico. A large Mexican man with dark glasses held in his hands a black plastic bag. At some point he brought out the contents of the bag, being 10 multi-colored toy plastic balls. At that moment the very strong smell of marijuana hit my nostrils; great, riding with a drug smuggler, how fun! Making himself even more suspicious he clutched the balls suspiciously to his chest as he napped the majority of the ride. The oddest part about this man is that Jessica remembered him crossing the border without using a passport, only a slip of paper that the Guatemalan guard stamped; really odd.
Anyway, I just thought those were fun border stories, always crazy things happening at border towns, like when Jessica almost got us kicked out of Cambodia mouthing off to a corrupt guard…good times.
We arrived in the absolutely gorgeous city of San Cristobal in the late afternoon and checked in at a brand new hostel requested by a Couchsurfer who was unable to host us. Hostel de la Iguana was new, clean, friendly and best of all, cheap!
The streets of the city are gorgeous with plenty of alleys dedicated solely to pedestrian traffic flanked by fancy bars and restaurants. As we walked up the cobblestone street to the large yellow cathedral perched in the distance up a hill, we were amazed by the affluence of the locals and the beauty of the town. Like Antigua it felt much more similar to a European town.
Up at the cathedral a newly turned 15 year old girl was receiving her quincierra as loud music filled the streets below and bottle rockets exploded loudly overhead every few minutes for a small parade celebrating the Santa Guadalupe. We sat and enjoyed as I got fleas from two irresistible street dogs.
On the way back down we grabbed a quick bite of Lebanese food and headed to the center of the town. Night life in Central America is unlike anywhere else we have been in the world. Every city includes a beautiful central park or plaza, and each night it is packed with a good chunk of the city enjoying each others company. At the nearby cathedral a troupe dressed in traditional Mayan costume performed dances and rituals to entertained onlookers.
On no particular special occasion aside from being Saturday, the city was filled with a music and color, making San Cristobal an instant favorite city for both of us.
We ended the night with tequila and cervesas with a large group of local Couchsurfers at our hostel.
07.11.10
Often when we come to a new city, we come at the request of others and just leave ourselves no expectations. We were told by some Italian travelers to go on the Sumidero Canyon boat tour, so at 8am we loaded into a bus and headed out to a massive dock where literally hundreds of mostly Mexican tourists were strapping on bright orange vests and loading into masses of speed boats. Seemed a little Disneyland for us, but no backing out now.
The trip turned out to be fantastic, even though we understood very little of what the driver said. The massive canyon lay inside of a national park, sanctuary to a number of birds, monkeys, and other critters. The canyon itself however was probably the most stunning part.
We went an hour and a half into the canyon spying some beautiful birds, stunning geographic features, and plummeting waterfalls.
The way back was a real treat as our guide played crocodile hunter, and we got to see four large crocodiles in their natural habitat; extra exciting since we have only seen them at wildlife parks until now.
After unloading we hopped in the van again and headed to a very cute town, Chiapa de Corzo for lunch. The most beautiful feature of this town is its vividly colored central cathedral which we climbed to the top of.
Walking by an entire grill covered in dead chickens got our mouths watering. So we sat down to one of the better meals we have had the entire trip for some flawlessly spiced pollo!
We got back to the hostel, took a quick siesta and hit the streets again for more beautiful shots of the city and all its sights.
The city is simply perfect for just wandering around, clean, beautiful, safe, and so many nooks to explore. One of our favorite activities was just taking pictures of doors; call us easy to entertain, but there are some pretty cool doors.
We next climbed up a ton of concrete stairs to a cathedral on a hill on the opposite side of the city from the one yesterday. On the top we witnessed the following; firemen training on a rock wall, a cop exercising in full uniform on a public elliptical machine, and a Caucasian couple who must have been on ecstasy dry-humping in the park; never a dull moment. We also got a bag of the most delicious churros we have ever had, which are smaller and crispier than back home, and a bag of popcorn, which Mexicans always cover with hot sauce. The view of the city below was pretty great as well
We enjoyed some local coffee at a cafe with live music, then had a tasty dinner followed by a night of unwinding to some movies at the hostels media room.
07.12.10
In the morning we had some time to kill before our bus so we headed to a museum built by a German couple whose life work was documenting traditional Mayan culture. They have both passed away, but their photography and conservation efforts remain.
Our three hour bus ride to Palenque was uneventful and we were soon checked into a tiny little oasis in the thick of the jungle called El Pachan. El Pachan is a picturesque little community of hostels and restaurants connected by dirt paths and completely enveloped in the jungle canopy; very Robinson Crusoe (to quote our guidebook).
We met up with our Israeli acquaintance from Lake Atitlan and his two Scottish friends, who now live on an island in Honduras because…well why not? We chatted over beers and a surprisingly incredible pizza and salad, odd enough to find Italian food so delicious in Mexico, let alone the middle of the jungle.
We then slept to the buzzing of cicadas and other assorted jungle sounds.
07.13.10
The Mayan ruins of Palenque were a six minute collectivo ride from our jungle hideout. Even though we arrived early, we still didn’t manage to beat the throngs of tourists flooding the stone structures like ants. We managed to sneak past the main attractions and catch some beautiful shots of jungle consumed ruins without humans crawling on them.
The Palenque ruins are particularly magnificent in both size and detail. In the center lies a large palace complex surrounded by tombs, religious and civic buildings. The dense jungle makes the place even more picturesque.
After a thorough wandering we headed towards the exit to be greeted by some beautiful flowing waters along the way. The museum at the end was particularly impressive, containing a number of very well preserved artifacts and a stunning tomb of Lord Pacal, all displayed using particularly attractive methods and lighting.
We now had a lot of time to kill until our evening nine hour night bus ride. We went into the city to explore for a bit, but found little to do. We killed time reading, chatting with other travelers, and meeting with yet another Israeli acquaintance and his Austrian friends to more good food and beer.
The most exciting point of time killing was watching a stream of farmer ants carry their massive load of cut leaves on their backs. This may sound boring, but it is one of the only species that farms and cultivates its own food by letting plants decompose in the burrow and consuming the fungus that grows. Seriously fascinating.
Our bus ride north was mostly easy except the police and military waking us up on three occasions to check for drugs and other contraband. The military even marched everyone outside, groggy eyed, to check bags and the bus innards. Slightly annoying, and seemingly completely useless since they checked no one’s baggage under the bus; obviously just a show they put on to pretend they are doing something to curb the drug trafficking problems.
As always, check out the Flickr pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets
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