A grand finale to Mexico

Trip Start Sep 10, 2006
1
12
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Trip End ??? ??, 2007


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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Sunday morning we headed into the mountains to visit a small indiginous village to see the local market. San Juan de Chamula is a neat little town nestled in the mountains. The local people are traditional Mayans, most were wearing traditional cloths and only spoke Mayan. The market was intense with just about everything for sale from hair care products to fresh fruit and vegatbles to chicken heads and feet. They have adopted the old Mayan ways to fit in with the present, example, Coke is now part of there religion, it is used to produce burps to rid them of evil spirits. The indigenous people are very fun to watch, they are beautiful in their own way, so different looking than other mexicans. Back in San Cristobal we walked around town (We seem to do this alot), it is a cool colonial town with a interesting church at its center. We climbed to the top of a hill to a church hoping for good views. It turned out that the top was surrounded by trees so the best view of the city was from half way up 01 Church in San Cristobal
01 Church in San Cristobal
 . While climbing the stairs a bunch of local kids kept trying to get us to give them money. We went to an Amber museum in the afternoon, there is a large amber mine in the area. There were some really cool carvings made of amber. After some more walking around town and stopping by to grocery store for dinner.. you guessed it bean and cheese tortillas again. Back to the hostel to rest and catch up in our journals.
Monday we took a tour to Caņon del Sumidero. This started with hour long drive through some amazing country, lush covered mountains all around. We climbed on to a boat with 24 others and headed down river. The boat was so fast it was a thrill ride as well as a sight seeing adventure. As we headed down river the canyon walls grew around us, at the tallest the canyon wall rose 1000 meters above us, amazing. We stopped a few times to see crocidiles, we also saw pelicans, cormorants and some other cool birds. One of the crocs slid into the water as we got close like it was stalking us(it wasnīt). There was one formation of rock and a fungal growth that looked like a christmas tree. It had a small waterfall coming down it as well. The scenery was amazing and the ride was really fun as well. The guide only spoke in spanish so Casey had to translate to me and some of the folks around us. On the way back up river we were happy to find that the guide did not repeat everything he said on the the way down river, like our guide on the circle line in NY 02 Indigenous girl weaving in the square
02 Indigenous girl weaving in the square
 . After the boat ride we stopped unexpectedly in a small town for about an hour, we walked around town and should have eaten but didnīt. The drive back to San Cristobal I had a food crash and was grumpy, so once back in town we went straight to lunch. Feeling better we walked about 1km out of town to see the Museum of Mayan Medicine. This is a very cool museum showing and explaining how traditional Mayan medicine is still practiced today. This is were we found out why Coke is so important to them. Also how they use plants and animals for cures and it showed the traditional birthing practices, including a very graphic movie on birthing. Very interesting. San Cristobal is a very cool and beautiful town, and the locals were nice and helpful. Next stop, Guatemala!!!!
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Comments

ekohn
ekohn on Oct 14, 2006 at 01:17PM

Food, Glorious Food
May we suggest carrying food-bars in your day pack?
Mom and Dad

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