Mmmmm cooler....... just!!!
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
68
119
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
San Cristobal de la Casas,
Mexico
Friday, October 27, 2006
Arrived mid morning, after what seemed like forever, along the most twisty turny roads ever! Got dumped and decided to walk to hostel like we do, was a long way! wasnīt quite so hot though.
Checked into our dorm, with its 20ft high beds...and went to explore and find the bakery i smelt on the way! The bakery was amazing....fresh cakes to rival those of france, and soo much cheaper like 25p each!
Headed back to hostel. San Crisobal is a bit of a strange place...full of western style shops, internet cafes and coffee shops. Very cute little buildins though...and quite a contrast with its perfectly straight roads, not unlike the american grid system.
Hung around in the hostel....they were just lighting a barbeque when it started to rain...and man did it rain. The locals were gobsmacked when it started to hailstone! It didnīt stop, but the locals managed to build a makeshift barbeque under shelter and rescue their charcoal, before the rain put it out. So we watched them cooking huge piles of thin cut steak and eating their way through a truck full of tortillas! They even gave us one and it was yummy! Had a beer then decided to go and find food.
Was still raining...and we couldnīt find any of the usual mexican places we love...too westernised...so ended up in some hotel...eating spag bol...good spag bol though.
Then went to bed early....been a long day...
Next day it was still raining...and kinda cold. Hung around for a while hoping it would stop but no....so we donned our waterproofs and braved the rain.
Had a coffee...a luxury cappachino....cause it was cheap...and still it rained.
Went to check out the market...the cool indiginous market....somehow it didnīt seem that cool in the rain. Was some seriously cool stuff though. Amazing fabrics made into everything from bags to ponchos. They were doing an amazing trade in Ponchos cause it had gone cold and no one was prepared! Everyone was walking around in the same poncho!!
Went back to dry off...still raining....headed back to the market....must have walked round it about 100 times...not sure why. Then went off to see if we could find anything else interesting in the town. Not really!! Found the restaurnt we wanted to eat in later...had a cool view of the mountain behind....where they were letting off fireworks (a favourite central american pasttime it seems), and that was it....oh no there was a colurful church where there was a wedding taking place!
On the way back....we saw some wierd fish contraptions sitting in the square and knowing that there was some festival on, we decided to go get the camera and check it out. Our first latin american festival experience? Well not exactly. Stool around for hours...trying to work out what was happening. Watching people playing with the huge papier mache contraptions on wheels...but nothing else was happening. We guessed it was some kind of parade....so we waited and waited...we were getting hungry, but didnīt want to miss anything....we had been bloody waiting long ebnough. was a severe lack of taco stalls...which was a big disappointment...the only thing you could buy was illuminous candy floss!!! We headed to the bakery and guzzled lovely custard cakes...then had the brainwave to check out the tourist info. We finally managed to find out it was some sort of street theatre and was about to start.
It was hilarious, but also cool. It went dark, and then people started riding the huge contraptions around the square full of people, waving fireworks!! The contraptions were amzing though. Basically pedal bikes, with like 6 foot papier mache models of fish and jelly fish and stuff on top, but not only that they all lit up and moved! They must have taken some making! They then paraded round the street joined by a DJ on wheels and a huge shark, that took 2 people to move it....and spun round nearly taking everyones heads off!!!! Very silly, but very much fun!
Finally we could go and eat. We were starving. As it was our anniversary...well half anniversary...we have this strange tradition of celebrating our half anniversary not the actual one...who knows why!! We decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal. We had read about an asian place that served curries, so thats where we went. Was really busy and we had to sit in a corner in the trees on a wobbly table, but it was kinda cute! The place had a cool atmosphere and good food. We both had bright blue cocktails...i had mango chicken and neil had thai red curry...well actually we shared them! we also had a couple of samosas...the only thing that spoilt it was that they forgot us cos we were in the corner and the main course was a little cold. Still it was a good night...and not at all expensive!!!! Very romantic too...ahhhh!
