San Cristobal De Las Cases

  San Cristobal de las Casas, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Apologies to those eagerly awaiting my latest update, the internet around these parts is either extremely slow or doesn't work. Similar to when Katie Amber "broke the internet", maybe Katies been down around here lately? It makes updating the blog tedious and uploading photos next to impossible.

Wednesday, arrived in San Cristobal two hours ahead of schedule on the night bus. (I am beginning to think the bus company, ADO, utilise the Ryanair model of time allotment. Always add in about 20% more than the trip takes and you will always be on time or ahead of schedule!). This time I managed to get alot more sleep and was reasonably fresh getting off the bus.

I had been told that I would love Oaxaca and that it was a really beautiful place, however, I felt a little let down (maybe I just had a bad experience). After fearing I may suffer the same experience here, I was immediately impressed with San Cristobal. Set in a stunning mountainous backdrop, this small town is clean, friendly and feels like it has all the best of what Mexico has to offer. The hostel is stunning, excellent facilities, complete with a courtyard, hammock, nightly bonfire and is a short walk from the zocalo (the central square in a mexican town/city). I spent the day familiarising myself with the town and finding out some information on local tours. There seems to be alot to do from here with tours, biking, horse riding and trekking to local villages, a lake district, a canyon and a more adventurous trip to Agua Azul and the famous Mayan site of Palenque.

In continuing with my recent theme of selecting the biggest and best highlights and see what else you can fit in I opted for the Canyon tour on Thursday and the trip to Agua Azul and Palenque on Friday. I had Palenque on my agenda so it saves me some time and accommodation costs. I also heard that the road between San Cristobal and Palenque is prone to highway robbery at nighttime so making that journey during the day is an added bonus.

Thursday, up bright and breezy for the "Canyon del Sumidero" tour. Again I did not know what to expect except that some people said it was good.  They werenīt lying. Stunning! The photos speak for themselves. This was a boat trip up the Grijalva River in the Sumidero National Park. The tour was given in Spanish so pretty much everything came as a surprise. First up some vultures, then the guide got very excited, others that understood Spanish where mumbling away and then I heard "spider monkey", looked to the trees and spotted the bugger. Next up a caiman (small crocodile), an iguana, some pelicans and many other birds. The canyon is 1000m at its highest point on the tour and at the end there was a hydro electric dam.  Non stop money-shots all morning!

Canyon del Sumidero

Waterfall at the Canyon

The Caiman

After that we paid a short visit to the oldest village in Chiapas, like most small villages/towns there is not really much to do or see. (For those Dresdner people reading it was about as exciting as the grundbuch). A big come down after the canyon. Nonetheless another fantistic day out. I snoozed on the way back to the hostel. These long stressful days must be catching up with me. 

A side note on my tan. Itīs been about 10 days now in the sun and Iīm not even off white. Still getting plenty of stares from the locals and the odd gringo or guapo comment, white is definitely a delicacy in these parts!