Day 42 – 43 : San Cristobal de las Casa

After a long 11+ hour excruciating overnight bus ride from Oaxaca, I finally reached San Cristobal. I miss the luxury buses available in Argentina / Chile!

San Cristobal is a popular city stop for many travellers as it serves as a midway point towards Oaxaca, Palenque or Guatemala. Another beautiful colonial town, with a long T-shaped cobbled stone pedestrian-only street cutting through Zocalo (town square), and lined with chic shops, restaurants and café. 

At one end of the Pedestrian only street is a sprawling food market, selling gorgeous specimens of the fruits and vegetables that grow abundantly in the Chiapas Highlands: avocados, marble-sized tomatoes, and rainbows of chillies.

As with any of the towns in Mexico, churches are an abundant. The most popular ones in San Cristóbal are Santo Domingo church, Temple de San Cristóbal, Iglesias del Cerrito and Iglesias de Guadalupe. 

Located very close to the sprawling market, Santo Domingo is a beautiful building on the outside, though with a lot less grandeur on the inside, as compared to the other churches I had seen in Puebla or Oaxaca. 

Templo de San Cristóbal is located next to the Zocalo, while Iglesias del Cerrito and Iglesias de Guadalupe are located close to the other 2 ends of the T-shaped pedestrian Street respectively.

Each are a steep climb up, and worth the effort as both offer spectacular views overlooking the town of San Cristobal, the surrounding mountains and countryside.

San Juan Chamula

Visiting San Cristobal is not complete without visiting the nearby villages, such as San Juan Chamula and San Lorenzo Zinacantan, with each having its own special traditions.  With the limited time I had in San Cristobal, I could only visit one. 

I chose San Juan Chamula, a small village located about 40 mins away, and easily accessible by Collectivos from the city centre.  

Throughout the whole time I was at the village, the church bells were non-stop ringing, as young men rotate to chime the bells continuously.  It didn’t seem like an easy feat, as I noticed some of the guys had difficulty maintaining their stance while tolling the bells, and at times slipped their footing.

Women were dressed in special black feathered wraps, which reminded me of the feathered “jacket” Jon Snow from Game of Thrones used, while men were decked in the same black feather top, or a similar version in white sheep skin tops.

It was also still the Day of the Dead when I arrived, and a visit to the cemetery was a treat to the eyes with tombs lavishly decorated with lots of plants and flowers.

 

Canon del Sumidero

San Cristobal is also a popular spot for short day trips, particularly since it has a prime location and surrounded by nature.  The most popular being the boat trip on Canon del Sumidero (with a short stop in the town Chiapa de Corzo). 

There were 3 other people who had signed up for the same tour at my hostel, so when the shuttle arrived just shortly past 9, all 4 of us hopped on.  It was only about 20 mins later, that the driver realised that he should had picked up only 3, and that I was supposed to be on a different shuttle, organised by a different travel agency.  Some calls later, the driver from the other shuttle arranged to meet at a central location, and I switched vans.

Canon del Sumidero is a picturesque river gorge about an hour from San Cristobal.  The shuttle drove us to the docks on the Grijalva river, where we embarked on a small motorboat, which took us on a 2-hour ride through the impressive canyon. 

As we travelled deeper into the river, the canyon walls grew and soon towered over us.

There was commentary provided by the skipper of the boat, however because it was in Spanish, I was completely clueless of the content that was provided. 

There was a quick stop, where a crocodile was spotted sun bathing on a rock.  For a long moment, it looked very artificial, as if it had been planted for photo capturing by tourists.  And then it suddenly moved… and headed into the water, perhaps shy by the attention people on 2 boats were giving it.

We also saw a lot of wild life, including monkeys and different bird species.

We then passed by a waterfall, spanning the entire wall of the canyon.  I managed to understand a small commentary from the skipper, where he said that drinking the water will make one look 20 years younger!

 

 

 

 

We finally came to an end of the river, with a dam spanning across the entire section, which looked very impressive, before we headed back towards where we originated.

On the return, the shuttle took us to the nearby town of Chiapa de Corzo.  Another colonial town, it was small and had shops lining the main square. 

The iconic landmark is the La Pila (Fuente Colonial), located in the centre of the plaza and said to resemble the Spanish crown.

It was a short stop for us to walk around and grab a quick lunch, before we returned to San Cristobal at about 3pm.

A very activity packed 1.5 days in San Cristobal!