Streets of San Cristobal

Scenes from up in the mountains in the town of San Cristobal... 

 Rugging up from the chilly night air while out for an evening beverage

   

 Slightly scary man (can´t see here but face was painted like a jaguar) walking with a costume... That featured a human skull. Not entirely sure if it was real or not.

 

Silent films being projected onto a building for all to enjoy!

Indigenous Chiapan Villages

On Easter Monday in San Cristobal we headed out on what has been perhaps the best tour we've been on here. We visited two indigenous villages - interestingly which speak the same language and are only a 15 minute drive from each other, but which have quite different cultures. We watched shaman rituals inside a Catholic church, the floor of which was covered in pine needles and thousands of candles on tables - incredibly beautiful (sorry, no pictures were allowed); learnt about the ways in which Catholicism has been both adopted and rejected and eventually adapted to the way of life and beliefs here; how the Mayans here had their own cross, which still retains its old meaning as a kind of compass (north, south, east, west and centre), but which now has the added new meaning of the crucifixion; and we learnt why Coca Cola is used in spiritual ceremonies (it's colour is black, representing south on the Mayan cross); as well as about why corn is such an important crop. 

Cemetery in the first village - black crosses are for the old, green for the young, and white for children. 

Funeral procession for a young child

Goodies we bought at the market, including wild berries (a bit like mulberries or logan berries - yum!)

Weaving

Preparing threads for the loom

Produce from the loom

Despicable example of a poster put up around this village a few years' back... Awful. 

Kitchen in a family home

Easter Sunday Parade

We spent Easter Sunday in San Cristobal, where the highlight was a parade down the main street. Princesses throwing roses to the crowd, brass bands, dancing girls and boys and kids throwing lollies. We even managed to catch a few goodies ourselves :) Here's a taste ... !

Colores de Chiapas

After a long overnight bus ride through the windy mountains (and yes, travel-sickness-prone Claire did manage to vomit... Only one hour into the journey :-/ ) we arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas, in the Chiapas. We freely admit knowing nothing about this region of Mexico except for the Zapatista movement and the infamous Subcomandante Marcos, so everything we saw and learnt was surprising and wonderful.

Because we arrived at our hotel so early, we spent the morning bleary-eyed wandering the streets, and came across some gorgeous pavement art in the process of being created.

The kids have a go too on their own space of pavement :)