San Cristobal Chiapas
Saturday, February 25th, 2017Couple days after arriving in Oaxaca from Oregon on February 4, 2017 an old friend who we lived next door to in the 60’s in Los Angeles flew down to visit me. We barely were settled and off to San Cristobal on the plane…first to Tuxtla and then SC by bus and then returned on the 15th.
San Cristobal has completely changed since I was here last in 2006. I was shocked. Walking Streets weren’t there. Now the city is filled with Europeans, coffee shops and boutique cafes. And I thought we were going to freeze to death with no heat in the restaurants nor the guesthouse. I was so happy to get back to warm and lovely Oaxaca!
My Russian friend, Ksenia, suggested we go to Chamula, a small town about 30 minutes outside San Cristobal, where the Mayans only enter the church to sit with a Curandera while she performs a healing ritual. One Curandera used a chicken to gently swipe a prone child back and forth and then gently squeezed the neck of the chicken until it was dead. The bad spirits had entered the chicken and the family took it home with them. No cameras were allowed in the church.
Suzanne Siegel
Chamula Church
Zoe