ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

We left the state of Oaxaca and entered Chiapas, the last state in Mexico. Not knowing what to expect and knowing that we pretty much hit all of the great beaches and surf spots, we were planning on breezing through San Cristobal for a night and entering Guatemala through one of the border crossings in the mountains. Much to our surprise, we loved Chiapas. It was like driving from Florida directly into Colorado. The drive was gorgeous and the towns were more affluent, organized and clean. We drove the long highway up into the mountains and began our climb to 6,000 ft – higher than Denver – to a town called San Cristobol. We arrived to the cobblestone, colonial town right after sunset. It was easy to tell that the town was a backpacker haven full of great shops, cafes and catholic cathedrals.

Driving towards the town square, we found a small hotel and a parking spot two blocks away on the narrow, crowded street. Eagerly we parked and walked around to check everything out – surprised to feel a refreshing but cold drop of 20 degrees when we got out of the car.

Near the town square we found a modern café, filled with photography by local artists and great music. Nearby we found a great restaurant, enjoyed a bite, headed to bed and excitedly decided that we would stay in San Cristobal for a few days.

We awoke to a very cool morning (sweater weather) and grabbed some food on the go. It would be the best day to drive and see the Mayan Pelenque ruins. Mexican Independence Day was the following day and we didn’t want to miss the festivities in a town that is famous for their modern day revolutions by the Zapatistas – rebels who fight for rights of the indigenous people.

The drive was one of a kind. Along the way we saw many indigenous Mayan villages, Zapatista rebellion camps, artisans and cornfields. Chris said that the drive should take us about 2 hours max. 4 hours later, we arrived. Just in time to see the ruins and drive back – partly in the dark. The ruins were $4 per person. We entered the gate and looked at the map – approx a thousand structures set in the jungle. We only had time to explore the main ones. We climbed them and saw tombs, passage ways, rooms and carved slabs on top of temples – some of which had been excavated only 12 years ago and the over ground portion was the top to two larger sections that still lay below the earth.

After a couple of hours of the ruins we headed back to a dark town, found some authentic Italian across the street, wandered to the Pasteleria (sweet shop) and planned on finally hanging out in the town just in time for Independence Day. Exhausted, we slept in and found breakfast and coffee for about $3 per person. The camera was on. I was thrilled to take some photos other than beach landscapes. The first shop I tried was a leather shop. The owner welcomed me in to watch he and his customer piece together a worn out crocodile leather saddle. He was proud to have me there and when I asked if I could photograph him, he hurried to his mirror, combed his hair and pointed to a photo of he and his son – all that I could understand was that his son had died.

Next, I tried a candy shop and a meat shop and endless photos of the cobblestone streets lined with bright Spanish architecture. It was Sept. 15, Mexican Independence Day and the city was loud and alive with a huge market of mainly Mayan vendors of all ages. We walked around the spotless city for an entire day, going into the cathedrals and the shops.

Hungry, we looked around for a different spot for dinner…but having loved the cheap Italian, we settled on the same restaurant as the night before – we couldn’t go wrong. The city had been set up with a huge mariachi band in front of the archive building. The festival was good, clean fun. The families were out and the square was crowded. The main difference between their Independence Day and the states was that the festivities were alcohol free. It was nice to see everyone out and simply enjoying their time together. We were almost back to the hotel when we came across a traveler hangout. Inside, locals patriotically sang songs. We sat at a table and watched and then tried on some sombreros before calling it a night.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 1:08 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.