A Broad Abroad

san cristobal, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

view from my hotel. goodbye for now, san cristobal!!!

So I had my loungy-day in san cristobal and found a $20, all-day tour of the gruta de san cristobal (big cave!), las cascadas de chiflon and lagunas de Montebello. These are south and southeast of san cristobal and at the lagunas one looks right across the lake into Guatemala. It’s a long day in a vehicle but a good value and if you have the extra day, which I obviously did, it’s worth it.

This time, 8 of the 9 other tourees were Mexican. It was very cool to be with these wonderful people from all over mexico – including 2 gals from the costa del carib, 2 really fun guys from cuidad de MX who were in town for a wedding. We had a good time and I spoke Spanish as often as I could. For both tours from san cristobal I used orisa, an agency on real de Guadalupe on the block just east of the zocolo. They were most reasonably priced and I never had complications. You can go in, get efficient (maybe a little brusque) service and not expect any hassles or pressure sales. Just the facts ma’am.

An aside: at markets I want to say to sellers “I will linger and look at your merchandise if you don’t berate me with a constant dialog of what I’m looking at, how good a deal you I will give me, and a million other things that chase me away from you”. Honestly, I look at (and more likely buy from) stalls where people are there to help but leave me in peace to browse. I wonder if in the big picture this would be a successful business plan for a stall-owner in a market. Actually – even if I’m home and someone hovers at my side in a store I am out the door pronto. Are you the same? Are most people? Do people really respond to this behavior with a purchase? If I had a command of the language here I might try explaining it to the vendor.

Anyhoo – today I went to my favorite spots here in san cristobal and enjoyed the views – of people, mountains, churches, etc. I have a big soft-spot in my heart for this town and I will return. Honestly, the only place I’ve been thus far that gets this reaction. I’ve enjoyed many places but the world is BIG and I seldom resolve to come back to a place (unless I live looong, travel often and have time for re-do’s).

I have a list of places I’ve enjoyed a lot so if you are reading this and going to SC and want to know more let me know. But if you have more than a few days you can figure it out on your own. It’s such an easy place to be. Tomorrow I will head to palenque and I’m finding that my $28 at this beautiful hotel is a good deal. I took some video I hope to post soon (but u-tube uploads take forever from the road). But I hope I can eek out some below $20 nights before I return home on the 26th.

I’m also working on getting more photos uploaded but bandwidth must be limited in these parts. It takes a looong time. OMG! I just realized it’s Saturday and EXACTLY 3 weeks until I go home. I marvel that tortuguero (my first big stop) feels like ages ago and at the same time it doesn’t seem possible that my 5 months will soon be over. I still have palenque, campeche, uxmal, possibly celestun and rio lagaros, and isla holbox on my itin (and any necessary stops in between). If you have any recommendations for these places please let me know!

San Juan Chamula, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

During the procession from the church to the cemetery up the hill, where new crosses were placed on graves and soda pops were given to the deceased.

Chiapas’s grand canyon.  It’s outside of Chiapa do Corzo, on the way to Tuxla and driving there one realizes just how high San Cristobal is when coming down out of the mountains.  It’s also plenty warmer in the valley, where Tuxla is as well.  The cañon is well worth the visit and the tour from san cristobal is a good way to do it.  After a 2 hour boat trip thru the cañon we popped into Chiapa de Corzo for an hour – enough time for lunch in the market and a quick look around (not that there is terribly much to see).

There was a nice guy from AZ on the tour, a conservationist who had it on good authority that the zoo in tuxla should not be missed.  I’d read that in lonely planet and was not ready to leave San Cristobal so I joined him on that outing.  It was easy to get the collectivo to tuxla then a taxi for $3 from the stop in Tuxla to the zoo – which is a little outside of town.  It’s set in a forested area and they’ve done a great job integrating the animals “holding areas” into the surrounding environment.  I was glad I went.  We had 2×1 beers at the tequila bar north of the square in san cristobal after we got back and he was off to an overnight bus to the pacific coast.

When settling up at the hotel for my extra days the guy who runs the place was asking where I had been and was distressed when he learned I’d not visited laguna de Montebello.  Since I’d counted on today being a mellow day I found myself thinking about staying yet longer!

Ok – probably bad Spanish but I have a moment to reflect on the bullfight and i wanted a rhyme.  As I indicated in an earlier post I wondered if it was best to go.  While I understand that life is brutal for many a man and animal, I don’t want to perpetuate brutality.  But as I’m wont to do, I set conditions side by side and evaluated them.

what is the greater threat and what is the greater tragedy?  I use the same methodology when evaluating things like the war on terror – again touched on in an earlier post. the fact is that many people do not experience fear in proportion to the threat. …..evolutionally it makes no sense but I guess reactions to more primal, physical dangers are what man has been hard-wired for, considering evolutionary timetables. And boy do the leaders of men like to exploit this fear, but I digress.  Back to the other kind of bull.

Coincidentally (or not) the slaughterhouse was near the arena, between the walk from my hotel to the corrida.  Huge carcasses hung in the entry – coming or going I do not know.  This got me thinking about the ways in which a bull can die.  Or better said, about the few ways in which a bull is likely to die these days.  One can be of the opinion that bulls should not ever die at the hands of man but let’s take one step at a time.  Plus, selfishly I like a good burger.  But while watching the fight I couldn’t help but ask myself “would I rather die by being electrocuted up the arse and packaged for consumption or would I rather die fighting the animal that wanted to eat me?”.  And in the grand scheme of things – not many bulls get the latter “opportunity”.

Yes, that last word will set some people off – so sorry.  and no, the bull is not given that choice, right?  but my debate is for those who do not deal in absolutes – whether that absolute is that everyone kills or that no one should.   Or maybe I am dealing with these nuances to justify my attendance beyond just saying I wanted the cultural experience.  no, wasn’t thrilled by the experience and won’t ever go to a second fight, but it was interesting to watch not only the locals, but the wide-eyed, gape-mouthed faces of the other gringos there :).

Chiapas, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

Tortilla-making

While working on my pics today I took a little time to watch a random slideshow of vacation pics and I was amazed by all the things I’ve seen!  Different places, people, climates, animals, foods and already they were tucked away in my memory and seemed so distant.  I did some thinking about what I might call “highlights” if pressed.  That will be tough but I’ll work on it.

I fly back on the 26th so I have less than a month left.  I’ve upgraded to first class so I’ll no doubt be the grubbiest person up there ☺.  It’s hard to imagine getting back into the swing of things back home but I sure am looking forward to seeing friends and family and my soon-to-be godson sammy!  If at all possible first meal will be a hamburger.

Ok – enough of that for now.  For some reason pics are taking a loooong time to upload (don’t know if it’s flickr or the connection) so I’m pretty backed up.  So keep checking back if you’re looking for more ☺.  And skip over the bullfight pics if you’re squeamish.  Ole!

In the morning I hopped the collectivo (80 cents) to San Juan Chamula for their Sunday market.  Armed with a little information after the tour I wanted to look around more and try to get some pics on-the-sly with my telephoto lens.  Actually, this is the only lens left that works and the auto-focus is quirky.  My camera gear has suffered and will be promptly shipped away to the camera-spa for recovery when I get home.  Anyhoo…

As I arrived and began heading down to the market in front of the church I found that a procession was heading from the church to the cemetery up the hill.  Small bands of musicians playing, men lugging pine-needle and flower decorated crosses and women carrying food were all heading in the opposite direction so I turned around and joined them – staking out a spot on the hill when they went into the cemetery.  I won’t go into all the local lore I learned, but this appeared to be a ceremony where new crosses are added to the graves and the living bring the dead food and soda-pop, sing and hang-out.  It was an amazing sight.  Every group had at least a carton of soda, which is poured on the graves and shared by the living.

I got some good pics and I’m glad because once I got down to the square most people would not allow pics when asked.  This was a shame because all the major-domos where gathered along-side the market in their very colorful traditional attire.  I met some lovely brits and we grabbed a soda at a nearby restaurant but the major-domo’s guards kept a close eye on us and anytime a camera appeared we were warned.  I found some pics on flickr that i will cross-blog.  Apparently when not on official business some aren’t so camera shy but I wasn’t so lucky.

San Juan Chamula does get tours that come through so it can get to feel a bit like a zoo.  I enjoyed cruising thru tenejapa as the only gringo and would highly recommend doing some visits like this solo, but chamula shouldn’t be missed and a guide on one of your visits can be very educational.

I was back in time to rest a little bit, grab a bite to eat and get ready for the bullfight aka. corrida.  The arena “la coleta” or “the ponytail” is south of town.  The carnival part of the spring fair is across the road so there was quite a bit of activity around.  I found a decent seat, asked someone to watch it for me and went to get a few beers (Sol beer was the sponsor).

Once the fight began I watched alternatively thru my eyes, my video function and my telephoto lens.  It’s really hard to describe but my photos and video will pretty much say it all.  Suffice to say there is blood, the bull is killed eventually and dragged away by horses that are darn spooked to be so close to a bull, dead or not. Or maybe it’s the smell of blood that makes them skiddish.

The first fight (I don’t say it’s a fair fight) was between the bull and a matador on prancing horse.  The next fight was with a matador on foot and another was with a matador that had a fancier technique and no spears and I’m not sure where this fight would have ended had the hail and rain storm not started.  This was fine with me as I felt I’d gotten to have “the experience” but hanging around for more would have been gratuitous.  I had to duck into a beer joint shortly after I left the arena due to another rain storm.  I drank a few more beers and let some kids watch video of the bull fight I’d taken with my camera.

Today was to be my last day and I was going to find my way to chiapo de corzo where one can take a boat trip through a beautiful canon del sumidero.  But I got a late start after struggling to find a laundry mat and waiting an hour for my breakfast so I decided today would be a lazy day for working on pics and writing and tomorrow I would pay $2 more for a tour of the canyon that leaves from San Cristobal.  Done independently it’s about $13 but agencies do them for about $15.  This means I’ll stay at least a day longer.

San Juan Chamula, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

Lonely planet notes a tour to san juan chamula and san lorenzo zinacantan that leaves from the large cross in front of the san cristobal cathedral at 9:30 am.  All one needs to do is show up – my kinda tour.  It’s generally small (less than 10 people).  We took a VW van and our guide was English-speaking and very good (speaking the indigenous languages as well).  It gave me an insight into the chamula region (which includes over 50 communities), the indigenous culture, and offered a chance to see several “behind-the-scene” activities – like a visit to a major-domo’s house and a traditional weaver.  Very worth the $15.  I will go back to san juan chamula on Sunday for the market and feel like I will better understand much of what I am seeing.

But the highlight of the tour is the church at san juan chamula.  It’s well known for its antics – an interesting mixture of mayan, tzotzil and catholic worship.  Local indigenous people cover the floor of the church with pine needles (common in the region – they purify and protect.  One finds entire markets specializing in pine needles!) and frequently ceremonies are performed by medicine men/women on the floor of the church.  These ceremonies involve consuming soda-pop (so one can easily burp out bad spirits), lighting many candles, drinking posh (local cane liquor) and strangling chickens.  There were several of these ceremonies going on at the time of our visit – all very serious and somber.  Absolutely no pics allowed.

Only one sacrament is observed:  baptism.  Actually, not much of the original catholocism survives, tho the church was built by friars and the people seem to love the saints, especially john the baptist.  The last priest was run off decades ago (minus one ear and an eye) and I was told occasionally one will visit from Tuxla for larger ceremonies.  I imagine it would not be easy for a catholic priest to turn a blind eye to all the chicken-strangling and idolatry – especially considering how many indigenous people the catholic church killed in the name of stopping such practices!

Zinacantan was an early home of Dominican friars and has more traditional ceremonies.  It’s known for its greenhouses overflowing with flowers and the floral embroideries worn by the indigenous people.  This is where we visited a family of weavers and ate fabulous tortillas.

Today I visited several museums, shopped (I’m about to break down and buy an embroidered tunic) and bought my ticket for tomorrow’s corrida (bullfight).  In the evening I met a vietnam vet/native American who’s lived in MX for years and a Cuban exile living in MX city who was in town for business.  We headed to an “art gallery” for a Japanese art and dance show but it was your usual jewelry and the dance was fire-dance, which I’ve seen plenty off.  It just happens to have been performed by a Japanese girl.  I enjoyed the company, tho.  there was also an interesting Estonian couple there so lots to learn.

I don’t know if a week will be enough here.  Fortunately I have time and my only other must-sees for the next month are campeche and isla holbox.  If I decide to stay longer it’s not a problem.  I just wish I was in a cheaper hotel – which is possible.