Settling Into San Cristobal
I was absolutely captivated by san cristobal de las casas yesterday when I arrived. Like Antigua it is a beautiful Spanish-colonial city, but with narrower streets, more colorful buildings and edges that sprawl up the sides of the valley it sits in, it has more character. Not to mention that it’s a “real” city with a local population! There is some sort of music festival going on in the square this week and nearly everyone there last night was local.
There is a nice pedestrian mall like the one I enjoyed so much in san jose, CR and as I walked thru it I realized there were the ubiquitous ropas Americanas stores again – while in Antigua all the clothing stores cater to grigos. Then I thought it’s kinda funny that “ropas americanas” stores (which means “American clothes”) really have fashions that are completely latin. I know, I know, I’m just being USA-centric cuz as we all know, this is north America. So in addition to “ropas americanas” that have synthetic tight tops and bottoms I will add “ropas gringas” that have flowing cotton and linen clothes and “ropas indigenous” that have garments that end up on gringo walls as decorations ☺.
So, last night I was so excited about my hotel, Hotel Los Morales. It has unique rooms and casitas that crawl up the hillside with gardens and patios in between. The view of the town’s tile roofs and churches is gorgeous and music from the square wafts up. My room has a fireplace and quaint nooks and crannies. Then I realized I misunderstood the price and rather than being close to $20 it is close to $30. I had negotiated a lower price for staying a week but I guess I didn’t bargain as well as I thought!
Before bed I realized there was no hot water. It was too late to deal with it then so I decided to try again in the morning. Alas, still no hot water. When I inquired and was shown another room just up from mine I understood them to mean that I should change rooms since I understood when they said there were boiler problems. So I moved all my things which was not easy since I’d settled in thinking I’d be there a week. Apparently I misunderstood and when I asked for the key to the other room they told me they just meant I should use that room for the shower! Yeah, little things slip thru my Spanish comprehension. You see, it’s a nicer room and tho the front desk man looked a bit distressed, I’m not going to worry about it now. but actually I will and I know that. I worry too much about being an obliging guest. Silly, silly.
So I slipped just now to one of the many cafés with wi-fi and great coffee, then I’ll poke around to see about getting to different destinations in the area – waterfalls, canyons, mayan villages, blue lakes.
Tags: central america, mexico, Mexico, san cristobal de las casas, Travel
Peggy Rehm