Ciao Mexico

San Cristobal de Las Casas

In the morning, we took showers, did some planning work, and updated the blog. We spent the afternoon visiting San Cristobal by foot, and I saw again the multiple religious monuments dispersed in the city, as well as the artisan and food markets.

San Cristobal cathedral

San Cristobal is great, but you can feel that it is getting more popular, and you can’t help but notice kids from rich countries coming here to spend a sabbatical year to drink, smoke weed and wear Peruvian hats. But hey, San Cristobal is worth it, it is at least as nice as Oaxaca.
What really is amazing is to visit San Juan Chamula, few kilometers north east of the city.
We did that after a second night in the city, after finding a campground not far from the center.

San Juan de Chamula market

San Juan Chamula is a village in the mountain, and we got there at 8 a.m. The church is very colorful and full of candles on the ground. This is a catholic church, but here, Mayan custom have been incorporated in the religion, making it seems far from anything one could have seen.
The floor is covered with pine needles, and Chamulan families lie down and drink Coca-Cola, and chant prayers.

I wish I could have got some pictures, but it was strictly forbidden to shoot in the church.
The market is also great and cheap if you are looking for artisanal clothing. Most people from Chamula wear clothes made of hand crafted black wool.
After the visit, we were back on the road and took the direction of Guatemala. After a quick stop for lunch at Frontera Comalpa, we got a last fill up of clean gas, and we went to cross the border. Some traveler described the Guatemala border as the most difficult in Central America.

Nadia using her charms to help us through the border

It took us just an hour to get everything done. Three kilometers before, we stopped to cancel the Mexican temporary vehicle importation. Then, the agriculture service cleaned the vehicle to avoid importation of insects or animal diseases, which cost us US$2. Then, immigration (free), and temporary importation of the truck (US$4). This is all really cheap compared to Mexico. I didn’t see any place where I could purchase insurance, so I kept going.

Our campsite

When you enter the country through this rather informal border, you are in the middle of the mountains, and you drive along a river. After 50 kilometers, as we were getting closer to Huehuetenango, we decided to leave the main road and enter a dirt road toward the river. There, we opened the tent, ate, and went to bed, at 7:30.

Leaving in the morning

Going back to Chiapas

Street of Villahermosa Zona de Luz

We were now getting loser to Chiapas, the last Mexican region before the Guatemalan border. Our last stop before Palenque and its striking temples would be Villahermosa, the capital of the Tabasco state, and a not so charming city to visit in the humid heat.

Giant heads can weight as much as 30 tons

Crocodiles in love

Everybody agrees that you can cross the city without making a stop at the Parque Museo de La Venta, a huge park in the middle of the city, where people can admire giant Olmec heads and other artifacts found on oil fields west of the city. The park is also a zoo, as the administration wanted to show animals that were sharing the everyday life of the Indians. After the visit, I was excited to take the direction of Palenque, a small city in the jungle, at the foot of the Chiapas Mountain.

Statue of a monkey

I was lucky enough to go there few years back, when I took my first trip in Mexico, and since then, images of the site, as long as memories of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
Upon arrival in the city, found a cheap camping at US$4. We cooked diner, drank wine, and went to bed in the tropical heat.

Palenque, old city in the middle of the jungle

Eventually, the morning after, we arrived on the ruins of the old city at 10, and visited the immense site. One can only visit part of the city, as the rest is still buried under the jungle. This is one of the biggest Mayan cities in Mexico, a possibly the most beautiful, thanks to the natural surroundings.
We then left for San Cristobal, a city in the mountain, at 7,000 feet from sea level.
It was an exhausting 7 hours drive, and we arrived, we agreed it was time to settle for a small hotel. We didn’t have warm showers since Monterrey, and even if you don’t miss it much, it is still a dream that you can realize once in a while. While driving in the streets, we found a small and a room in a simple hotel with a parking lot for US$ 25.
Can’t wait for the shower!

We now keep the hood open while driving, to keep the temperature down