SAN CRISTOBAL de LAS CASAS




SHOE SHINE IN PUEBLA


SATURDAY IN SAN CRISTOBAL
Yesterday we had a tour of the city. It was in Spanish but that was okay I enjoyed seeing the people and everthing that was going on. There are many Indigenous people here and they have distintive clothing depending upon which village they come from. They are selling textiles, belts, amber, jade and wool items. From the very old to the youngest.
The city has two squares connected together by the church. There are other tourists here and we actually talked to a young man from Alaska. Otherwise, we think the tourists are from France and Germany etc. There are Mexican tourists here too.
We visited a jade Museum and the tour guide spoke English. There were examples of jade being worked in the pre Olmec culture. There were solid jade masks and the mosiac jade masks, there were very large jade necklaces which were found in the tombs. We were shown the different kinds of jade and where it comes from. Chiapas has a lot of jade and lots and lots of amber.
San Cristobal has the best coffee so far. For lunch we shared a torta and I had a latte, Pete had a frappe.
It is chilly in the mornings here but by 1 or 2 it is nice and warm in the sun. In the shade it is very comfortable. Headed back to our hotel and tried in vain to get a good internet connection.
Dinner is served at 8 pm (a little late for us) but we have an all inclusive so we waited. It was our first dinner and was great. Fish wrapped in banana leaves and rice. Before the main course we had a plate of wonderful appetizers - tapas - and after we had a small dessert of apple crumble. All of it served with the greatest of care and beautiful presentation.

SUNDAY TOUR OF INDIGENOUS TOWNS FIRST ZINACANTAN
This morning after a nice breakfast we were driven to two Indian villages. They are both higher in the mountains than San Cristobal. The first village was Zinacantan. In order for tourists to come in, the driver had to buy us a ticket. The man in the booth was suspicious because there were only the two of us and he had to check for himself. The people there speak Tzotzin and very few speak Spanish. In this village the women wore very elaborate blouses and skirts made of goat wool (fuzzy and black). They wear capes over their blouses. Some of the skirts are also elaboratly embroidered. They are using a lot of shiney threads and some beads too. It is Sunday so most were dressed in their best. Not many of the men seem to keep up the costume tradition but all of the women and children do. In Zinacantan the men raise flowers. I saw an impressive number of covered "green houses". We went into the home of a family that makes textiles. We were shown some of the different outfits that are worn for special occassions such as weddings. Saw the woman sitting on the floor weaving the cloth which our guide said would take 1 week. It would have taken me a month or more. Then the cloth is hand embroidered in many designs and colors which takes another week? I bought a table runner and napkins. The members of this family was very small in stature. The woman invited us to her kitchen and made tortillas for us which we filled with cheese and a meal made from squash. There were also beans and some other fillings. It was a large room, she sat on the floor but it there were many small wooden chairs stacked in the room so she may feed a lot of people there. We were allowed to take photographs in this village even of the people. But we asked and some said no.

SAN JUAN CHAMULA

In this village they also spoke Tzotzin. There are about 30,000 inhabitants in this community. We first saw the cemetary which was interesting because according to who you are or how old you are, the cross on the grave is a different color. Black for adults, white for babies and other colors for young men and young women. Many other colors for other catagories of people. Each grave had a pine bough and flowers too. Saw some fresh boughs.
Then we parked near the church. The square was crowded with 98% women. They were congregated in lines - long lines. We found out that they were lined up to get their money given by the government. The government gives these people lots of help. The town is nice with nice houses and healthy looking people.
Our guide bought us tickets to go inside the church. No photographs were allowed in the church and the people did not want their picture taken at all. Since it is Sunday there were people worshiping. The floor was covered with fresh pine needles (slippery). Candles were ablaze everywhere. All sizes and types of candles each of which have a different significance. There were no pews or chairs. People sat on the floor or stood. The priest was handing out large bouquets of flowers to women mostly. Then they formed a parade with the priest, a man carrying a wooded Jesus, a woman with an incense burner burning copal and then the long line of women and some men carrying the bouquets of chrysanthmuns. They were followed by a band which was made up of an accordian, a tuba, a drum and a guitar. They marched out of the church and into the town. Fireworks went off as they progressed.
We were talked into buying a small wool purse from Gloria who asked my name when she first saw me and I said no but she said maybe later and sure enough she remembered my name and sold me the purse later. Also bought a necklace. Well, what are you gonna do?
We were able to take photographs of the outside of the church. Sure hope I can manage to get some on this blog at some point.
Tomorrow we go to Tonina, an newer archeological site. We have chosen not to go to Palenque because the trip there takes 6 hours one way, so we would have to get up at 4 am and wouldn't return 10 pm. To much for us old folks no matter how much we would like to see it.

Later.....