San Cristobal de las Casas

Ver San Cristobal en un mapa más grande

We left Puerto Escondido for Tehuantapec.   It was along bus ride and I was already pretty tired.  I didn’t get much sleep on the bus because Nev got sick a couple of times and near the end of the trip I got hit in the head when my coffee cup came tumbling out of the overhead compartment. Ouch!!  It gave me a little knot on the head and hurt for a week. 

Getting off the buses in Mexico can be a little unnerving for me.  It is not like when you get off a plane because not everyone is getting off at the same stop and the buses don’t stop for too long so I feel a little rushed.  But after this trip I have learned that I need to ignore the feeling of being rushed and take the time I need.  When I got off this bus I realized I was missing my iphone and by the time I figured it out the bus was gone.  An expensive lesson but the main thing I was using the phone for was to send text messages and for Nev to watch movies so we can live without it for now. 

When we got to Tehuantapec we realized it was not a place we wanted to stay.  There was another bus leaving in 2 hours going to Tuxtla-Gutierrez.  It was another really long bus ride but we decided we would get some lunch then get on that bus.  It did end up being a very long and exhausting day.  When we got to our hotel I realized that I was getting sick again.  I had a fever again and was feeling sick to my stomach.  I believe it was probably the same thing that had made me sick before and because I was having a fever I decided that I wanted to see a doctor.  All in all that was the worst day of our trip so far.


Our Hotel in San Cristobal

Walking Street in San Cristobal

San Cristobal de las Casas

The next day we headed for San Cristobal de las Casas which was only an hour away on the bus.  When we got there we found a nice hotel, thanks again to the taxi driver.  The hotel also had Doctors they could call to make a house call to our room.   The doctor came and checked me out.  He thinks I have a parasite.  He gave me a prescription for a bunch of meds: anti-parasites, antibiotics and a couple of other things.  Me being the skeptic I am was a little unsure about it all.   Normally you would expect there to be some definitive tests done before diagnosing a parasite but in this situation I just did what the doctor told me.  After looking up some of the meds I decided they were things I didn’t need to take but I did take the antibiotics and the anti-parasite meds.  Since then my fever has not returned and my stomach seems to on its way back to normal.

Nev got to use his sleping bag finally

San Cristobal is a really touristy place but on the backpackers level not the big hotels kind of place.  It is high in the mountains so it was much cooler and at times even kind of cold.  I enjoyed the weather very much.  It has been a long time since I was not hot.  It is an old colonial town with cobble streets and lots of little cafes, hostels and restaurants.  It is a really beautiful place.  It was also the most touristy place we have been to so far.   However, most of the tourists are from Europe.  We have seen very few Americans on this trip.

We walked around town a lot getting some things done that we need to do and picking up things we needed.  There are many churches in the town and one of them is up a hill.  One afternoon while Nev was napping I walked up there to take in the view.  While I was up there I got interviewed by a couple of girls.  They asked me questions about traveling to and visiting Chiapas.  It was all in Spanish and I think I did OK.  I was pretty proud of myself!  My Spanish is by no means good but I am definitely learning more everyday.

Micah trying to tell the kids they only get 1 balloon



Nev is a little overwhelmed



We attracted quite the crowd of kids

One evening while walking around town, Nev wanted to get a balloon.  We couldn’t find anyone selling blown up balloons but we found a toy store that had bags of little balloons.  Micah had the idea to buy them and that Nev could give them to other kids.  We left the store and immediately had Nev give one to one of the little kids on the street selling things.  Wow!  This drew the largest crowd of little kids and Micah and Nev got over ran by these kids.  They were trying to just give one to each kid but then they started hiding them to get more.  We realized we had to give them away already blown up so they couldn’t hide them.  Then the crowd of kids started to fade.

Agua Azul



View from the top of Agua Azul

There are lots of beautiful natural sites to see around San Cristobal so one day we rented a taxi for the day and the driver took us to Agua Azul.  This is a huge area of water falls and swimming areas.  It was beautiful and we got to go swimming for a little bit.  We had a lot of fun!  The driver didn’t speak a word of English and he liked to talk a lot so Micah got a lot of practice with his Spanish.  The trip was way longer than we had anticipated and we were all exhausted at the end of the day.



Micah doing a backflip off rope swing

We didn’t get to do all the things we wanted to while in San Cristobal but this is another place I would like to visit again someday.

From here we will be crossing the border into Guatemala.  It looks like the best way to do it is to take a shuttle service.  They pick you up at your hotel and drive you to the border.  You have to walk across the border then get into another van that takes you to the destination.  It is definitely more expensive (although still cheap by our standards) than the bus but it is way more convenient.  Convenience is worth a lot more when you are travelling with a young child.