We had heard a lot of good things about San Cristobal De Las Casas, and were looking forward to exploring this charming mountain town and its surrounding area. Jeanette was especially excited to get here as a lot of the lovely textile handicraft found through out Mexico is from Chaipas.

We had booked an airbnb studio apartment for a week in the suburb of La Garita, and planned on doing a Spanish language class while we were here. Our Spanish required a much needed boost!

On our first day in San Cristobal (Saturday) we did a free walking tour of the central area. We met our guide at 10:00am in the town square by  the Cathedral. The walking tour lasted just over three hours, and was a great introduction to the city, its markets, cafes and history.

San Cristobal has a pedestrianised street called Real de Guadalupe which has a lot of funky shops selling beautifully made cotton shawls, colourful clothing, health food shops, coffee shops and cafes.  While neither of us drink coffee, we can recommend two really good cafes that make amazing hot chocolate – Organica Natura located on the pedestrianised street, and La Chocolateria near the Church of Guadalupe.

Chapais is also well know for its production of good quality amber. In San Cristobal there are many jewellery shops selling necklaces, bracelets and earrings made from the local amber. In the markets they also have some amber jewellery, but beware as not all of it is real amber. Some of the products in the market are made from resin. Jeanette had her heart set on getting a pair of amber earrings. She ended up finding a local jeweller to custom make a pair.

Just outside of San Cristobal are some traditional Tzoltzil and Tzeltal villages.  San Juan

Chumula is an indigenous Tzotzil town that is like most other towns in Chapias with the exception of its church. The church has become a bit of a tourist attraction because of some of the strange rituals and offerings, mostly with chickens, eggs, a local drink called pox, and Coca Cola!

We had been recommended to go with a guide to Chumula, so they could explain the local customs, and the church. We booked a tour through our Spanish language school.

The guide explained that photos are forbidden inside the church, and of the local people.

As we entered the church there are one needles on the floor and hundreds of candles burning, it looked amazing. Life sized saints were in glass cabinets all down one side of the church, and the local people were lighting candles on the floor of the church and doing a ceremony in front of their chosen saint. They believe that by drinking fizzy drink, and burping you are expelling evil spirits.  They also believe that you can put that evil spirits into an egg or chicken. While we were in the church there was a live chicken sitting in a box waiting to be sacrificed. Jeanette was captivated and could have sat in a corner and watched them performing their ceremonies for hours……..but the tour group was waiting to go on to the next town.

The next stop on our tour was to a another Tzotzil village – San Lorenzo Zinacantan. As you drive into the village you see a lot of glass houses. Apparently the people of Zincantan are great flower growers, with flowers being exported to Israel, Japan and the USA.

 Our tour stopped at a local community cooperative where the women weave stunning rugs and cotton textiles. They made us some tortillas over the fire, which were delicious with some beans and salsa. Afterwards we had a Mayan wedding. Glen and I were selected to be the bride and groom – it was a blast.

Glen negotiating with the local ladies to buy a beautiful hand woven wall hanging.

Located about twenty minutes outside of San Cristobal is a recreation area called Las Grutas, with caves, horse back riding, zip lines, hikes and camping. We had heard they also have  really good quesadillas. So we decided to stop here on our way out of town, and check out the quesadillas and the cave system. They were both worth a visit!