Day 2
Travel log
Magic Chiapas
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS
San Cristobal de las Casas is situated in a fertile valley surrounded by mountains in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas is home to several indigenous groups descended from the Maya, two of the largest being the Tzotzils and Tzeltals who inhabit highland villages surrounding San Cristobal.
The indigenous people of Chiapas speak their own language (often in addition to Spanish), practice their own unique customs and can be identified by their traditional dress that varies by group. They continue to depend primarily on agriculture for their economic well-being; however, it’s not unusual for them to travel into San Cristobal to sell their handmade crafts and shop in the markets for everyday items to take back to their villages.
San Cristobal, one of Mexico’s best-preserved Spanish colonial towns, is made up of a series of traditional barrios (neighborhoods), each of which is known for a particular trade or custom, such as iron working, carpentry and woodcarving.
You’ll want to set aside plenty of time to wander the narrow cobblestone streets of San Cristobal, past brightly painted buildings and colorful shops and markets. The town is laid out on a grid pattern and can be easily explored on foot. Several of the main streets leading through the center of town are closed to traffic and converge on the central park or zocalo (main plaza).
Along the main plaza you’ll find the architecturally stunning city hall and Cathedral. Five blocks north of the plaza, you’ll also discover San Cristobal’s Museo Templo y Convento Santo Domingo (Museum Church and Convent of Santo Domingo).
A steep stone staircase leads up to the Templo de San Cristobal (San Cristobal Church) and the town’s best mirador (lookout point). Climb to the top to enjoy spectacular views overlooking the town of San Cristobal, the surrounding mountains and countryside.
San Cristobal has been a well-known international tourist destination since the 1970s. Today, the town is home to numerous travel agencies, language schools, art-house cinemas, museums and artisans’ markets, as well as a dizzying array of shops, sidewalk cafes and restaurants, many catering to international visitors.
With its laid-back, bohemian atmosphere, San Cristobal de las Casas continues to be a popular destination among international backpackers and foreign residents, many who arrive to study Spanish or volunteer with local organizations in the fields of sustainability, education and human rights.
You can spend hours browsing the shops and artisans’ markets in San Cristobal, or take a trip out to one of the nearby villages to see where the crafts are made.
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SAN JUAN CHAMULA
San Juan Chamula, a small town located 10 km (6 miles) northwest of San Cristobal de las Casas, is home to a fiercely independent Tzotzil community. The Tzotzil Maya are one of the largest indigenous groups in Chiapas, making up roughly one third of the state’s indigenous population.
San Juan Chamula is one of several Tzotzil communities located in the highland towns outside San Cristobal and one of three Tzotzil districts that together comprise the group’s ceremonial center. The town also serves as the main hub of religion and commerce for the Tzotzil Maya in Chiapas.
You can identify the people of San Juan Chamula by their traditional dress. The men wear black or white wool tunics called chujes that are belted around the waist. The women dress in embroidered huipils (blouses) made of cotton or satin blouses, shawls and long black linen skirts.
The Chamulans are talented artisans who produce high quality handmade embroidered blouses, bags and weavings. The best places to shop for these items are at the local artisans’ market, the Sunday tianguis (weekly open-air market) in San Juan Chamula or in crafts markets in San Cristobal.
You’ll want to step inside San Juan Chamula’s church, the Cathedral San Juan Bautista. Statues of saints line the interior walls and the floor of the church is covered in pine needles and lit candles.
Visitors are welcome to observe the prayer rituals, but it’s forbidden to take photos inside the church.
The Tzotzil Maya of San Juan Chamula practice some interesting religious rituals that blend pre-Hispanic traditions with Catholicism. There are no pews and no alter inside their church. Instead, worshippers kneel on the floor, lighting candles and chanting. The rituals often include an abundance of soda and posh, an alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane. They also practice several ancient healing rituals, some of which use eggs, bones and live chickens that are sacrificed in the church and later eaten as a sacred meal or buried in front of the homes of the sick. Nearby you can also visit the town cemetery and ruins of the old church of San Sebastian.
The Museo de Medicina Maya (Mayan Medicine Museum) in San Cristobal focuses on the history and theory of indigenous Mayan medicine, including many of the rituals that are practiced in San Juan Chamula. If you're interested in learning more about these fascinating traditions and beliefs, it's well worth a visit.
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ZINACANTÁN
The sacred spaces and the ancestral essence of a town full of life and color are preserved in Zinacantán, Chiapas, whose name means "Place of bats" in Nahuatl, but although the reference is to these animals of the night, the site has nothing of dark, because in fact it is a polychromatic landscape thanks to its brilliant and beautiful works of textile crafts, flowers in the greenhouses installed in the valley of the region as well as the green forests that surround it.
This site was an important commercial center and the capital of Tzotziles in the antiquity until in 1486 fell at the hands of the Aztecs. Today it is known for its buoyant production of handicrafts, for the warmth of its people as well as its natural beauties.
A cluster of hills enclose the valley where this settlement, which has about 30 thousand inhabitants, is located in the area known as Los Altos de Chiapas. But its mountains are not only orographic accidents, but many of them are sites of special rites and festivals throughout the year. At the top of them, there are pantheons dedicated to honor the ancestors of the settlers, who are considered the guardians of the town, and who are worshiped with fresh flowers that adorn their tombs.
The municipality is also part of the Huitepec Ecological Reserve, which has a biological diversity of more than 300 species of vegetation as well as birds, rodents, amphibians and reptiles.
The place is ideal for exploring walking or climbing, or simply to contemplate the splendor of nature on a quiet afternoon.
Its main activity is the creation of garments with bright woven fabrics and ornamentation with leather and feathers. In fact it is possible to walk through the streets of Zinacantán and visit some of the looms, handicrafters woman invite tourists to see them work their arts with dedication and dedication, while enjoying some food and try the “posh” a prepared alcoholic drink based on cane and corn starch, classified as one of the highest ranking of alcohol in the world: between 75 and 80 degrees.
The typical costume of men is a cotton saris woven in dark colors like blue, green and purple, with some details of floral figures. The women wear blouses and skirts in the same shades with their moxibal on top, which is like a rebozo or shawl with flower embroidery.
Because the vegetation is woody and there are multiple rivers and springs in the site, the climate of the place is temperate semi-humid for most of the year, with some rains in the summer. This has allowed to literally flourish another of the economic activities of the region: the cultivation of roses, chrysanthemums and carnations in greenhouses.
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