Only once on this trip will I pass through somewhere I've been before and this enigmatic town receives, and greatly deserves, the honour.Five nights in total were spent in San Cristobal - watching movies about local revolutionaries, studying Spanish, visiting a crazy fair and checking out few bands - but this time I set out to do a couple of new things.
Only a ten minute collectivo ride away is the rural village of San Juan Chamula. It's only real attraction is a church and, given how many of those there are around here, it might not generate much enthusiasm. But this place was different. Spooky, ethereal, haunting, mysterious. It's hard to find the word for a barren building, filled with efigies of countless saints, coated with pine leaves and laden with tens of thousands of candles, lit by pilgrims in ornate shapes on the ground. Religion continues to lose me completely. Yet, whatever it is these people have been made to believe, someone did a bloody good job on them.
The other, longer, day trip that must be done is the canyon sumidero, a collosal fissure in the ground with cliffs almost 1km high. A high speed tourist boat can be taken down the river which runs through the canyon, complete with croccodile sightings (I reckon they were stuffed). Just take sunscreen, a tonne of water and a wide brimmed hat.
So, after a few bottles of Bohemia, my favourite Mexican beer, it was time to finally add a new country to the roster. Guatemala here I come.
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