San Cristobal de Las Casas

Our next stop on the Chiapas trip was the town of San Cristobal de las Casas- pretty neat name if you ask me. The town had a population of about 60,000, but it really had the feel of a small town. The Maya culture was VERY strong. In fact, we heard very little Spanish being spoken. Amongst themselves, the natives spoke Mayan. I had no prayer of understanding! Spanish and Maya aren't remotely close to being the same language. Luckily, most people spoke Spanish, even if they weren't perfect or fluent.

San Cristobal is surrounded by mountains, and the outskirts of town start to climb upwards! :) I didn't walk to the edge of town because I didn't really want to climb huge hills. I was content to strolled around and check out the downtown.

The town has 3 main markets, 2 artisan markets and one outdoor food market. My oh my were they fascinating! Robin and I first checked out the outdoor artisan market. Lots of clothes, toys, fabrics, shawls, scarves, souvenirs, etc could be found. Much of the stuff is woven in beautiful and intricate patterns. After checking that out, we headed to the Market of Sweets and Artisans. It was inside, and very nice. I bought a nice woven pancho-sweater thing for 60 pesos, which is like $4.50. Caleb bought one on the coast earlier in the semester for 250 pesos! Needless to say he wasn't so happy when we heard the price of mine! The sweater came in handy because San Cristobal gets chilly at night and in the morning, and a sweater was necessary! Gotta love the cool weather!

Finally, Robin and I headed to the food market. It was amazing. I felt absolutely ignorant when I couldn't identify 1/2 the fruits and veggies available! Inside could be found all sorts of things! Fruits, veggies, flowers, chickens (chopped up and live), and any other food you could imagine. Near one of the entrances were a bunch of chickens, alive and clucking, with feet tied up with ribbon- so they couldn't run away of course. And when someone bought one they would just sling it over their forearm and keep walking through the market, live chicken hanging at the side. Way different from Walmart and Hy-Vee. I bought some little finger bananas, which were delicious! They were only a few inches long and had an apple-banana flavor. Yummy! I want more now, but I'm not sure how available they are in Merida. I may have to check that out...