Of food and hurricanes

We had our share of horror bus rides in Asia, but it was on the road from Palenque to San Cristóbal that I got truly scared for the first time on our trip. The scenery of green mountains was gorgeous and the bus was as good as new but it was the road and the speed that even made me put on a safety belt! I don't think I ever wore a seat belt on a bus before, but the million curves and steep precipices right next to the road made us hold on to it real tight. Despite all the expectations we did survive the ride and arrived to San Cristóbal in one, though very shaken, piece.

As soon as we got off the bus, we noticed a big difference from what we've seen so far in Mexico - first, it was raining steady and pretty heavily, and second, it was freezing! Or so it seemed to us wearing flip flops and shorts. San Cristóbal de las Casas lies as high as almost 2200 metres above sea level and you notice it right away.

We came here to see Noel and Esti, who are here on holidays visiting Noel's parents. We only intended to stay a couple of days, mainly because we didn't want to intrude too much and because as we all know, guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. But we ended up staying for almost a week! Noel and everybody in the house treated us like family, we talked, ate, played with the kids, talked, ate and then ate some more... The cuisine of Chiapas was definitely a good reason itself to stay longer! We understand now why an average Mexican is far from thin...

To start off the day, a light homemade breakfast - chilaquiles verdes

Nachos con arrachera

Chalupas, pan compuesto, tacos dorados, patitas en vinagre

Cochito horneado, pozol de cacao

Sweets sold for Corpus Christi

Flauta oaxaqueña (can you believe this s**t??)

Huarache de papa con chorizo

Tostada

Chapulines - grasshoppers!

And a sweet ending - carrot cake

Another thing that made us linger around was the city itself. It is hard to describe what a charming place it is, it felt like we traveled to a different place and time altogether. By far the most beautiful town in Mexico, small enough to get everywhere in the center on foot and large enough to wonder around aimlessly and finding something new every time. Despite the continuous rain we walked up and down San Cristóbal, climbed the little hills on both sides with views over the city and the misty mountains, and we knew we were in love.

Templo de Santo Domingo

San Cristóbal has some nice street art

The cathedral

Plaza de la Resistencia - thousands of zapatistas gathered here on Dec 21, 2012, showing the persisting strength of the movement

Back-breaking climb up El Cerrillo

Views from the top

Playing marimba on the main square

Sun showed up once

But not for long

People of San Cristóbal and the surrounding villages

And the rain... When we arrived, everybody assured us that it'd stop soon. On the second day we still believed it. But it was becoming clear that something wasn't quite right. And on the third day all the radios were raising alarm as a tropical storm from the Pacific ocean turned into a hurricane and was headed towards the Chiapas south coast. It even got a name, Barbara. Our first hurricane! We weren't in any real danger being far from the coast and up in the mountains, but the hurricane brought even heavier rain and storms with it and at one point the streets of San Cristóbal were almost navigable!

Lets have a swim

The weather has a mind of its own

We were lucky to be where we were in this weather. Ok, it rained a lot, the food was awesome and the town pretty, but in the end it was the company that kept us in San Cristóbal for so long. Becoming a part of a Mexican family was something very special and allowed us to learn so much more about Mexico, different cultures and cuisines of all the different regions, about Chiapas and its past and present, and about how hospitable Mexicans are!