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First Time Reader? ......here is the background to this series of blogs:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lobo/9/1233502800/tpod.html
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Mexico: 23 Destinations to Spend the Winter Months

San Cristobal de Las Casas
no. 19 of 23 destinations (this is not a ranking)
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State: Chiapas
Location: 450 km southeast of Oaxaca
Population 250,000
Elevation 7,000 ft.
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San Cristobal de Las Casas - The Aura
Part 1 of 5

If there was one destination that I was looking forward to with great anticipation, it was San Cristobal de Las Casas.

My fascination was partly due to its location in the “far south” of Mexico in the state of Chiapas, which borders on Guatemala . Its relative remoteness has left it off the well-beaten tourist path in Mexico, which made a visit all the more inviting.

The very sound of it – ‘San Cristobal de Las Casas” and “Chiapas” has a certain ring of mystery about it. Adding to this mystery is a large indigenous population and the special politics of this region.

When it comes to politics nothing stirs the imagination like the name of Che Guevara, the Argentinean, who fought alongside Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution 1959 where he achieved the rank of “Commandant”. The Chiapas region has its own “Che” and that would be Subcomandante Marcos. He was a leader of the Zapatista Army of Liberation that in 1994 fought a brief revolution to bring about rights, freedoms and equality for the indigenous people of the Chiapas region. The uprising was quickly crushed by the Mexican army in sharp contrast to what is presently happening in the war against the narco traffickers who have proven to be a much tougher adversary .

Like with Che, there is a certain revolutionary romanticism that is connected with the name of Subcomandante Marcos. Unlike the Comandante whose face is known the world over, the subcomandante has always worn his trademark black balaclava and his face remains unrecognized.

Che Guvera was shot in 1967 by the Bolivian army while fighting in a leftist revolution in that country. By contrast Subcomandante Marcos has dropped out of sight, a rarity for one that led a revolution again the Mexican government. Think about it, you don’t just lead a revolution and then just go home so to speak. Nevertheless it is all part of the mystique of Chiapas.

Another aspect of Chiapas which we found captivating, even before getting there, was the beautiful Chiapan handicrafts which we saw being sold in various parts of Mexico that we had visited. Given their unique designs and deep colors we were eager to see the region that produced such beauty .

Not only were the handicrafts beautiful but also the Chiapen indigenous people selling them. They had a distinguished calm look about them that must have been rooted in their Mayan ancestry.

The clincher for me personally was that Chiapas was also one of the three great coffee growing regions of Mexico. Like a wine region, a coffee region is something to behold.

Put all this together and we were ready to be taken in by this wonderful region.

The bus ride from Oaxaca to San Cristobal was about seven hours meaning it was perfect for an overnight bus ride. I use the word “perfect” tongue in cheek because an overnight bus right is anything but perfect especially if, as is the case with me, you are unable to sleep in a bus.

Let it be said one more time, the Mexican first-class long-distance buses are only surpassed by Argentinean buses which have seats that almost flatten out and food is served by an attendant just like in an aircraft .  

So yes, there are better buses but in general, there are no complaints with respect to the Mexican buses. They even shut off the incessant TVs at around 01:00. I have learned to deal with my inability to sleep on a bus and I just grind it out for the sake of saving time on the long Mexican tour we were making. What helped on this trip was that I had bought a neck collar type of pillow and I found an empty double-seat at the back of the bus. That gave room to Barbara to sleep in our reserved seats and it allowed me to doze a bit as well at the back of the bus.

Nothing last forever – no, I am not talking about the overnight bus ride. Instead I am referring to the four weeks of uninterrupted gorgeous weather we had enjoyed during our trip. I say gorgeous in reference to the unending sunshine and the hot temperatures along the coast. It truly felt like summer back home. Upon our arrival San Cristobal de Las Casas greeted us with cold temperatures and drizzling rain thereby putting an end to our endless string of good weather . That certainly took the edge off our initial enthusiasm.

Our first task at hand was to let a taxi driver take us to a reasonably priced hotel that in this case turned out to be the Hostal Posada San Agustin located only blocks from the “zocalo”. It would have been nice to find a warm room but despite the cool temperatures there is no source of heat in the hotel rooms other than heavy horse blankets.

It was basic accommodations, clean, friendly but without any type of frills. But what can one expect for 300 pesos. The horse blankets came in handy as we crawled into bed in the early morning hours to catch up on sleep, which we missed on the overnight bus ride.

Once we ventured outside our hostal we found an enchanting town with narrow streets paved with smooth cobblestones, elevated smooth sidewalks and colorful attached one-story buildings whose only exposure to the street was a door, a shuttered window or a storefront . The town was surrounded by intensely green mountains indicating that rain is not foreign to this highlands region.

The overall impression is one of awe as the deep colors of San Cristobal de Las Casas have their magic effect on the visual domain. One can only imagine how this effect would have been surpassed by a sunny day.

As I look at my photos it would seem that another fascination was the indigenous people so numerous here in San Cristobal. I had the impression that apart from the tourists the rest of the population was indigenous. The ethnic composition here is Tzotziles, Mestizos and Tzeltales.

The last time I was this captivated by the local population was in La Paz, Bolivia. This was particularly true at the time in 1999 because I was coming from Chile, a country that percentage wise has perhaps the smallest indigenous population in South America. Chile is the most European country in South America so it was a breath of fresh air and a burst of color to come to Bolivia and La Paz, in particular, to see all the indigenous people . Of special interest were the women with their bowler hats.

The indigenous women of the San Cristobal region again were the focus for their colorful dress and their peculiar black skirts made of a heavy woolen material. I would have guessed that they were made from llama wool but there are no llamas in Mexico. For more on the women of Chiapas:

http://www.travelchiapas.com/huipils/huipils.php

The center of action in San Cristobal de Las Casas, like in every Mexican city, is the zocalo that is known as the “Plaza 31 de Marzo”. It is a beautiful place to linger and enjoy the pleasure of being in San Cristobal de Las Casas. In the middle of the square a mystery was solved – how this city got its cool name.

A plaque that is found there says:

“Fray Bartolome de Las Cases defensor de los Indos, primer obisco de este diosis quellego a Chiapas hizo su entrada a esta ciudad el 12 de marzo de 1545 .’

This brings to mind the rhyme we learned in elementary school. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. That is pretty amazing in 1492 Columbus landed in the Antilles Island in the Caribbean and only 53 years later Father Bartholomew of Las Casas established the Catholic Church and labored on behalf of the indigenous people to the extend that he was labeled “a defender” of the native people. He later became bishop of the region.

So it turns out that the city got its name from Saint Christopher and Father Bartholomew de Las Cases which in Spanish of course means “of the houses”. As an aside, the most common slogan that one sees written on souvenirs in Mexico is “mi case es su casa” – the ultimate sign of friendship – my house is your house.

Two main streets start at the Plaza 31 de Marzo. Avenida General Utrilla runs north to the spectacular Templo Santo Domingo and the beautiful market surrounding it . To the south the same street changes names at the plaza and becomes Avenida Insurgentes. The main point of interest along the way south is the Templo y Arco del Carmen. The arch is absolutely cute and very reminiscent of Europe.

The focal point of the Plaza 31 de Marzo is the cathedral as it is special in its ability to attract tourists. In the evening of our first day we were lucky enough to catch it in the warm glow of the evening sun. While the cathedral indeed is special the four sides that border the Plaza 31 de Marzo leave nothing lacking in architectural beauty either.

Due to the number of photos and activities I have decided to split the San Cristobal de las Casas blog into five parts.

Part 1 – The Aura and our First Impressions

Coming Soon:
Part 2 – More of this beautiful City
Part 3 – Guided Excursions
Part 4 – Casa Na-Bolom
Part 5 – Our Own Excursion

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