SAN CRISTOBAL

Well, the work week has finished.  The week was intense, but manageable and by the end of the week friendships had formed and all had "settled in".   The Bible School dorm, showers, kitchen was home.  The trek up and down the steep steps to the clinic never stopped leaving us breathless.  The altitude saps one's oxygen. 

 We survived the annual hatch of termites.  The rain brings them on, thousands of them, down your blouse, up your skirt, landing in your hair,etc.  They do not bite, but sure are annoying.  And we also got to observe the annual hatch of an insect called co cox in this area.  There are 2 kinds, red and brown.  They are large, and apparently delectable, as the people are out on the streets and any area under lights to gather them for roasting and eating.   We just tried to avoid stepping on them and crunching them...

We packed and piled into 2 vans for the 2 hour ride to San Cristobal, where the group would stay over in our historic, lovely, but austere hotel, the Fray Bartolome, to get ready for the early morning ride to the airport, an hour away, in Tuxtla.   The day was spent shopping, exploring, listening to music in the park, buying souvenirs of Chiapas coffee, chocolate, and beautiful textiles and art work.  

San Cristobal is a historic town high in the mountains.   There are narrow cobblestone streets, ancient cathedrals, and markets of all kinds.  It is also a popular place for Euopean tourists, old hippies, and back packers.  These mixed in with the traditional people coming in to sell wares make a fascinating place to stay or visit.  

The group left bright and early, and as I was not returning home as yet, I stayed behind to spend a delightful day on my own.  Pablo and Jan had business in Tuxtla and promised to return to pick me up later in the day.  I slept in..til 7:30, took a wonderful hotttt shower, and walked the streets for hours.  I had coffee in a little hippie coffe shop, and lunch in a courtyard restaurant.   I love prowling the hundreds of open air booths at the artisan market on the steps of the old cathedral for a block around.

I ventured to the people's market where a bit of bravery is required!  

It is noisy, very crowded, with tiny passageways this way and that, for blocks.  

There are no tourists here.  This is where the people go to do their serious buying and selling.  There are fresh chickens, some with heads on, next to underwear, trinkets, and fresh flowers.  

There are live turkeys, carried upside down flapping away.

 People are hawking all variety of wares:  buckets, frying pans, produce of all sorts, seeds, nuts, roots, and beans of all types and colors.  

 I read in the park, but had to scurry back under the overhang of the courtyard at the hotel when it started to pour.

 Pablo, Jan, and Pedro the driver were fashionably late (about 2 hours...), reminding me that they often run on tiempo de la selva (jungle time).   The worst that would have happened is that I would have had to stay over another night in historic San Cristobal....

Uneventful ride back to settle in to my corner room at the clinic, and look forward to the next weeks, wondering what adventures await me!

Love,

Carolyn