San Cristobal is this adorable town in the mountains. Absolutely beautiful! And again, the Europeans. It really does feel more like a town in Europe than in Mexico. Unfortunately, while we were there, it was also freezing. Well, not freezing by Wisconsin standards by any means, but when you're used to 100 degrees and sunny every day, 50 degrees and rainy feels like Antarctica.
San Cristobal:
< Me in my new (handmade!) Chiapas sweatshirt! Can you tell I'm freezing??
The first night here I found a vegetarian restaurant and had some delicious eggplant! There were actually quite a few restaurants with vegetarian food which was great! I suppose I have the European tourists to thank for that one :)
The first day in San Cristobal, we went to these villages in the mountains about 30 minutes away from the town. In the first village, everyone was out and walking around for Carnaval weekend. Our program director asked us not to take any pictures here because many of the people have negative associations with having their picture taken. So unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures of the clothing! It was really unique. All of the women wear long furry skirts made of sheepskin and dyed black, and on top a very detailed and colorful short sleeve blouse from a silk-like material. The men wore long sheepskin vests, again dyed black, over their regular clothing. However, the most memorable part of our trip to this village was walking through the local church. Absolutely the strangest religious situation I have ever been in. When we entered, the air was thick with burning incense, the room was lit by more candles than I have ever seen in one place at once, people were kneeling on the ground in front of candles, chanting prayers in Maya, women were burning some kind of leaves in front of statues, the ground was covered with green pine needles to represent everlasting life. Now here's what surprised me: this is a Catholic church. Lined up along both walls are saint statues...dressed in local clothing. Basically the people have taken Catholicism and made it their own. They all practice the sacrament of baptism but that's where they stop. Then local spirituality is mixed in with Catholicism which results in a pretty unique place of worship.
In the second village, we were able to take pictures but were told to be respectful and discreet about it. So I just walked around the village center, holding my camera at my side and snapping pictures "discreetly." So these really aren't the best quality pictures, but I thought I should definitely attempt to snap a few just because the way the people dress was again really unique.
<Me in the village. The pictures really don't do any justice- it was beautiful with the mountains all around!
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