San Christobal

I arrived - again pretty tiered 😴 - in the morning of the 27th of December in San Christobal de las Casas in the Chiapas region of Mexico. The 12 hour night bus that I took was pretty comfy this time but the AC didn’t work properly. So, it was very hot in the bus🥵 I probably managed to sleep for a few hours but it was not a very deep or relaxing sleep. After checking in in my hostel, I went for breakfast. 🍳
A. K. - the manager of the hostel - recommended „La Fronteira“ and I gave it a shot. The restaurant was located together with other artisanal product selling stores in a nice complex surrounding a garden. 🪴 Walking around I quickly realised that Oaxaca and San Christobal had some things in common (e. g. colonial buildings, street art, artisanal shops etc.). However, judging by the people here, San Christobal seems much more alternative than Oaxaca. Surprisingly, there are many vegetarian 🥑 restaurants or Cafés here as well - something I did not expect to see in Mexico at all. Apart from that I didn’t do much more on the day of my arrival. I wanted to attend the free walking tour in the afternoon but I fell asleep. 😩 So, the walking tour had to wait until the next day.
In the morning, I met Marco (from Germany), Deniz (from Turkey but living in the Netherlands) and Gianluca (from Australia) at the walking tour. They were staying in the same hostel as me.
Our guide (Carlos from Peru) took us through the huge and chaotic municipal market of San Christobal next to the Santo Domingo church ⛪️ and explained its complicated history. Apparently, it was formed as a communal effort by the indigenous people living in and around San Christobal. At first, against the will of the local government which responded with many oppressive measures 🚷 but eventually the market was tolerated. Nevertheless, to this day vendors at the market do not have any official permits or alike. Interestingly, the police 👮 is NOT allowed to enter the market. According to our guide, the market community takes care of law and order - this also includes security. The municipal market is kind of symbolic for the communal areas around San Christobal and Chiapas. Many of them deeply distrust the government and place an emphasis on being autonomous and self-organised - usually in the context of existing family structures governing and resolving local issues and disputes. 🧑‍⚖️
Another interesting stop we made was in front of the Galeria Studio Cerrillo where our guide took its impressive street art as occasion to talk about the Zapatista movement. It has its name from Emiliano Zapata - one of the leaders in the Mexican Revolution of the early 1900s. While this rebellion of indigenous people 🐲 and other marginalised groups against the government is already more than a century ago, the situation for them has not changed much. The Zapatista movement formed in the 80s of the last century and eventually led to the Zapatista uprising in 1994💥 The reasons for the uprising were mainly rooted in the changes of federal laws and communal land ownership related to the North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that put especially the groups represented by the Zapatistas at a disadvantage. In response to the uprising by the Zapatista Army, the Mexican government supported pro-government communities and armed 🔫them with military equipment; effectively creating the corrupt local governments, paramilitary forces and criminal organisations in the North of the Chiapas region that benefit from exploiting the weak position of the indigenous people 🐲 and make this region so dangerous to this day.
„Extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, forced displacement, torture, threats of violence and death, intimidation, arbitrary deprivations of liberty and destruction of property were some of the threats faced by these communities.“ (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiapas_conflict). The federal government doesn’t do enough to secure the area. No wonder these communities are striving for autonomy and self-defence. 😤

Before we finished the tour at „La Espirituosa“ (which was in the same building as „La Fronteira“ - the place where I had breakfast the day before), we stopped at the highest point of San Cristobal. Carlos explained the difficult water situation 🛁 in the valley to us. Although there are 4 rivers entering it and a lot of rainfall during the wet season, San Christobal experiences water scarcity on a regular basis. Unfortunately, this is - to a large extent - the cities own wrong doing. 🤦 On one hand the rivers where connected with each other by means of canals in the 70s. On the other hand people directed the sewers of their households into the rivers so that the water becomes highly contaminated further downstream. 🤢 When it rains too much in the valley, clean water mixes with the contaminated water thereby laying the bases for all sorts of diseases (like diarrhoea). Therefore, every tourist is advised not to use the tap water for drinking or even brushing their teeth. In the news there is often an outrage about a nearby Coca Cola Factory 🏭 which certainly uses a significant portion of the clean water but probably serves more as a scapegoat for the failure of the city to manage its water supply properly. The insane consumption of Coca Cola 🥤by Mexicans and particularly in the Chiapas region puts them at the top of the countries with obesity. But that is a completely different story.

At „La Espirituosa“ we attended a Pox tasting which was part of our free walking tour. Pox is a local alcoholic beverage based on corn 🌽 with up to 40% alcohol. Of the 3 servings we got, I liked the chocolate flavored one the most. After the tour was over Marco and I sat down in the garden of the complex and tried Kombucha 🍷 that was also available at La Espirituosa.
In the afternoon, Marco and I went to the Church of Chamula. Chamula is a town and municipality near San Cristobal (20 min. with a collectivo) that is entirely run by the local Mayan people 🐲 who have lived there for centuries. These Tzotzil Mayas are completely autonomous in multiple ways: they have battled and fought off Catholicism (though they technically have a catholic church it is not really part of the Vatican and runs by its own rules) as well as the Mexican government. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Police 👮‍♂️ and federales are routinely kicked out of the town.
The hierarchy and social status of a person living in Chamula is based on their position in the local religion. It has evolved into a seamless mix of ancient Maya rites, rituals and beliefs meshed with Catholicism.
Thousands of pine needles 🌲 covering the floor and an endless amount of tall thin candles 🕯️ all over the floor create a truly mystical atmosphere inside. It is very dim and a cloud of smoke from the candles is in the air. In the big hall huddles of small groups 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, all Tzotzil Maya in their traditional clothing, sit on the ground and perform their rituals. Apart from candles 🕯️ many coke bottles filled with clear liquid as well as coke dotted the floor around the groups. According to my research, chicken 🐔 are sacrificed right then and there in the church to free the believers from a disease or illness. From my description you can probably tell that the church has a completely different feeling than any other church you or I have ever been to.
It is strictly forbidden 📵 to take photos inside the church though. In fact I have read stories of people who had done so and either had their camera 📷 confiscated, broken, had to pay a very large fine in order to get it back or in worst case scenarios were thrown in the local jail for a day. Therefore, my only picture you see is from outside. However, I included a picture from the internet 🛜 that shows more or less how it looked like inside the church.

In the evening, Marco and I teamed up with Deniz and Gianluca again for dinner. After dinner we ended up in „La Catrina“ sipping cocktails 🍸 while listening to live Blues music until 11 pm. We had to ask for the correction of our bill twice. Marcos and Denizs Spanish skills were up to the task but since we liked the place we gave a tip 💸 and probably paid as much as was initially printed on the wrong bill. However, at least we spent our money willingly and for the right reasons. 😌Read more