Xela was an old colonial city but still was very poor. I got a strange vibe from the place. I felt odd there, but I still can't put my finger on the unsettling feeling. (Perhaps it had to do with the owner of the hostel we stayed at. He looked just like Dexter.)
Here is a picture of the market in Xela.
We stayed there for only 1 day and took a 6 1/2 hour ride in which we changed buses 4 times. It took us an hour to cross the border due to a series of time consuming events - including waiting for people, paying to go to an awful bathroom and a girl's passport not working.
When we finally crossed the border it was a bit different from Guatemala. The terrain was a bit like Colorado, full of dry trees and prickly pear cactus. There were not many houses. But soon I started to see gas stations with actual mini-marts and more houses, then a Walmart and other stores.
A gas station with a mini-mart!
A medical center!
When I got to San Cristobal de las Casas, the outskirts looked pretty rough, all the houses were made of cement blocks with tin roofs and graffiti. But as I got closer to the center of town it started looking nicer and nicer. Now where we are in the center (the historical/colonial part of San Cristobal) everything is super nice. One way we can tell it is really safe, is that there are no guards with shotguns standing outside of every other store and the cops don't even carry guns.
This is the quiet street where our hostel is. Posada del Abuelito... it is awesome and we have met some really great travellers here. We talk in the morning when we are all making breakfast and then again at night, when everyone sits around the kitchen table exchanging stories. Last night mom went to get some water but never came back. Finally, I went looking for her and she was sitting around the table with 3 German guys talking about experiences. They were really nice so, even though I was exhausted (and we had to get up early for an excursion the next day) I sat down and stayed a while before dragging my mom off to bed.
This was our key at a hostel we stayed at one night when Posada del Abuelito was full. It is a doll representing an EZLN Zapatista soldier (the insurgents under the leadership of Commandante Marcos -against the Mexican govt. He is an educated leader and had a little more luck fighting for civil rights then the guerrillas did in Guatemala.)
And they have street names here. :-)
NEXT ---
Excursion to the autonomous, indigenous town of
SAN JUAN CHAMULA:
1 comment:
Enjoyed your description of what you saw, heard and smelled. Loved the pictures and glad you followed your instinct.
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