San Cristobal De Las Casas and Xela
The journey to San Cristobal was along some really winding roads so I was glad when we finally got there. San Cristobal was a pretty good place.
On our first full day we did a tour out to some Mayan villages with a local guide. This was a lot better than I had expected - he took us to 2 villages to show the contrast between Mayan villages who have combined there religions with Catholisism and another where the old religions are a lot less evident.
The first village was called Chamula. The guide explained a lot about the culture and history of the place. There were a lot of fireworks going off and we learned that this was to signify the election of a new religious leader - we also learned that the firework rockets were set off directly from peoples hands.
Our first stop was an old cemetry which looked scary enough by day - I certainly would not like to have been around at night! (Very Resident Evil!)
We then went into the local Church. It was a very strange Church as there is no priest and the inside was covered with pine needles and incense was burning. We were told that we could not take photos inside. If we got caught then they would confiscate the memory card! Well believe it or not the people actually sacrifice chickens inside the Church (we were there during one of the ceremonies). The chickens are tied and the people wave the chickens over there bodies and over the candles to cleanse themselves from evil spirits. The people also have Coke and other soft drink bottles lined up as part of the ceremony - they believe that it has a spiritual power and when they burp they purify themselves by expelling evil spirits. There was also lots of different coloured candles which each signify different things.
After the ceremony they take the chicken home to eat and burry the bones in the back garden. It was such a strange thing to see - your natural instinct is to think it's a show for the tourists but our guide assured us that it goes on all day everyday, and infact you were told not to stand and stare.
The village had its own police force who carried sticks instead of guns and had there own laws. Visitors are normally allowed to visit one of the leaders houses - but as there was a new leader ceremony taking place we just got to quickly look in.
There was a lot of children begging around the market and judging by the types of goods on display the people seemed very poor.
The second village called Zinacantan was completely different. The people seemed to be a lot richer and there was no begging children. We visited a local family who cooked some tortilla and pumpkin seeds for us. We then got to try the local booze called "Posh".
The next day was a free day so I walked around San Cristobal a bit. I climbed up to get a good view of the city.
From San Cristobal we travelled to Quetzaltenango by chicken bus - I did not enjoy this journey as we were squashed in 3 to a seat - I had to keep pulling myself up by the luggage rack to get comfortable - I did not fit in the seat as I was over the wheel and my legs were knocking against the metal seat in front. When we arrived we had to get another shared taxi-bus to the hotel. The hotel itself was a strange one as it seemed to have been built inside a multistorey carpark. Had an Italian meal then went for some beers with some backpackers our group had adopted. We had a late start that morning and headed off to Panajachel by Lake Atitlan.
On our first full day we did a tour out to some Mayan villages with a local guide. This was a lot better than I had expected - he took us to 2 villages to show the contrast between Mayan villages who have combined there religions with Catholisism and another where the old religions are a lot less evident.
The first village was called Chamula. The guide explained a lot about the culture and history of the place. There were a lot of fireworks going off and we learned that this was to signify the election of a new religious leader - we also learned that the firework rockets were set off directly from peoples hands.
Our first stop was an old cemetry which looked scary enough by day - I certainly would not like to have been around at night! (Very Resident Evil!)
We then went into the local Church. It was a very strange Church as there is no priest and the inside was covered with pine needles and incense was burning. We were told that we could not take photos inside. If we got caught then they would confiscate the memory card! Well believe it or not the people actually sacrifice chickens inside the Church (we were there during one of the ceremonies). The chickens are tied and the people wave the chickens over there bodies and over the candles to cleanse themselves from evil spirits. The people also have Coke and other soft drink bottles lined up as part of the ceremony - they believe that it has a spiritual power and when they burp they purify themselves by expelling evil spirits. There was also lots of different coloured candles which each signify different things.
After the ceremony they take the chicken home to eat and burry the bones in the back garden. It was such a strange thing to see - your natural instinct is to think it's a show for the tourists but our guide assured us that it goes on all day everyday, and infact you were told not to stand and stare.
The village had its own police force who carried sticks instead of guns and had there own laws. Visitors are normally allowed to visit one of the leaders houses - but as there was a new leader ceremony taking place we just got to quickly look in.
There was a lot of children begging around the market and judging by the types of goods on display the people seemed very poor.
The second village called Zinacantan was completely different. The people seemed to be a lot richer and there was no begging children. We visited a local family who cooked some tortilla and pumpkin seeds for us. We then got to try the local booze called "Posh".
The next day was a free day so I walked around San Cristobal a bit. I climbed up to get a good view of the city.
From San Cristobal we travelled to Quetzaltenango by chicken bus - I did not enjoy this journey as we were squashed in 3 to a seat - I had to keep pulling myself up by the luggage rack to get comfortable - I did not fit in the seat as I was over the wheel and my legs were knocking against the metal seat in front. When we arrived we had to get another shared taxi-bus to the hotel. The hotel itself was a strange one as it seemed to have been built inside a multistorey carpark. Had an Italian meal then went for some beers with some backpackers our group had adopted. We had a late start that morning and headed off to Panajachel by Lake Atitlan.
posted by Phil at 8:17 PM
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