+ We planned to stay a few days in San Cristobal as there are plenty of things to do in the little mountain town in Chiapas. God, it was cold in the nights!!
+ San Cristobal de las Casas bacame internationally famous after the Zapatistas ("Zapatista Army of National Liberation") took control of the city on 1st January 1994. Since then the the group has been in a declared war against the Mexican state, though this war has been primarily nonviolent and defensive against military and paramilitary incursions into Chiapas. The Zapatista movement demanded for a better & fairer social and economic integration of indigenous people of Chiapas into the Mexican society, but their claims became also international. We saw many interesting documentaries about the movement in the little cinema of the town.
+ We went to visit some Mayan villages surrounding San Cristobal. One of those was Chamula, a very peculiar little Mayan village living proudly its traditions mixed with Catholicism. We didn't understand everything that was going on, in particular not in the church as so many different things and rituals happened at the same time. In the church, there was no altar, but many saints in wooden boxes dressed in Chamulan traditional clothes & colours, pine leaves on the floor, no benches, no priest and many people praying to different saints, giving offerings, chanting monotonously,... No pictures were allowed inside the church, so we have some only from the village and from their colourful dresses. :)
+ On a day trip went to the canyon Cañón del Sumidero. Part of it is a national parc and a boat brings you throught the canyon until a dam. The contstruction of the dam made, unfortunately, two villages being resettled and some fish species were effected. Anyways, we could spot some crocodiles and birds during the boat ride.
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