North America,  Mexico,  Travel

Day trip around San Cristóbal

July 20, 2022 /

I signed up for a one-day group to go to the Cañon del Sumidero Canyon. I waited for an hour for the minibus to pick me up. Because I didn't live in the city center, I was the last one to be picked up. The car was full, only the driver and the co-driver There's one in the middle of the seat. The driver is very festive, with rich facial expressions and body language. When chatting with passengers, he sometimes makes himself laugh for a long time. On the way to the canyon, I passed by Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas state, here again at a low altitude, entered the canyon park, got out of the car, and the mosquitoes rushed up again. Back in the car, a mosquito slipped in and landed on the front window, so I slapped it without thinking. As a result, the driver brother yelled "Poor little boy!" and taught me that there is no need to kill it, it is just hungry and in order to survive. I'm not as selfless as he is. I was bitten for more than a month. How could I not act first when I saw a mosquito that had settled down? !

I thought it would be a bit of hiking and climbing today, but the minibus drove all the way to the viewing point of the top canyon, got out of the car, took pictures, went to the toilet and left. On the way down the mountain, I saw a squirrel that was crushed to death by a car. The driver brother sighed and prayed for a long time. Later, in order to avoid a small monitor lizard, the driver brother quickly changed lanes to avoid it, and kept looking back to make sure that the little lizard was fine.

Leaving the canyon viewing platform, we drove down the mountain to take a boat. The boat traveled through the valley, and suddenly there was a feeling of taking students to take a boat in Yangshuo. The scenery is beautiful, but it is too sunny. After sitting for two hours by boat, I went ashore to another small town, Chiapa de Corzo. There are many small shops selling local handicrafts in the town. The most common one is a masked human face. Later, I learned that this is called Los Parachicos. This is the dance performer at the traditional aboriginal festival in the town every January. There are also many hand-woven and brightly colored long skirts of local Aboriginal women.

The next day, I reported a one-day group to visit El Chiflón Waterfall and Montebello Lake, which is very close to the Guatemala border. In the morning, I was the first to be picked up on the minibus. The driver was very punctual, and then picked up the rest of the tourists. They all lived in the same hotel, so they set off quickly. Four of the aunts from Mexico City also went to the same group as me yesterday, and it was very kind to meet again. The people in the same car were also tourists from other parts of Mexico. The couple sitting next to me are from a small city near Mexico City. The man is a podiatrist and the woman is an obstetrics and gynecology nurse. They are on vacation for eight days. When I was about to drive to the waterfall, the driver introduced the mountain climbing and other precautions. When I couldn't understand, the podiatrist explained it to me in Spanish slowly, and was very patient.

It took about forty or fifty minutes to climb the mountain to the largest waterfall. You can spend money to take a zipline down the mountain. I went to a lot of waterfalls during my travels, and most of them are similar, but this waterfall is really spectacular, it flows straight down, and it is worthy of being called "the bride's veil". When taking pictures on the observation deck, it was very close to the waterfall, the water mist splashed everywhere, and the whole body was wet, so take a picture and come down quickly.

I noticed these four aunts from Mexico City yesterday. They are all beautifully dressed, pretty, and have good figures. They look like young girls in their twenties and thirties. They must have been young when they were young. It's beautiful. But yesterday when I learned that two of them were 60 years old, I was super surprised and didn't believe it at all. When they were on a boat in the canyon yesterday, they took turns posing on the bow of the boat, and everyone on the boat praised them for their beauty. Today I climbed the mountain and found that they have good physical strength, and they climbed faster than me when going up the mountain. When I went down the mountain and waited for the bus, I told one of the aunts that her earrings were beautiful, and she took them off without saying a word. I thought she was just going to show me, but she said, "You like it, here it is!", I kept I was too shy to ask for it, but my aunt was very generous and insisted that I accept it, and said, "If you accept it, it means that we are in your heart. You are welcome to come to Mexico again." I was so embarrassed that I didn't want it. Another aunt joked with this aunt and said, "Your bags, skirts, and hats are also beautiful, so give them to me too!" After getting in the car, I shared the chocolates and other snacks I brought with them, and they were also very happy. I thought to myself: When I am as old as them, I hope I will be in such good health and have the energy to continue to travel and see the world.

The driver made it very clear that we will gather at 1:00 noon and leave on time. I hope everyone will be punctual. As a result, the two people in the same car were five minutes late. In fact, five minutes is not bad. The time of Latin Americans is relatively slow and casual, but the driver with a sullen face asked them to meet on time next time. Don't make others wait. I like this driver so much, and punctuality is also very important to me, which is the most basic respect for others.

When we arrived at Lake Montebello, four or five people paddled a raft together. We paddled to the opposite side of the lake, got off the boat for a walk, and when we came back, it started to rain, and it started to rain more and more. Fortunately, there was a shelter from the rain, and the rain stopped after about a quarter of an hour. We hurried back to the raft, and slid back to the shore at full speed, for fear that it would suddenly rain again on the way. Back in the car, the podiatrist next to me began to show me their travel photos in various parts of Mexico in his mobile phone, and introduced me to other particularly beautiful and interesting places in Mexico. Having said that, I can't wait for my next visit to Mexico to explore other places.

On the third day, I didn't report to the group, so I took the bus to the surrounding town of San Juan Chamula. Most of the residents here are Aboriginal Mayans (indigenous Indians) who speak their own native language, Tzotzil. The town enjoys a high degree of independence and self-government in Mexico, and even has its own police force. People here believe in traditional folk medicine and some witchcraft, but their own religious beliefs are integrated with Catholicism. It is said that the most famous here is the local church, which is one of the strangest churches in Mexico.

When I was about to reach the door of the church, I suddenly heard someone calling my name. I took a closer look and found that it was Aunt Dongling who gave me earrings yesterday. She wore a pair of pretty earrings again. I was afraid that if I said her earrings were beautiful, she would take them off and give them to me again. I wondered why she was the only one sitting outside the church. She said that other people from the group were inside, and she said she didn't like some of the rituals and customs inside, so she came out first. I remember that two days ago, people from another group did mention that this church is very different from other traditional churches, and said "you will know when you go there", and now I am even more curious.

The outside of the church looks no different from other Catholic churches, but you have to buy a ticket to enter the church, and then the staff said at the door that the use of mobile phones, taking pictures and video cameras is prohibited inside the church, and offenders will be fined heavily. They think taking pictures takes away the soul. Walking into the church is a shock to the senses. The interior of the church is very dark, with statues of various saints on both sides, rows of burning candles in front, and sparkling mirrors. There are no rows of benches inside the church, but layers of pine branches on the ground. Some aborigines held a large bowl and lit some herbal plants in it. The whole church was filled with aroma and smoky. The locals will push the pine branches aside, draw a small open space, kneel on the ground, take out slender candles from the bag or basket they bring, dip the root of each candle into the flame, and melt the wax to fix each candle on the ground. They lit the candles one by one, and then began to pray, worship, and sing. There will also be some Coke bottles and wine bottles filled with local high-pox wine, and pray while drinking.

The most unbelievable thing is that some locals hold a live chicken in the church. I saw an aunt praying and began to press a chicken's neck on the ground. The chicken kept flapping its wings, trying to break free, but it passed After a while, the aunt put the chicken into a cardboard box and continued to pray and drink. I never thought that I could see such a scene of offering sacrifices to the gods in the church. After the worship, they put away the things they brought. At this time, the candles had almost melted, leaving layers of wax of different colors on the ground. There will be church workers scraping off the wax with a shovel. Later I learned that the locals don't see it as a church, but a temple or a hospital. They don't go to the doctor when they are sick, but come here to pray for the recovery of the sick or other wishes, and bring live chickens to the church to kill and sacrifice to the gods. Also learned that the pine tree symbolized the tree of life in ancient Mayan beliefs, and they believed that the pine branches would prevent people from accidentally slipping into the underground world. But the pine branch carpet on the ground needs to be replaced every week. If fresh pine branches are not used, it will be troublesome if the candle burns to dry pine branches.

The traditional costumes of local women in Chamula are also very interesting. On the street, many women can be seen wearing exaggerated big black skirts, which look extremely thick and heavy. These big black dresses are made of black goat wool and are extremely expensive. Unlike other parts of Mexico, the sheep is a sacred animal here and is not eaten or sacrificed. Men wear white wool tops, but I haven't seen one. It is said that the length and thickness of the black long skirt symbolize their status. The thicker the skirt, the more money it will cost to make, which symbolizes the higher status. A few days ago, I also bought souvenirs for myself (except earrings that don’t take up space) when I was traveling for the first time in San Cristóbal, because I really like the colorful traditional hand-knitted sweaters here.

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