Mexico: San Cristobal de las Casas. Escape!

Inside Qhio

Those workers. Why don't they let me sleep. Ugh... Guess I'll just wake up and do sommething usefull, like eating breakfast. After breakfast, I got my laundry (jupp, the hostel had laundry service) and went upstairs to my room to pack. I packed everything in a jiffi, and waited a little while before I went down to the lobby. I checked out, grabbed a cab and went to the bus station. Bought a ticket for the next bus to San Cristobal de Las Casas and waited around 10 minutes before the bus arrived. I was in luck, hehe. So long Tuxtla! I' won't miss ya. Well, not the heat, anyway. After about 1 hour I arrived to San Cristobal. It had the "pueblo" feeling about it, and the temperature was about 17-20 degree celsius. Strange thing that the temperature can change so much. Tuxtla is just 1 hour away.

Well, took a cab to the hostal I believed to be the cheapest, Hostel Qhio. Arrived and rang the bell. Then the receptionist, named Alejandro, opened the door and I walked in, he looked a little ruffled, like ha had been sleeping outside tonight, but it was only because ha was cutting some trees, haha. He showed me around and I said hi to some argentinian guys that were leaving for Guatemala. I got some sheets and settled down. Slept for an hour, ah, man. What a delight. No banging, and no heat, nice. After the little nap, I started to write on my blog, when suddenly the Argentinian guys came back. Due to much rain the roads were closed and they had to wayt until tomorrow. I sat with them at the porch and we listened to the owner of this place, Rodolfo. He told some stories about his life before he opened the hostal. So I sat with the guys and drank some "mate". Long time I have hade some mate. It's a herb, that the argentinians make into a te and drink. It's a pretty ussual drink to have. And the argentinians do take it with them everywhere. After a while, Rodolfo left, and so did I. I wanted to see the place. Walked about two bocks and there was this marked with lots of indians. They are natives from the zone. And they spoke another language that I did not comprehend. The girls sported beautifull dresses with a miriad of bright colours. After an hour or so, I walked trough some small streets, and bumped into a drunkard that was stumbling about. Another old man shouted that he looked like he was dancing and this was not the place to dance. So I asked to where he was supposed to dance, and the old guy told me to follow him and he'll show me, because he was on his way to the weekend  "Marumba", to let off this weeks stress. I followed the guy to a square and there were some people gathering. I sat down and the old guy had to go home an change for this evenings Marumba. Sat there and made some conversation with an old lady that told me to follow her to the center of the square to say hi to her friends. Then the musicians came and the music started. Now I was in the middle of it so I had to dance with the old ladies, haha! I didn't knew how, so I just looked at the other guys and did the same. After the fourth song, I though it was time to give it a rest but another old guy told me that I had to keep dancing until the musicians stopped to take abreak. "My son, you have much to learn". After the 9th song they gave it a rest, well each song lasted for about 7-8 minutes so it took a while before we finnished up. But it was fun though. Good timing of the musicians because some black clouds had approached and it was allready raining down on us. Good thing that the Hostel was a block away.

Tha kitchen

I'm a little tired after the trip down to San Cristobal

Dreamcatcher in my room. This will keep all the bad dreams away, I think.

The marked that was just around the corner.

I like small alleys :)

The square where the Marumba was going to be played.

In the middle the old ladyes sit to wait for the musicians to start playing.

On my way to the Super. It allready is dark outside.

After an hour or so, the rain stopped and I went out for supplies. I met The argentinian boys on the way and they told me were a super was. I told them that I would catch up with them later to take a drink. Got to the super and bought some bread, mayo and some tuna. Tunafish sanwich! Bought some different juices and some cheese. Walked back home and went to the kitchen to make me the sanwich. The argentineans were allready there and gave me some juice. They were preparing nuddles on a cup. while hearing to a radio show on their laptop. It was kinda funny the show. Sat with them and tried their nuddlesoup and it was really good. and costed only 4 pesos, sweet. After dinner, we shared a muffin and I brought the delicious Almendrado. So we sat there and drank almenrado, while listening to the radioshow. I went to get Alejandro And handed him a glass of almendrado, he was still working on that tree, so I thought he needed something to warm him up. He joined us on the kitchen and we had a good laugh with some crazy mexican youtube jokes. Gonna post one, sadly for you guys that do not speak spanish, you wont understand a thang!
Cabeza de Huevo

Sweet almendrado!

After a while another couple arrived. They were from France. Later on, the party moved upstairs to the recreation room. We were not that many on the hostal, but we were all there. 3 guys from Argentina, the boy and the girl from France, Alejandro and myself. We drank up the almendrado, cos it was really sweet. and Alejandro played the guitar while we sang. Really nice to feel great with people you just met. We sat here a couple of hours. But some had to go to bed. The argentinian boys had to take the bus really early tomorrow.And, well. Alejandro had to wake up early anyway.





Next up...
Indians, Hills and Money hungry kids!