A Quick Trip to San Cristobal de las Casas
With the travel bug bite itching, I was much looking forward to my mid-year break to do some traveling. Our tourists visas were about to expire and we had to leave the country, so we looked to San Cristobal de las Casas for a quick and inexpensive trip.
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| Magical San Cristobal de las Casas |
Located in the Chiapas region and relatively near to the Guatemalan border, it's a popular town to go to for a visa run, which is exactly what Chris and I did. We made a short vacation out of it, and here I've written a few things to do, see, and eat while there.
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| Ready to begin our 12-hour journey from Antigua to San Cristobal de las Casas |
1. Explore the town
- Walk around the charming streets
San Cristobal de las Casas, or San Cristobal and even "San Cris" for short, is quite the small and charming colonial town. It gets quite cool in the mornings and evenings, but warms up during the day. Our hotel was located on the main pedestrian street and very near to the two main plazas, but really, it's so small, that almost anywhere would be a good location. One thing I enjoyed was just walking around the town center and exploring the streets that were bursting with culture.
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| Zocalo - the main square |
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| Some street art on the metal sheets surrounding the church |
Unfortunately the Cathedral is currently closed due to damages from the 2017 earthquake, and is still undergoing reparations.
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| The Cathedral and Plaza de la Paz |
The town has several pedestrian-friendly cobblestoned streets with Real de Guadalupe being the main and most popular one. It's a beautiful site walking the streets with the colorful buildings lining it and the bright papel picado hanging overhead. Despite being somewhat touristy, I loved walking up and down the street. It's lined with some cute cafés, nice restaurants, hip bars, small bookstores and boutique stores.
- Check out the local markets
One thing I love to do when traveling is visit the local markets. I was too busy looking at the beautiful handicrafts at the market, that it escaped me to snap some photos (though I did take a short video). They didn't have anything particularly special or different at the markets aside from amber jewelry which is really popular here, so I didn't buy anything this time around, though I had fun strolling through the markets. The biggest and most popular one is right outside the Templo de Santo Domingo, which also houses a museum that you could check out.
- Climb one of the two churches on a hill (or both!)
On one morning, we made a small trek up to the Iglesia de Guadalupe. It's not too bad of a climb, since walking from Real de Guadalupe starts leading you uphill on a small slope, and before you know it, you're already at the base of the steps.
Unfortunately the roof was closed when we were there so we couldn't go up to see the view. We were rewarded with this decent view of the town, though.
The other church is the Iglesia de San Cristobal, and is located on the western side of town. This one is supposed to be much steeper, so prepare for that.
2. Do a day tour (or two)
We were in San Cristobal for four full days, and we decided to just relax (and eat) in town, and take one day tour. There are many day tours available from San Cristobal, and I decided on the Sumidero Canyon Tour. The day before, we stopped by an agency to book, and the next morning waited at 9:00am to be picked up.Unfortunately, nobody ever showed up. At around 9:30, I went to the agency to inquire (it was right in front of us), and we were told that there was a problem, but they would send over a private car to take us to the boat dock. We waited some more until finally the owner came running over. He apologized and said he couldn't find a car to take us. He rebooked us for the next day, and compensated us with a free tour in the afternoon to two indigenous towns. We had no other plans for the next day, so we agreed.
The tour ended up being really fun. It was a short afternoon tour starting at 3pm and lasting about 3 hours. We were taken to two indigenous villages nearby. The first was Zinacantan where we met with some local women and learned about their religious traditions and the weaving and clothing of the region. They outfitted some group members in some traditional clothing for a wedding.
We also got to try pox, which is their local moonshine. I didn't quite like the normal one, but we tried some flavored ones too -- tamarindo, nance, and guayaba -- which I found delicious.
Afterwards, we went in to the kitchen area and watched a girl make fresh tortillas, and ate it with beans, Chiapa cheese, and some spices.
The second village we visited was San Juan Chamula. The highlight of this town is this church pictures below, which is the only church in this part. It's a very interesting church with a mix of Catholicism and local Mayan traditions. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist (San Juan Bautista) and the only Catholic sacrament that is practiced is baptism. Inside the church there are no pews. Instead the ground is almost all covered with pine leaves and candles, in the perimeter there are statues of several saints with more candles. Interspersed with the candles are offerings, two of which we saw were dead chickens.
Pictures were not allowed inside, so we took the time listening to our guide explain everything and then wandered around the church. It was a really interesting experience, and we were glad for this bonus tour.
The next day we got picked up and were off on our Sumidero Canyon Tour. The tour is available everyday for 350 pesos, and includes a boat tour and a stop at the miradores (view points). On Tuesdays, the miradores are closed, but the boat tour still runs.
From San Cristobal de las Casas were it is cool in the mornings and evenings and warm throughout the day, it was about an hour to the boat dock in Chiapa de Corzo. In this part though it is hot! The sun was bearing down on us, and I suggest putting on some sunblock and bringing a hat (though it will get windy while you are on the boat).
It was a beautiful two hour boat ride through the Sumidero Canyon (one hour each way), and we had a good boat guide telling us all about the flora and fauna of the canyon. It is a deep natural canyon that lies protected in a national park. We saw several birds, some monkeys, and a crocodile, and admired the tall canyon walls as we passed through.
Next we drove about 10 minutes to the town proper of Chiapa de Corzo. We had an hour here and we chose to sit in a small restaurant (with a fan facing us!) and have lunch. After, we walked around the square to take some pictures. It was a cute little town.
The last stops were up to the walls of the canyons to the miradores. There were six of them throughout the park, and we stopped at three. To be honest, we were a bit canyon-ed out at this point, but at the last viewpoint we took some pictures and admired the canyon one last time.
There are many different kinds of day tours to choose from -- lagoons, waterfalls, and other natural parks -- it's just a matter of research and choosing one that suits you.
3. Eat, eat, eat!
After vacationing in Oaxaca last year, we were most excited to go back to Mexico to eat. Much like in Oaxaca, we ate so well, and inexpensively too. There are so many options available, but below are the restaurants we tried. Much like in Oaxaca, we didn't have a bad meal, and ended the trip with very happy tummies.
El Brasileiro (Av Cristóbal Colón 4)
After arriving in San Cristobal on Sunday evening and checking into our hotel, we decided to look for a place nearby to have dinner before resting up after our long day of travel. Even though it wasn't Mexican, we were both in the mood for something meaty, so I agreed when Chris suggested this Brazilian place. It was a great decision because the food was excellent. We ended up eating here 3 times in 5 days! The have a small menu, but they do their food well.
On our first night, we tried the tabla ahumado, which was a board of smoked ribs, lomo, and longaniza served with homemade bread and potato croquettes. The meat had a good smoky flavor, and we easily finished it among the two of us. The second time we went back we wanted to order it again, but it was late and they had ran out, so we tried their burgers instead. They didn't disappoint. They were made with homemade bread, simple veggies, and a thick and juicy patty. We also tried their caipirinhas which were not only delicious, but really strong.
The owner, Jayme, is also a really friendly guy who we got to chat with. If we ever come back to San Cristobal, we will definitely eat here again!
Belil (Maria Adelina Flores 20)
On our first morning, we walked out to explore, but the city center is tiny, so we had pretty much covered a good part quick enough. At around 11:30, we decided to have an early lunch. I had heard about Belil which is a restaurant with Chiapan dishes that supports the local economy and its farmers.
Unfortunately for us, in Mexico lunch time usually starts at around 1pm, so we were presented with their breakfast menu. I ordered the chilaquiles with red sauce, chorizo, Chiapa cheese, and cream, and Chris had a ham sandwich. Both meals were simple and delicious, but I wish we got to try something from their lunch menu.
El Tacoleto (Belisario Dominguez 1)
For one dinner, we popped into one of the numerous taco places around the city. There are must be several good ones, and we were happy with this pick. We tried a taco with Arab-spiced meat, a coleta (similar to a taco but made with a flour tortilla) with mixed meat, tostadas (fried tortillas) topped with marlin and avocado.
Cocoliche (Av Cristóbal Colón 3A)
This was another restaurant I had read up on, and I was really excited to try it. It's a more fusion styled cuisine whose concept is "delicias del mundo, un poquito de cada pais, un poquito de cada pueblo" (delicacies from around the world, a little from each country, a little from each town).
To start off we had some mini rolls with chicken in a sweet chili sauce and the salad was drizzled with a dressing whose taste I couldn't place, but was delicious. Next we had multigrain rice with vegetables, mushroom, chicken and sesame, and a pita wrap with arrachera, melted cheese, tomato, and avocado. I also had a refreshing strawberry banana smoothie with a bit of mezcal!
The dishes were very flavorful, and the portions were huge, and it might have been my favorite meal of the trip.
La Viña de Bacco (Real de Guadalupe 7)
This bar is a popular place with both locals and tourists for their cheap wine. They have a huge variety of wines available starting at MS$22 a glass (about US$1.1)! Each glass of wine also comes with a small tapita (Spain style), and you can order more food too. We went for some afternoon drinks and enjoyed trying some Mexican wine while people watching.
Achiote Cochinita Pibil (Calle Niños Heroes 10)
We found this restaurant just by walking around, and it was a pleasant surprise. It's a small eatery with just a few seats, and served one main thing: cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork). You choose if you want it on a taco, tostada, gringa, etc.
At first we just ordered one gringa and one gordita, because we didn't realize the portions were a bit small. Despite the size though, the quality of the meat was top-notch, and it was still inexpensive and worth the price.
But of course, we ordered more. Chris had another portion each of the gringa and gordita, and I tried the tamale and panucho. To finish off I ordered the bolis de chocolate, which is like frozen hot chocolate.
Those are the few restaurants we got to try, and we can't to be back to try more.
Bonus: Play "Punch Buggy"
Something we noticed on our last trip to Mexico was the abundance of Volkswagen Beetles. At first we thought it was just in Oaxaca (our first stop), but we continued to see some en route to Mexico City. In Mexico City we didn't see as many since the city is huge, but in San Cristobal, it was back to spotting them everywhere. We saw so many different kinds from the the vintage styles to the more modern ones, new ones and old ones in need of repair, bright neon colors and snazzy darker ones too. I snapped a few of the stationary ones we passed, but the ones below are maybe only a fourth of all the ones we saw.
It was a quick and pleasant trip to San Cristobal de las Casas, and a successful visa run too. We kept our expenses low traveling by land, and still ate extremely well, and went on a couple of tours. I wouldn't exactly recommend going out of your way to travel there, but it is a charming town to stop by or to make a visa run to. :)
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