To celebrate my last day here I did nothing out of the ordinary. I had a cold chocolate drink in a cafe I only discovered yesterday. A beautiful place, quiet, with original artworks on the walls and gentle classical music in the background (yesterday it was Vivaldi). Then I walked in the big park and later in Polanco on the boulevard Horacio. I forgot my daily money when I first set out and had to walk back to get it which also made me nervous about forgetting my money or passport when I leave tomorrow so I e-mailed a friend who e-mailed me a reminder this evening (thanks again, Linda!) A driver on a cell phone actually stopped for me to cross today. In the park on a bench across from the little island a young couple was affectionately reclining. She seemed pregnant and he gently kissed her stomach. In the lake I saw again the egrets. One is small, a little egret I think and the other is a great egret in full mating plumage. Such beautiful elegant birds and I'm thinking of painting them soon when I get home. I am currently working on a small peacock painting but it's going very slow and I likely won't finish it till I'm at home again. I'm being selective about whom I socialize with here at the hotel because some of the guests seem to think they are a little too socially elevated to talk to me. While I was walking on the boulevard two off leash chihuahas tried to attack a lady's onleash terrier. It could have been funny but these little dogs were vicious, and the poor dog was terrified and the lady was visibly shaken. This is one of many reasons why I believe dog's should always be on leash when in public except in designated zones. Here dog owners are just like the ones in Vancouver, mostly responsible I think but there are some real idiots as well.
I am in San Cristobal de las Casas now. Everything went well getting here, the flight was smooth and on time. I am not far from the Guatemalan border. The airport is tiny and easy to get around. I took a cab for fifty bucks to get here. It is a long drive, over an hour and the scenery is beautiful. The driver didn´t seem very talkative and the windows had dark screening over them so I wasn´t able to take in as much as the scenery as I would have liked. This is a very quaint colonial era town perched in the high hills with narrow streets and even narrower sidewalks and lots of traffic. Fortunately it´s all single lane and there is a pedestrian mall downtown. I am not crazy so far about my hotel. They are doing renovation work there so it is noisy, and right now there is no electricity. There was no water in my room for drinking or brushing my teeth, nor a standard sized bath towel so I had to keep bugging staff. There weren´t any clothes hangers either, till I asked for them. The town looks
interesting and I expect to have fun exploring it and the area. The hotel manager, who is very young (looks just out of high school but he could be older ) seems a little too keen to sell me some guided tours and I´m waiting before I decide anything. There seem to be a lot of great cafes and restaurants here and a strong indigenous presence. The women all wear traditional native dress. My hotel doesn´t have an internet computer either so I
have to use one of the many and fortunately cheap internet cafes here, so I might not be corresponding quite so regularly, or maybe I will. I do not miss the smog or mayhem of Mexico City but I already miss the Red Tree House where they spoil us. There isn´t any breakfast served at this hotel where I am now staying so I will be roughing it a bit. Boy I didn´t know how good I had it.
The countryside in Chiapas is mountainous like Central Ameriica but not quite as green as Costa Rica. Lots of forested mountains surround San Cristobal.
They had to move me to a different hotel. When I returned after dinner at 7 there was still hammering because they are doing renovations. The desk clerk said they´d be finished at 4. the power was also still out in my room, so I lost it. I blew up at them, accused them of abusing their guests, which is quite true by the way, and walked out. When I came back they had already arranged for me to stay at a different hotel (same chain) at no extra cost. The upside is this place has a computer, though you´re only allowed to be on it for fifteen minutes, and a functioning restaurant. The downside is my room is noisy but earplugs block everything out. I can hardly wait to return home. I really think this will be my last trip for a few years. There´s no place like home and in seventeen days that´s where I´ll be. Bye for now.
On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 5:53 PM, Aaron Zacharias <pajarohermoso@yahoo.ca> wrote:
| Today has been going a lot better. They have put me in a quieter and darker room. Only thing is the local roosters wake up and crow as early as 3 am, so earplugs are back in vogue. I had a sumptuous but pricy breakfast in the hotel dining room, around 15 dollars canadian including tip so I will not be paying for any guided tours on this trip and I´m sure the greedy hotel manager will get over it. I went walking as far as I could this morning till a cab driver offered me a lift taking me to the Huitepec cloud forest reserve just less than 3 miles outside of town. It was great, but what a climb. I´ve never done, and probably never will, do the Grouse Grind, but this must be something similar. I was all alone in the forest for two hours except for two Swedes and a Canadian I encountered from time to time. I took the combi back into town, which is a van converted into a shuttle bus and very crowded. I wandered again through the town and climbed nearly a hundred steps to get into a beautiful white and gold church on top of the hill. The interior is very beautiful but with a couple of bizarre touches. Over and behind the high altar are three concentric neon squares, and yes I said neon, in red green and white surrounding an image of the Virgin of Guadelupe whom as some of you know is an image of the Virgin Mary as she appeared to the indigenous people of Mexico in the sixteenth century. In a chapel off to the side of the church dedicated to the Virgin were keeling an indigenous family and the woman was lamenting loudly in her prayers to the Virgin. Outside on the steps I stopped to chat in Spanish with an elderly man who had been struggling up the steps with the help of his cane. He offered me a warm welcome to San Cristobal. A bit earlier in a tea house a two year old child came over to say hi to me and seemed really fascinated by the peacock feather I use as a book mark. Back on the hundred steps leading up to the church I sat on a bench on the way down. Then as Isaw an older couple appearing quite winded as they were struggling up the steps I invited them to sit with me. they are from Vera Cruz and very affable and engaging. They seemed intrigued that I am single and without children and that I am an anglican but the whole tone of the visit was very warm and friendly. I stopped in a cafe and had two cheese croissants and a cup of hot chocolate for dinner, since at breakfast here at the hotel they fed me a salad with my omelette as well as a huge fruit salad so today I am eating in reverse. I´m enjoying getting to know and exploring this town as well as meeting different and interesting people. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment