THIS is San Cristobal

 

Mexico, the land of lively people, jaw-dropping oceans, cenotes, magnificent ruins from ancient civilizations, and some of the best damn incredible food in the whole world.

 

Whenever I got asked what my favorite place in Mexico was, to me there were just too many really cool places to possibly pick one from. That was what I thought until a few months ago. During my tenth and longest backpacking trip to Mexico yet, I came across the magical San Cristobal de las casas, which became my favorite place in all of Mexico. But while everyone who has been to this town can't get enough of it, people who haven't been there often don't even know what it is.

 

Which brings me to why I'm here

1)to hopefully give this town a little more of the recognition that it deeply deserves and

2) to give you what you need to start exploring this place the right way.

 

THIS is San Cristobal this gorgeous colonial city is in the highlands of the state of Chiapas and is surrounded by mountains and pine forests it's no longer the capital city of the state and it's not the biggest one either but with its cobbled streets and picturesque architecture, it's arguably still the cultural capital of Chiapas.

 

let's start with the first place worth checking out and the one that's hardest to miss. Next to the city's main plaza or zocalo is the main cathedral, the most iconic symbol of the city. Built in the 16th century and then renovated again in the 18th century, it's influenced by baroque and Moorish architecture and also has indigenous influences.

 

The yellow facade is prettiest around sunset time. if you're lucky like me you might get to see these birds putting on a show at that time. Also pay attention to Plaza de la Paz, the other Plaza instead of zocalo that's directly in front of the cathedral. It's a gathering place for locals and is always full of life, even in the winter when the temperatures go down to 6 degrees Celsius or 44 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you who are Americans.

 

Right next to the cathedral is the busy walking Street of Veinte de Novembre or 20th November. It's one of the busier streets in town and you'll see lots of locals and visitors walking under the colorful string flags the artisan markets are the heart of San Cristobal. The indigenous textile makers and artists are one of the main reasons the city is so popular with tourists today. They're full of colorful handicrafts traditional clothes, blankets and handmade jewelry. I got this hat that I really love and it helped save my ears from frostbites during that volcano hike.

 

One item to specially look out for is amber a gem that's highly valued by indigenous people and believed by a lot of people to have mystical powers Outside one of san cristobal's most beautiful churches, the Iglesia de santo domingo, is a daily artisan market that sells stuff from all over the region Keep in mind that san cristobal is one of the more deeply rooted indigenous areas in mexico which is why locals  have preserved many pre-colonization customs from the region.

 

As my friend Carlos, proud resident and ambassador of the town, put it: people here are not dressing up in costumes to earn money from tourists like people do in Cancun. This is the real deal. What you see here are the remnants of the great.

 

Mayan civilization in this part of the world. Now back to the yellow church I mentioned a minute ago. Iglesia de santo domingo is a former dominican monastery and was built late in the 16th century One of the most important baroque architecture works in the region, its facade is considered as one of the most rich representation of the colonial Baroque style in all of Latin America and not just in Mexico. Pay close attention to the facade and you'll see mermaids and indigenous angels in there Staying on the topic of churches, just a 5-minute walk away there's also the Iglesia del Cerrillo, which dates back from the 17th century. The architecture here is a little bit different from the other churches because of the constant modifications that it had to go through.

 

Over the years and because of earthquakes and a bunch of other things The plaza outside is an absolute goldmine for sunset photos. We found some kids playing with firecrackers when we were there.Now for all of you coffee lovers, make sure you check out this place called Kukulpan. You can get coffee that is coming in directly from Mayan reservations, which can be a little bit tricky to find over here. While you're going around I would also recommend taking a moment to take in the street graffiti of the town.

 

San Cristobal is especially noted for graffiti with some heavy indigenous influences. By the way please practice common sense safety in the city in general, and especially in this area. This is not the place to be walking around at night by yourself with an expensive camera. Now let's talk about Pox. Pox is a liqueur usually used for ceremonial purposes by the Mayans of Mexico and Central America. It's made of corn, sugarcane and wheat.

 

Besides for its religious significance, it's also somewhat of a popular alcoholic drink in Chiapas. So I tried a Pox tasting ceremony in this place called La Espirituosa. We tried three types of pox. First one was Pox Naturale which is 70% corn and this one was the strongest one. This had about 45% alcohol. The next one we tried was Pox de Jamaica/hibiscus and this one was 18% so a lot more palatable and the third one we tried, which I believe was called Pox de cacao, was the best one. This was 18% and chocolate flavored and it just tasted too good.

 

 You might have heard me mention this in my other write from the region but Mayans used to drink chocolate beverages during religious ceremonies and they called it the drink of the gods. So if you're not a fan of alcohol you can just get some organic chocolate from Chiapas Interestingly they had this special Mayan tobacco there too. So I'm not advocating for smoking but I do smoke sometimes when I drink and I tried rolling a cigarette with that tobacco and that was harsh.

 

Another thing that I strongly recommend doing is the free walking tour in the evenings. If you didn't know, the region of Chiapas has been embroiled in this conflict for the last couple of decades between certain federal branches of the government and this indigenous guerrilla force is called Zapatista who believe they're being oppressed by the government Tensions aren't nearly as high right now as they were during the Zapatista uprising of 1994 but it's hard to really understand the region or its people without understanding the reasons behind this conflict and how it's affected regular folks for the last couple of decades.

 

I would recommend reading books on it but if you're short on time, the free walking tour every evening is a good place to get an introduction. Although it's always important to fact-check claims made by any individual because of course people have their own biases when they tell a story. If you're not sold, the walking tour also comes with the goodest of dogs called Fido and you can play with him the whole way and pick him up.

 

So the next on the list is Sumidero canyon. This one isn't exactly in San Cristobal but you have to go here. I was personally debating why I was waking up for this before I went there and then 10 minutes into the first boat ride, I started seeing crocodiles and monkeys and was mind blown.

 

I mean just take a look at this stuff. I'm gonna shut up and just let you be the judge. This little moment that I captured right here was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in Mexico and there are a lot of really really cool things that I've seen in Mexico so the bar for that is pretty damn high. So that's all I have for San Cristobal for you guys.

Thank You…