Mexico Day 8

Thank you for the birthday wishes and Montezuma commiserations. I had breakfast this morning so hopefully that was not rash. An early start, leaving at 7.45 for our long drive to San Cristobal where we arrived 6 hours later. As we journeyed first northwards the clouds gathered and we had a few drops of rain going through a windy valley with many wind turbines. There were also refugees trekking along the road. They went in small groups of mainly young men but also there were young women and some children as well as a few older women. Apparently they are escaping the poverty of El Salvador and Honduras and trying to get to the promised land, USA. Some were getting picked up by immigration and taken to “centres”. Some get permits to carry on if their destination is USA.

Eventually we reached San Cristobal, having climbed up and around mountains. We felt a bit dizzy as we got off the bus, as we’d come from almost sea level to 2000m. We checked in to a pretty hotel in the old part of town and immediately set out for lunch. I had a margarita as my belated birthday drink. It wasn’t much more pesos than Mr C’s coke.

We had a wander, bracing ourselves against the tide of vendors. We visited another golden church but this time the exterior was stunningly carved with the remainder of some blue, green and terracotta colours. Some of the carvings incorporated Mayan culture as well as RC.

I blipped this in the street here in San Cristobal - a contrast.