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1 <!doctype html> 2 <html lang="en"> 3 <head> 4 <meta charset="utf-8"> 5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> 6 <title>San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México - Chris Bracken</title> 7 <link href="/css/site.css" rel="stylesheet"> 8 <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png"> 9 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon/favicon-32x32.png"> 10 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon/favicon-16x16.png"> 11 <link rel="manifest" href="/favicon/site.webmanifest"> 12 <link rel="mask-icon" href="/favicon/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#140f42"> 13 <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon/favicon.ico"> 14 <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#603cba"> 15 <meta name="msapplication-config" content="/favicon/browserconfig.xml"> 16 <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> 17 </head> 18 <body> 19 <header id="header"> 20 <div class="site-title"> 21 <h1><a href="/">Chris Bracken</a></h1> 22 </div> 23 24 <nav class="site-navbar"> 25 <ul id="menu" class="menu"> 26 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/">Home</a></li> 27 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/about/">About</a></li> 28 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/code/">Code</a></li> 29 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" rel="me"href="https://bsd.network/@cbracken">Fediverse</a></li> 30 </ul> 31 </nav> 32 </header> 33 <main id="main"> 34 <article> 35 <h2 class="post-title"><a href="https://chris.bracken.jp/2001/12/san-cristobal-de-las-casas-chiapas-mexico/">San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México</a></h2> 36 21 December 2001 37 <p>San Cristóbal is, without question, one of the most beautiful towns in Mexico. 38 It’s also the ideal temperature for visiting Canadians, with the temperature 39 hovering around 10 °C, and the humidity close to 100% during the daytime in 40 winter. It’s cold, damp and cloudy. After months of scorching heat and 41 humidity, I was in heaven. San Cristóbal makes an ideal base from which to do 42 day-trips to the surrounding villages of San Juan Chamula and 43 Zinacantán—indigenous villages comprising the Tzotzil and Tzeltal indigenous 44 groups respectively.</p> 45 <figure><img src="/post/2001-12-21-plaza.jpg" 46 alt="The bright yellow façade of a catheral faces the main plaza in San Cristóbal de las Casas. Pedestrials mill about the square in groups."> 47 </figure> 48 49 <p>In town, we met a law student named Luís who took a group of us to the 50 villages. In San Juan Chamula, we first visited the shaman’s hut for the 51 village, where we learned about the mix of Catholicism and traditional beliefs 52 practised in the village. We then continued on to the village church which was 53 probably the highlight of the visit. Seeing the mix of beliefs being practised 54 there was incredible: everything from prayers to the Catholic saints to burning 55 incense to chicken sacrifices and ceremonial purgings. Photography isn’t 56 allowed in the church and out of respect to the Chamulans, we won’t describe 57 everything in detail on the web, but suffice to say that it was an incredibly 58 worthwhile visit.</p> 59 <p>Zinacantán is only a few kilometres away, but the villagers speak an entirely 60 different language, Tzeltal. Here, the church is much more traditional, 61 although most villagers still maintain strong ties to traditional indigenous 62 beliefs, such as worshipping the Earth Lord and placing a strong emphasis on 63 the interpretation of dreams. For a more detailed look at the beliefs and 64 culture of the people of Zinacantán, we’d suggest <em>Dreams and Stories from the 65 People of the Bat</em> by Robert Laughlin. This book is a collection of dreams and 66 their interpretations as told by the villagers of Zinacantán, as well as a 67 series of short stories passed from generation to generation in the village.</p> 68 <p>The town also produces many traditional handicrafts typical of Chiapas: 69 blankets, clothing, dolls, etc. The villagers take these to San Cristóbal to 70 sell them at the markets and on the street. The textiles are all made from 71 hand, from the thread, to hand-weaving and embroidering. Typically, a 72 medium-sized blanket takes two to three weeks to produce.</p> 73 <figure><img src="/post/2001-12-21-beans.jpg" 74 alt="Dozens of varieties of dried beans in many colours arrayed for sale in bins and large sacks for sale at the market"> 75 </figure> 76 77 <p>Back in San Cristóbal, we spent a few days visiting the markets and wandering 78 around town trying out the local food before heading back north for Palenque 79 again. On our way out of town we noticed a small shanty-town suburb in a gravel 80 pit. On a big yellow arch, bold black letters declared the name of the colonia: 81 <em>Sal Si Puedes</em>, ‘Get Out If You Can’. Just past this is the massive military 82 encampment that has been in place since 1994 when the EZLN (Zapatista 83 Liberation Army) overthrew and occupied the town before being driven out by 84 reinforcements sent in, causing a bloodbath. There is a lot less tension now 85 than there was then, but the Zapatistas still have incredibly high support in 86 the villages just outside of town. The Mexican government under Vincente Fox 87 has been much more responsive to indigenous peoples than previous governments 88 have been, although in recent months this seems to be less and less the case. 89 There’s still a lot of work to do before the indigenous groups in Mexico are 90 able to live in conditions similar to the rest of the population. Most people 91 in the villages still lack food, clothing and (non-dirt) floors in their 92 houses, let alone running water and electricity. And although Chiapas produces 93 more electricity than any other state, less than half the population has 94 electricity in its home.</p> 95 </article> 96 </main> 97 98 <footer id="footer"> 99 <div class="copyright"> 100 <span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"> 101 The content of this site by 102 <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://chris.bracken.jp/about"><span rel="cc:attributionName">Chris Bracken</span></a> 103 is 104 <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0">CC BY 4.0</a>. 105 </span> 106 </div> 107 </footer> 108 </body> 109 </html>