Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Chiapas- Día de los Muertos

At the end of October, just in time for Halloween, we had our final excursion as a group...tooooo CHIAPAS! Finally a change of scenery ;] since the Yucatan doesn't have any mountains...only a couple hills...we left Mérida at midnight to make our way on the longest and uncomfortable bus ride. 8 hours late, we arrived in the archeological site of Palenque, home to the tomb of Pakal, and some pretty cool structures with an amazing view!

After Palenque, we boarded the bus again and made two stops before making our way to base camp: San Cristobal de las Casas. Our first stop was Misol-Ha, a beautiful waterfall, and after that, we went to Agua Azul, which is, i guess, a river in the mountains with the most bluest colored water ever. the reason for it, not sure entirely. But here are some pics!


Another 4 hours, we finally made it to San Cris!!! After a night of much needed sleep, in a big comfy bed, we headed out to San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán for their Día de los Muertos celebrations, which consisted of decorating their family/loved ones graves with beautiful flowers, bread, coca cola, and things that they liked when they were alive. In Chamula, we were able to visit the old church and cemetery to see the process, as well as go to the church in the center to see even more traditions, such as their traditional dress, customs, and practices, like praying and setting up an altar inside of the church for the saint that they worship. For me, there was way too many people inside, so i left and saw the ringing of the church bell as well as dodged questionable fireworks
 Zinacantán was a little bit more peaceful. The town had a cemetery placed on one of the mountains....the scariest part was actually getting to the top, on a one lane road....with trucks and buses coming down while you are driving up! but, the view from the top was worth the almost heart attack. It has to be one of the most beautiful places to be buried, overlooking the town and the mountains.
Back in San Cris, i was able to do some more exploring. I walked to one of the main markets with a couple other girls and did some souvenir shopping...mainly for myself.

On Nov. 2nd, we visited the cemetery in San Cris, which was a lot different from Chamula and Zinacantán. big mausoleums represent families, new and old tombs are mixed in everywhere. While it was another beautiful place, it just didn't have the same charm as the others.

After our morning in San Cris, we went to a village, i believe it was Aguacatenango to see how local pottery is made. I did some more souvenir shopping here for some of the families-...well, because the stuff was beautiful!!!








Our last day in San Cris was dedicated to...guess...SHOPPING!! I had basically done all my shopping the other days, so i went and had some yummy coffee, bought coffee beans, walked, walked some more, checked out one of the churches, walked to the market, did some last minute shopping for things i forgot, and ended my night with a tattoo..yup, that's how things role!



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