Day 312 – San Cristobal de las Casas

Pine Leaves and chickens at Church

Today we woke up a bit late. Therefore we went back to YIK cafe for brunch, as we had enjoyed dinner there last night.

We then walked to the Collectivo Station for the town of Chamula. The station is marked as “Terminal de Colectivo para Chamula” on MAP.ME or “Colectivo San Juan Chamula” on Google Maps . At the station, we were told that the half full van was for Chamula. Despite not being full, the van left as soon as we got settled. It was 12.53pm. 

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The van’s condition (and the entire fleet from what we saw) was surprisingly good. The van appeared new and super clean. As the van was driving through the streets of San Cristobal, locals kept hailing it and getting on board. 

Iglesia de San Juan Chamula

The drive to Chamula only took 30 minutes. Once we disembarked, we paid the driver 18 MXN / $1.37 AUD per person. We were dropped off at Central Park (Parque Central), which is very close to the church. There were a few stalls in the park. There is meant to be a large market on Sundays.

To the left of the church, is a ticket booth for tourists. As we bought the tickets, the staff member told us, that photos are not permitted inside the church. As a rule of thumb, photos of people shouldn’t be performed in Chamula. Apparently the people believe that a photo is taking a part of their soul. The ticket costs 25 MXN / $1.90 AUD per person. 

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There is a small garden at the rear of the church. It has English descriptions, which is rare.

Inside the church there was pine tree leaves covering around 90% of the church, which gave off a nice forest smell. Several families bought chickens in cardboard boxes but we didn’t see anyone sacrificing them. From what we were told, the church is Catholic, but the locals have kept some of their pre Spanish culture, which is blended in this church. 

It was interesting to just sit along the side of the church and watch the worshippers. There are no pews in the church. People go directly on the floor and start lighting lots of candles as they perform prayers. We saw a few individual people, but most were sitting in groups.

The side of the church is decorated with pictures of saints. Below the saints are flowers and tables full of candles. This gives the church a super unique character.

We spent an hour at the church before walking back to the Central Park. Once again, the waiting collectivo left before it was full. This van appeared to be newer than the ride here. For such a small town, the process of getting here and back again is super easy. 

Back in San Cristobal

As we got back into town, it began to rain again. The entire trip to Iglesia de San Juan Chamula, only took us around 2 hours. Back at the Airbnb, Casa Flor De Vida, we had to change rooms. We were pleasantly surprised, as the new room, had a marginally nicer bathroom.

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The rest of the day involved grocery shopping and cooking.