Domingo 24 Julio

Hola que tal ?

Early waking up, there was music in the street at 7am, am my alram was about to ring one hour later. Iris and Amy left for the Cañon, Charlotte (another french girl) was still asleep, Helene left for Palenque and I decided to left for Chamula (indigene village in the valley).

The indigenes of Chamula are really private, I was able to take some pictures of them only from their back. The men and women were wearing beast fur, even if it was really hot. The women were also wearing colorful tops. The other pictures are from the policemen of the town.

I put my bag in the reception of the hostel, took my breakfast in a french bakery !! (croissants and pains au chocolat! ) Met Iris and Amy waiting for the bus. At 9am I left to find the collectivos for Chamula. Thanks to the inhabitants I found one! 20 minutes later I was in Chamula.

To visit the church in Chamula you have to go to the tourism office, and pay a right to entrance: Once inside you are not allowed to take any photos. From the outside it's a regular church, white and blue, at the end of a big place, next to the market. Inside it's another story, the priest is only allowed to go inside once a year to baptise the children. There is no bench, not really an altar, statues in boxes everywhere on both sides, and in the middle the ground is covered by branches and at some places they had been put aside to "glu" candle on the floor, plenty of little candles, really thin and colorful. It was really impressive.

I wandered a bit on the big market, the people here are really strange, I read that you need to ask to take pictures, so I did and everytime they told me to give them 50 pesos, which was kind of ridiculous, especially because i only wanted to take what they were selling and not them. So in the end I did some, in their back.

 

 

Once back in San Cristobal, I had some time before my bus, so I went in an internet cafe. After an hour and a half, I went back to the hostel to pick up my bag, On the way to the station, I stopped in the restaurant Jungle, hate some quequas. 

At the station I met a really nice Californian girl, Monica, and by chance she is the only "white" and she is sitted next to me. We had a nice chat on the way to Palenque, we also sleept a lot. Once in Palenque it was already night time, we took a taxi to go to the hostel I booked with Stephanie. Those idiots made a wrong reservation... so we had to take another room. 

With Monica, we left the luggage and after a shower we went for a walk and to find a place to eat. She also booked a trip for tomorrow to do : the ruines, Misol-Ha and Agua Azul in one day. After diner, we went on the Zocalo to listen to music and hate a crepe, apparently a dutch thing with nutella and cheese (I asked without the cheese !!).

Back to the hostel around 10.30pm, exhausted, and sleep !

Hasta mañana

Caro

Sábado 23 Julio

Hola !

Je me suis reveillee vers 8h, mais j'ai quand meme trainasse au lit jusqu'a 10h, le temps que les autres se reveillent pour que je puisse prendre ma douche sans les reveiller. J'ai donc pris ma douche, lave mes cheveux. Ensuite j'ai discute avec les filles Iris et Amy, des projets qu'elles avaient pour la journee. Elles vont aller visiter une grotte avec les garcons et ont rdv a 12h au zocalo.

Nous sommes donc descendues en ville pour prendre un petit dejeuner, en arrivant hier j'avais remarque un marche couvert qui se nommait "Mercado de dulces y artesanias", on y a achete des petites douceurs sucrees !! Tout en mangeant nous avons marche dans la ville, autour des eglises... Les garcons leur ont pose un lapin (car gueule de bois severe !!) du coup les filles decide de visiter la ville avec moi.

On decide d'aller voir l'eglise en haut d'un colline au bout de notre rue. Arrive en haut qu'elle surprise il y avait un marriage, tout le monde etait sur le parvis pour les photos. Dress-code : robe bleue et chaussures argentees, par contre j'ai etait tres surprise par le fait que personne ne souriait. La petite eglise etait toute belle, avec des petales de roses blanches encore sur le sol.

Ensuite en revenant sur le centre, nous nous sommes pose dans un petit resto pas tape a l'oeil, ou l'on a bien mange, les filles des hamburgers et moi des quequas. Il s'est mis a pleuvoir des trombes d'eau puis apres le dejeuner plus rien. Nous sommes ensuite allees a l'eglise Santo Domingo et son marche qui l'entoure. Le petit marche est tres sympa et c'est le meilleur endroit pour trouver des jolis bracelets d'ambre a prix abordable.

Nous sommes rentrees dans Santo Domingo par le cote, nous avons trouve l'eglise tres hostere, pourtant les murs sont recouverts d'or, mais il y a tellement peu de lumiere qui rentre a l'interieur que c'est tres sombre... Un peu decu par ce que l'on voit je decide de regarder ce que dit mon livre, apparament la facade est magnifique, il faut absolument la voir... comme nous sommes sur place on se dit que cela ne coute rien, mais nous etions assez peu emballe. Une fois sortie, grosse surprise, la facade est en effet WAHOUUUU (les photos parlent plus). 

En revenant au centre nous sommes allees sous la grande tente qui est remplie de stand vendant des bijoux en Ambre et aussi en argent. Je me suis fait plaisir, boucles d'oreilles et bracelet. 

Une fois de retour a l'auberge on fait la connaissance de Helene, une francaise qui vient de passer 1 an au canada. Ne connaissant personne ici on a decider de l'embarquer avec nous pour un soiree comme celle d'hier. Nous avons d'abord mange dans la rue, je leur ai fait decouvrir le Tamales de Chipilin, puis on a retrouve les garcons au bar Revolution.

 

Apres le bar, nous avons essaye d'aller en boite, mais n'ayant pas nos passeport sur nous ils n'ont pas voulu nous laisser entrer, on en a essayer une autre, on a pu rentrer mais je n'ai pas du tout aime l'ambiance Reggae, du coup j'ai dit au revoir a tout le monde et je suis partie me coucher. Iris est rentree avec moi et puis dans le dortoir on a retrouve Helene, avec qui on a pas mal parle.

Dodo 2.30... fatiguee

Buenas noches

Caro

PS : Je suis au Mexique depuis 4 semaines ! (4/9)

Viernes 22 Julio

Hola que tal Amigos

I slept really deeply  I woke up at 7am and heard someone snoring that must be Pedro's dad who arrived during the night. I did not hear him, I was sleeping too deeply. Until 9.30am I kept waking up and falling asleep again.

Then when Noel (Pedro's dad) got up I did too, I ate a bread and drunk fresh water. We talked for a while, he only speaks spanish so it was challenging. I show him pictures of my family, he talked about his. It was nice.

Around 10.30 I left the house and took the bus number 11, it is a "collectivo" = small bus, like a van, to go to the center of Tuxla. That kind of transport is funny, everyone goes in and out on demand. I stopped in the center and tried to find the zocalo and asked for the bus to Chiapa de Corzo. I had a hard time finding it, but people are really friendly !

Once in Chiapa de Corzo, I went near the water and find a place to buy my ticket for a tour on a boat and see the Cañon El Sumidero. I was with a group, a bunch of bikers from Mexico City. They were wearing leather pants and jackets and it was so hot !!! I don't know how they could manage... With my little spanish and their little english, I was able to understand that they were on vacation and were travelling from Mexico to Cancun on motorbikes. They offered me a ride, I nicely declined the offer.

In the boat with them we had so much fun, it was brilliant ! They were also quite obsessed with the fact that I was french, and were taking a lot of pictures of me. Like I was something rare ! In the cañon, I saw a cascade, lots of birds, and CROCODILES !

After 2 hours, I went back in Tuxla, tried to find again the bus 11. Some people helped me, it was really nice of them trying to understand my spanish, and then help me to find the area where the bus stop. Finally we found it, it arrived safely in Pedro's place and his dad was still here, watching TV. I finished packing and Noel drove me to the station to get an Omnibus for San Cristobal.

From Tuxla to San Cristobal it took only 1 hour but in the moutain, so I sat in front. Luckily, I fall asleep after 15 min, and woke up when we were arriving in the city. So I arived in San Critobal around 6.40pm. When I left the omnibus station a guy came towards me and asked : "Caroline ?" without thinking I said yes, and then he told me who he was, he is a guy from CS (couch surfing) that emailed me yesterday to talk to me about a party with others CSers in his hotel, so he gave me a map, and invited me to join them tonight if I wasn't too tired!

They I decided to walk to the hostel, I booked in advance, because according to the plan it wasn't that far....yeah.... the blocks are bigger than any other towns so it took me quite a while: Which was hard with the sun and the massive bag, and my flip-flop on the slippery floor !! I arrived in the hostel Los Camellos around 7pm, the guy at the reception was nice, he gave me the key, and show me my dorm.

Two girls were already in the dorm, 2 dutch girls : Amy and Iris, they are really nice, we became friends, and they invited to join them tonight, they were meeting other friends and some of them Mexicains. Because it was my first hostel they explain me how things were working. and then around 9pm we were in the Zocalo to meet their friends.

They were late so we decided to visit a bit by ourselves. On the main square in front of the church there is a huge tent with a lot of stalls which sells amber. We also went inside the church, but it was night time, so we couldn't really see something. Finally we met the guys at the bar called "revolucion", I hate a tacos called : Beastie, it was quite good, but I couldn't finish, too big.

More the night was going by, the more we were around the table, plenty different nationalities : Mexican, Dutch, Austrian, French (me)... it was really really nice !! We were talking mainly in English but also a tiny bit in Spanish and 2 Mexicans wanted to practice their french so it as really fun !

I finally succeeded in texting Julio, the other guy from CS, to whom I was suppose to sleep at first, before I changed my mind. So at first he gave me a weird number so it wasn't working but finally we managed to get in touch, and he joined us around midnight with the guy I meet this evening at the omnibus station, it was nice. Then the others left to go dancing, I was too tired so I stayed a bit with Julio and then I went back to the hostel, exhausted.

1.40am, I arrived in my bed, so tired but really happy about my day, and my new friends !

Buenas Noches !

Caro

Jueves 21 Julio

Hola Amigos

Je suis arrivee saine et sauve a Tuxla Guiterrez dans le Chiapas, et en plus avec 1h d'avance, du coup je suis arrivee au ternimal a 5h du matin. Et j'avais rendez-vous avec Pedro a 9h au zoo. Du coup j'ai comate jusqu'a 8h30 dans le terminal.

Ensuite j'ai pris un taxi pour me rendre au zoo. La avec un peu de difficulte j'ai retrouve Pedro. Nous avons un peu discute puis je suis allee faire le tour du zoo avec mon petit sac a dos et surtout mon appareil photo. Le zoo vaut vraiment le coup. C'est une reserve des animaux du chiapas et on les voient bien !

Une fois mon tour termine, j'ai rejoint Pedro et comme c'etait l'heure de sa pause dejeuner nous avons mange ensemble avec son fils. Ensuite nous sommes retournes dans la zone des employes, dans l'aile des veterinaires. J'ai vu un jaguar se faire examiner pour voir si elle n'etait pas enceinte (malheureusement non). Il y avait aussi deux nouveaux arrivants un poussin et un bebe felins (je ne suis pas sur de quelle race).



Ensuite j'ai recupere mon gros sac a dos et Pedro nous a ramener chez lui (nous = son fils, Sebastien et moi). Sebastien regarde la tele et joue a la Xbox pendant que je surfe sur le net. J'ai aussi pris une petite douche car il fait une chaleur torride.....

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Ensuite Pedro et son fils sont allees a un cours de natation, moi je suis restee chez eux pour me reposer. Il y a eu une grosse tempete de plus, avec eclairs et tonerres, juste au dessus de la maison (du moins c'est l'impression que j'avais car Pedro habite dans la montagne...). La tele, internet et les lumieres s'eteignaient et se rallumaient tout le temps, ca faisait tres peur !!!

Quand ils sont revenus, on est parti en voiture, en haut d'une montagne, pour voir la vue sur toute la ville de Tuxla, c'est vachement grand !! Puis nous avons repris la voiture pour aller deposer un billet  dans un centre commercial (la je me sentais a l'aise meme si les seules enseignes que je connaissais etait : C&A et Swarovski!!). Ensuite on a traverse la ville ou Pedro m'a a peu pres montrer les lieux pour les bus demain matin et ensuite on est alle acheter des TAMALES de CHIPILIN (typique du chiapas, trop bon : poulet, fromage et herbes).

Nous sommes rentres a la maison, on a diner puis vers 9h15 le taxi est venu les chercher car ils partent ce soir pour Oaxaca (c'est un comble !!!). Je me suis coucher vers 22h30, epuisee.

Buenas tardes

Caro