San Juan chamula
I'll be honest, this is not one of the best trips to take in San Cristobal de las Casas but if you have the time available, it is worth doing but I wouldn't plan ahead for it. Not because of the normal reason I have for not going through the online sites, but for the fact it is not a very popular trip. If the tour groups don't get filled up they will cancel the trip. I took this tour on a Saturday, which should be their busiest day day but I ended up taking this trip just with a guide in a car and one other person. If she didn't book it, I highly doubt the tour would have happened. But if you got the time while your there, stop in to a tour office and see if you can get it booked for the next day. That way you will know if it already has some people lined up to go.
Chamula is interesting because it is an autonomous Tzotzil Mayan township. They have their own laws and rules and the Mexican police don't have authority there. Most of the women in town wear the colorful Mayan dresses and the men wear black.
Our tour started here at these crosses. The guide had a thermos full of some Mayan tea we got to taste and explained some of the history of the Spanish rule, then delved into the religion and what certain symbols meant.
The guide on our tour spoke English but not very well. It was kind of funny because the other passenger on the tour was from Israel and while she did speak English it was her second language and she couldn't understand a word he said. English is my only language but I had to "translate" the guide's English into "my English" which she could understand.
These are Mayan crosses and they were all over the area. These will ALWAYS be on some sort of stand of pedestal unlike the traditional Christian crosses that can be put directly into the earth
Templo de San Juan. Pictures are not allowed on the inside and this rule is heavily enforced
Cementerio San Juan Chamula, just few blocks from the church
We went into the church and it was kinda wild. Pictures weren't allowed. They would take your camera and you'd spend a night in jail, but not to worry, I'll use my words and paint you a picture better than any phone could take.
The church is almost five hundred years and I don't see how it hasn't burned to the ground. I say that because there were hundreds of candles being burned directly on the ground. Also on the ground is tons of pine needles laid out like carpeting. There were so many candles it was noticeably hotter than outside. There also weren't any pews in the church. Families just gathered at any open area and lit candles. It wasn't like solemn prayer or anything. It was quite loud inside. Also they had special bags almost like purses designed to carry a chicken. They pray over a sick loved and and kind hover the chicken around their whole body while choking it. Supposedly to move the sickness from the relative to a chicken. They didn't use a priest or anything like that, just another family member. I get different stuff for different cultures but I'm not really a fan of it when it involves killing animals.
Then a band came in and everyone broke out bottles of some kind of liquor and started passing shots around. At least I think it was liquor, it tasted like kerosene. They also passed out Cokes to the kids.
The tortillas and coffee amazing
After that we went to an actual home and they family made us tortillas and served us coffee. They explained how they made it.
Afterwards they gave us a demonstration of the loom which was pretty neat watching her do it.
They also had a lot of "homemade" stuff for sale. I use the quotations because while I don't doubt their skills using the loom, I was kind of dubious that they made everything they had for sale.
After that we walked through the market a little bit. I love all of the Latin America mercados but don't go on the trip expecting much from that. The one is San Cristobal is much bigger and better.
When left around 9AM and were back in San Cristobal by 1PM. The guide sold coffee out of the trunk of his car. I didn't buy any but gave him a tip of 50 pesos
This demonstration was really impressive. The work and skill that goes into just setting this rig up. One side was tied to a pole and the was attached to a belt around her waist to keep it taut and leave her hands free
This appeared to be the main room in the home. The front area which would be the living room was a shop and the back room is where the tortilla demonstration was
And that is really it for San Juan Chamula. The only reason I wouldn't recommend going on the tour is if you just simply don't have the time in your trip. Unlike a couple other tours, it's really close so you don't have to spend hours in a vehicle, it's less than $20 and you're back by lunch. Click below to check out some of the other tours.
