The Last Three Days

It is no longer March, and we are no longer in San Cristobal.  We arrived home just after midnight this morning, April 1st.  We are glad to be back home; and, we are sad not to be in our Casa Rosada; and, that is as it should be.  We had a wonderful time in our month in Mexico.  Not everything was perfect; but, all in all it was more than we expected.  Certainly, our worry about how to fill all the days we would be there turned out to be unwarranted.  There were places we never got to and things still left undone.  Sara never did get to her Spanish classes.  I didn't get to sit in the plaza and talk to other old guys enough.

Saturday, our last full day in San Cristobal, was spent doing some final shopping in the crafts market and sitting in the plaza just trying to absorb more of the feeling of being there.  We sat there in the afternoon for a while and again in the evening after dinner.  In the afternoon, as we sat there, some of the guys from the "tuna" singing group passed by again in costume on their way to sing in a restaurant.  I called to them, asking where they would be playing that evening.  They came over, told us and then asked where we were from.  I told them and they welcomed us to their city and said they would like to sing for us.  So, on that last afternoon, we got a personal serenade.  How perfect!

I took Sara to that restaurant in the posh hotel I discovered earlier in the week for dinner Saturday evening.  It was outstanding.  It was "new Mexican cuisine," traditional ingredients and dishes prepared in original ways.  The food and the presentation were both at a very high level.  After dinner we sat in the plaza for the last time.  Again, there was a concert, this time a popular trio singing typical Mexican ballads in a fundraiser for the Cruz Roja de Mexico.  There was some kind of free entertainment nearly every night we were there.

Our flight from Tuxtla Gutierrez to Mexico City Sunday was not until late in the afternoon, so I arranged for our driver to take us to the rim of the Sumidero Canyon on the way to the airport.  The Canon del Sumidero is a huge gash through the mountains outside Tuxtla Gutierrez cut by the Grijalva River.  It is deep and impressive.  Its image is represented on the state seal of Chiapas.  There are boat rides through it; but, we had to settle for views from the rim, pretty cool in any case.

We spent our last night at the Fiesta Inn near the Mexico City airport.  Our flight home departed at two in the afternoon, Monday the 31st.  I decided that we should take the subway downtown to have brunch at the original Sanborn's in the colonial House of Tiles in the old historic heart of Mexico City.  It is a beautiful old Spanish Colonial building across the street from the Alemeda and the Bellas Artes performing arts center.  Our breakfast there was a fitting end to our month.  However, the Metro ride getting there during the rush hour commute was rather harrowing.  We were jammed in a mass of humanity.  It literally was difficult to breath, we were so smashed together on part of the ride.  We chose to take a taxi back to the hotel.

Our ride did not start out crowded; but, wow, did that change!

Our month is done, and the question we ask ourselves is, would we do it again?  Knowing what we know now, would we go ahead and do it?  Yes.  Will we repeat it for a month again, either in San Cristobal or in another city in Mexico?  Maybe.  I certainly would.  Sara, probably for a shorter period of time, perhaps for two weeks instead of four.  She is a person who has a harder time "not doing anything".  She would have liked to have had her sewing machine with her.  There certainly were enough fabric shops around.  With hindsight, we could not have chosen a better place than San Cristobal.  It was perfect.  Our location in the town was great, also.  The casita was probably a little more "rustic" than we might have wanted; but, that was part of its charm.  Next time we will opt for something a little more modern.

Our owner's sons, Sebastian and Damian, our
onsite landlords.  Great guys.

Damian is a sculptor.  I was impressed.

All in all, we loved our month in Mexico.  I so appreciate Sara's support and encouragement in doing this.  It was a great time to be together, which was the most important thing of all.

The Sophisticated San Cristobal

As Sara has written, our casita is not the most luxurious.  In our daily visits to the market we are not rubbing shoulders with the upper crust.  Our visits to Chamula and Zinacantan in combis, with the other passengers speaking tzotzil, are not the way most tourists get to those towns.  Cooking our meals at home is not how most visitors here eat.  But, there is another way.

I would be doing San Cristobal a great injustice if I did not share some of the sophistication of this beautiful city.  San Cristobal has a strong connection to the wider world and there is a significant ex-pat community here.  There are also local families with roots going back to Spanish Colonial times that have made great cultural contributions to the city.

Walking through the streets in the center of town, you can never tell what might be behind the unassuming, centuries-old adobe walls.  When Sara thought she might take a Spanish class, our landlord suggested we go to Instituto Jovel.  When we arrived at the address we walked through the door into a beautiful patio completely hidden from the street.

While not taking the Spanish lessons, we did sign up for an afternoon cooking class, just Sara and me.  When Irma, the wonderful cooking teacher, took us to the classroom on another old building on a different street, we were amazed at the beautifully-remodeled facilities inside.  The German woman who owns and runs the language school had purchased the home and was remodeling it into three rental units and the cooking school.  Sara said if we come back to San Cristobal, this is where we will stay.  An interesting side note is that this had been the home of Marcey Jacobson, the American photographer  who move to San Cristobal in the 1950's and died there at the age of 97 in 2009.  Her photographic works were published by the University of California.

Our cooking class was in the kitchen of one of the rental units.  Below is the cooking-school kitchen soon to be completed.

This morning, we visited the Casa de la Ciudad.  It is city-owned venue for seminars and conferences, and has gallery display space as well.  The building itself was originally a private home; in 1915 it was converted by its owner into a normal school.  The interior has been restored, and is stunning.  There currently is a display of modern fantasy art from around the world, along with a permanent collection of some of Marcey Jacobson's work.  This weekend, also, there is a conference of social scientists from universities throughout the country.  Hardly what comes to mind when most Americans think of Mexico.

As I have gone on photographic expeditions around town, I have noticed many attractive hotels.  Again, street appearance is often deceiving.  Yesterday I think I found the place that even the most demanding guest would fine acceptable.  We may try to go to dinner in their restaurant on our last night here.

In addition to fine hotels, there are many fine restaurants offering cuisines from around the world.  We have eaten at two Italian restaurants, both of which are owned and run by immigrants from Italy.  I have been told that the Argentine restaurants are very good, also.  In keeping with the eco-ethic of the State of Chiapas, there are several organic and vegan restaurants in town.

And, for those who do not want to bargain in the crafts market, there are some very fine shops.  Of course, the prices are significantly higher and, in some cases, so is the quality.

So, you see, there is much more to San Cristobal de las Casas than might initially meet the eye, and more than one way to enjoy it.