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