Saturday, September 30, 2006
Celebrating in Chiapas
While we liked Oaxaca, the minute we arrived to Chiapas, we fell in love with the place.
San Cristobal de las casas, a colonial pearl, with colored houses and vibrant atmosphere, is one of the nicest villages we saw. Yet again great timing led us directly to a local fiesta de la virgin merced, a parade of customs, music and dancing on the streets, in which we naturally blended in…
Traveling around the San Cristobal valley, we saw a large stalactite cave and Canyon Sumidero, in which the boat takes you through the river full with Crocodiles and eagles.Above all stood Lagonas de Montebello - an area of green mountainous with thick forests, waterfalls (like the 100M Chiflon fall), no less then 57 lakes with variation of colors all the way from blue, green, emerald, turquoise, constantly changing with the angel of the sun rays of light. Most notable was the amount of amazing rainbows we have seen. Absolutely fabulous.
The indigenous people in Chiapas are fascinating. They speak a weird Mayan language called Tzutzi, men wear white wool vests, women walk bear foot, carrying and breath feeding their babies (while walking). Arrived to Chamula, a Zapatic Indian village (that did not surrender to the spanish conqures) with an authentic traditional Sunday market in front of a unique church that withhold more than 1000 candles, flowers and pines spread on its floor, while the Indians pray with smoking fire (symbols offering to God) and Coka-cola bottles full with alcoholic drinks (to clean their bodies and soul). The Indians are not willing to be pictured, as according to their belief, the photo takes their soul.
The food continues to be a celebration of its own.
We found some delicious traditional Chiapas dishes like pan envinado (delicious bread cake cooked with white wine, sugar and cinnamon), tostadas (tacos with fricholes, chicken, carrot, avocado, cheese and cream), Pozol (drink of cacao cooked with corn), tamarindo (a spicy reddish fruit, being used as children candy), Quesidillas (cheese tortillas with calabasa flower), Chilaqilles (tacos con tomatoes y cebolla). Just to emphasize the variety of food, you can find about 40 different kinds of fricholes (beans) in various colors.We eat (almost) everything we see on the streets and markets, and our notion of what is spicy got readjusted. Even the plain chips and snacks like peanuts are sold with hot chili… auuuuuuuuuu!
and then it was time to party!
First went to a support party for the Zapatic indian farmers (who sometimes get deported from their lands), where we dance Corrido, a Mexican jumpy latin dance.Then, Hanan got one year older and the birthday celebration began. We incidentally stepped into a birthday party at a private house of a 73 years old Senor (born in the very same day), and found ourselves dancing with all the elder women…. Anati arranged a surprise party at our hostal with some German, French, Suisse and Slovekian travelers, in which we ate bday cake, danced, sang and drank (actually got drunk from too much Mezcal…).
Then arrived to Palenque, in the midst of a jungle.Woke up the first morning to an unbelievable horrifying aullendo (aka gritan) monkey shouts, which sounds like a strong lion roaring.
More to come...
Gmar Hatima Tova,
Anat y Hanan
San Cristobal de las casas, a colonial pearl, with colored houses and vibrant atmosphere, is one of the nicest villages we saw. Yet again great timing led us directly to a local fiesta de la virgin merced, a parade of customs, music and dancing on the streets, in which we naturally blended in…
Traveling around the San Cristobal valley, we saw a large stalactite cave and Canyon Sumidero, in which the boat takes you through the river full with Crocodiles and eagles.Above all stood Lagonas de Montebello - an area of green mountainous with thick forests, waterfalls (like the 100M Chiflon fall), no less then 57 lakes with variation of colors all the way from blue, green, emerald, turquoise, constantly changing with the angel of the sun rays of light. Most notable was the amount of amazing rainbows we have seen. Absolutely fabulous.
The indigenous people in Chiapas are fascinating. They speak a weird Mayan language called Tzutzi, men wear white wool vests, women walk bear foot, carrying and breath feeding their babies (while walking). Arrived to Chamula, a Zapatic Indian village (that did not surrender to the spanish conqures) with an authentic traditional Sunday market in front of a unique church that withhold more than 1000 candles, flowers and pines spread on its floor, while the Indians pray with smoking fire (symbols offering to God) and Coka-cola bottles full with alcoholic drinks (to clean their bodies and soul). The Indians are not willing to be pictured, as according to their belief, the photo takes their soul.
The food continues to be a celebration of its own.
We found some delicious traditional Chiapas dishes like pan envinado (delicious bread cake cooked with white wine, sugar and cinnamon), tostadas (tacos with fricholes, chicken, carrot, avocado, cheese and cream), Pozol (drink of cacao cooked with corn), tamarindo (a spicy reddish fruit, being used as children candy), Quesidillas (cheese tortillas with calabasa flower), Chilaqilles (tacos con tomatoes y cebolla). Just to emphasize the variety of food, you can find about 40 different kinds of fricholes (beans) in various colors.We eat (almost) everything we see on the streets and markets, and our notion of what is spicy got readjusted. Even the plain chips and snacks like peanuts are sold with hot chili… auuuuuuuuuu!
and then it was time to party!
First went to a support party for the Zapatic indian farmers (who sometimes get deported from their lands), where we dance Corrido, a Mexican jumpy latin dance.Then, Hanan got one year older and the birthday celebration began. We incidentally stepped into a birthday party at a private house of a 73 years old Senor (born in the very same day), and found ourselves dancing with all the elder women…. Anati arranged a surprise party at our hostal with some German, French, Suisse and Slovekian travelers, in which we ate bday cake, danced, sang and drank (actually got drunk from too much Mezcal…).
Then arrived to Palenque, in the midst of a jungle.Woke up the first morning to an unbelievable horrifying aullendo (aka gritan) monkey shouts, which sounds like a strong lion roaring.
More to come...
Gmar Hatima Tova,
Anat y Hanan
# posted by Hanan @ 4:00 PM 
