This weekend my mom, Brooks and I enjoyed a relaxing break from Huehue life with a trip to San Cristobal de las Casas. Brooks and I had met an American woman living in San Cristobal months before at the Spanish School, and her invitation to stay in her house was coupled perfectly with my mom’s arrival to Huehue, and Brooks’ need to renew his Guatemalan visa. My mom had only arrived the Wednesday before (actually the day of the “Burning of the Devil” in Guatemala, a dangerous yet fun holiday where people haphazardly set off fireworks, burn devil piñatas or dolls, and eat tamales), but we decided to keep her trip exciting with a mini-vacation to Mexico. Friday morning at 9:30am we were greeted by our taxi, which took us to a gas station to wait for a shuttle bus to San Cristobal. Because we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of chicken bus-taxi-walking-taxi-chicken bus, we splurged for the fancy shuttle option, which was a great choice. The shuttle found us about an hour late at the gas station, and cruised onto the boarder where we passed through various passport checkpoints. After the checkpoints we got on another shuttle on the Mexico side, and headed onto San Cristobal, only stopping once for a delicious, late lunch. Once in San Cristobal, Brooks and I were amazed by our surroundings, and felt we had been transported much further away from Guatemala than Mexico. San Cristobal greeted us with clean, cobblestone streets, nice stores and restaurants, and less general chaos than we were used to seeing in Guatemala. We quickly found Alison’s house, said hello to her and her husband, and headed out to the “andador” (a walkway with lots of shops and restaurants) for an incredible Italian dinner. Brooks and I soon realized this was going to a great gastronomic weekend.
The next morning we awoke around 7:30am, and were unfortunately more awake than the rest of the town when we went searching for our breakfast place. We settled for the only open restaurant, which actually offered an amazing, and delicious, selection. From there we wandered to the central park, and then onto Templo Santa Domingo, where an open-air market was set out in front. We spent hours wandering between the stalls (poor Brooks. He was a trooper, but I know it wasn’t his first pick of activities), looking at colorful blouses, scarves, and pottery. From there we grabbed a snack of jicama on a stick (dipped in chili and strawberry powder – very interesting but very good), got some lunch for Brooks, and headed back to our little apartment to eat lunch (leftovers for mom and I) and take a nap. Alison’s second floor, our accommodations for the weekend, was a precious and pristine little apartment with two rooms, three beds, a bathroom, coffee maker, fridge, microwave, and TV. Brooks and I were in American-luxury heaven. After our naps, mom and I decided to head out again to visit Templo de Guadalupe while Brooks rested a bit more. The weekend of our visit was actually the time when all of Mexico (and some of Guatemala too) was celebrating the Virgen de Guadalupe (a darker version of the Virgin Mary), and it was the perfect time to be in San Cristobal. Groups from all over Mexico had been making pilgrimages all week to San Cristobal, running in relay teams passing a lit torch. Up at the church (which rose above the city on a large set of stairs) mom and I witnessed the groups finally arriving to the virgin, entering the church crawling on their knees, and singing songs to the virgin. All leading up the church the streets had a carnival-like atmosphere with games, rides, and food booths. It was a really cool site to see. That evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a place called “TierrAdentro”, a restaurant with hippie vibes, and came home to watch a movie on our TV (the first movie in a long time Brooks and I had watched not through a bad internet connection).
The next morning we planned to hit the andador a bit later to have breakfast at a bagel shop, but were disappointed to discover the staff hadn’t shown up yet and we therefore could not eat breakfast there. We returned to our trusted breakfast spot from the day before, and enjoyed another great meal. From breakfast we took a walk to Templo de San Cristobal, set high on a hill up a series of switchback stairs. When we arrived at the church, we learned that it was actually the church of the drivers, such as taxi and bus drivers, which was one of the most unique dedications I have ever heard of for a church. After enjoying the view from up top, we descended the stairs again and decided to head out on an adventure to an orchid garden we had read about. Although the guidebook said it was only a mile outside of the city center, after 20 minutes and many suspicions of being lost, we realized the guidebook was wrong. We found ourselves far outside of town, walking along a busy road that reminded Brooks and I a bit of our experience walking along a highway in Venice (a long, but funny, story). Eventually we came upon the orchid garden, which was actually a hippie utopian dream project. We met the owner and creator of the orchid garden, an older hippie from the States, who gave us a private tour of the property and taught us more about plants than I think I ever needed to know. All of the plants on the property had been rescued from forests that were being clear-cut, and had been transplanted to create a large, lush garden. After our tour we entered the prize of the land, a cool and creatively constructed greenhouse, filled with thousands of plants and a moist jungle feel, complete with piped in jungle sounds music. After seeing the greenhouse we decided to take the hiking trail from the property, which we only intended to see for a bit, and then ended up continuing on for the full 2.2 kilometers. After our hike we were tired and hungry, and decided to catch a taxi to the finally open bagel café instead of walking the whole way back into town. We enjoyed some INCREDIBLE bagels (seriously. I think it was because I was so hungry, but it was absolutely delicious), and then walked home for a nap and showers before dinner. We took Alison and her husband, Enrique, out for dinner that night as a thank-you, and enjoyed nice conversation and amazing Italian food yet again. After dinner we walked home with Alison and Enrique, and were blessed with some perseverance on their part, calling many travel agencies in San Cristobal to figure out a) what shuttle company we were going home with, and b) if they knew where to pick us up. It turns out they didn’t know where to pick us up, and it was a good thing we had called.
The next morning we took the shuttle bright and early at 7am, and enjoyed a peaceful and uneventful shuttle ride home (aside from the many runners on the road on their way to San Cristobal, but I slept through all of that). With only a week and a half left in Huehue, I am experiencing very mixed emotions yet again, where part of me is panicking about having to say goodbye to Huehue and the kids at Fundación Salvación, and the other part of me is ready to move onto other adventures. Only time will tell how I actually end up processing these last days here. I have had an incredibly blessed time here in Huehue, and it has all almost been too good to be true. This experience has been nothing short of beautiful, inspiring, and life changing, and I know I’m a better person because of it. I will miss the amazing people and the incredible children I have met here, but thank you Lord that I have had this experience to miss.
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