Adios Mexico

After visiting the Palenque ruins we headed back to San Cristobal but of course decided to spend another night at the cabins at Tonina.  In the morning it was off to the 50 short miles to San Cristobal.

As we head on down the road it was a beautiful day for a ride on nice Chiapan mountian roads.

Ah yes, it just dont get no better than this I tell ya……

Humm, what is this random dude doing running down the road with a torch?  Is he going to set something on fire?

Yup, more random people running down the road with torches, interesting…..

Then we come flying around a corner to see this stopped in the middle of the road….  Yes, these trucks were everywhere, every half mile almost.  What the heck are all these people doing?

Some runners would jump in the truck, others would get out.  It got to be a chore passing all of these vehicles and the folks running, but they would help us out a bit with the passing.

As we got into San Cristobal the runners and vehicles were everywhere in town, headed to the west end of town to the Church of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Ah, OK, I get it now.  I had forgotten what a huge deal the virgin was in Mexico.  People come from miles around to celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe.  They run and walk the whole way carrying a torch.  I’m not sure of the significance of the torch, but it was pretty cool to see all these folks.  Some of them dont wear shoes.  Probably something about suffering for your sins or some such thing.

Naturally that night in San Cristobal was a big fiesta.

The thing to do was take a walk up to the church with everyone else.  That’s not fog in the picture, its smoke from all the cooking going on.

And of course we had to stop along the way and get a little something warm to drink to take the chill off of the night.  I forgot what these things were called, but it was similar to warm pineapple juice with a kick, and they put something in the drink resembling pieces of pound cake that you spoon out and eat.  It was really tasty and a perfect drink for a chilly night in the mountains.

And then of course we need to eat some street tacos.  You cant join a proper Mexican Fiesta unless you have some street tacos.

Good tacos!

And so ends my stay in San Cristobal, and in Mexico.  Then next day I took Wendy to the airport in Tuxtla Gutierrez as she was headed back to Costa Rica.  It had been great traveling with her and I was very sad to see her off.

Then with a little bit of a heavy heart, I headed out of Mexico and pointed the orange beast toward the Guatemala border in search of new experiences and hopefully a little adventure as well…………

Adios Mexico, its been a fun ride.  I look forward to returning.  Hasta luego……..