Like so many Mexican towns, San Cristobal de las Casas (Chiapas), is situated in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. These ones covered in lush green foliage, due to the surrounding jungle setting within the state of Chiapas, near the Guatamalan border. The mountains surrounding Mexico city are much more arid.
Another view from above.
A common Mexico street setting -- A Mexican with his sombrero, colourful buildings, and tiny sidewalks.
One of the more modern churches.
Beautiful in its colour and simplicity even though it is not as ornate as some of the other older churches.
One of the altars - decorated richly with statues and flowers.
Odd looking garden facing the church -- though we saw some faces and shapes in these bushes, it was obvious they hadn't been trimmed in a long time. However, not long enough to regain their natural shapes.
Town square's main church -- an equally colourful church in a bright yellow shade of paint. This town seems to like that colour for churches.
Indigeneous women's long braids were often adorned by colourful ribbons.
We almost watched a movie here... but ended up being distracted by another museum. So much to do and see in this town!
The Mayan Medicine Museum was really impressive (though you'll definitely need a taxi to get there!) -- with an educational video on indigenous birthing practices.
One of the highlights of the trip (pun intended, of course) was the Sumidero Canyon (Up to 1000 meters tall and barely 100 meters wide at the base). Look at the boat in the water to get a sense of how tiny we felt in comparison to this natural giant.
This two hour boat tour took us from the rocky cliffs to these lush green ones... such variety in so small an area.
One of the main features of this canyon is this impressive christmas tree formation made out of moss created by the waterfall above it.
Here is the "christmas tree" from below. You can see the water falling from the top.
Of course no river trip in the jungle is complete without a few crocodiles, lots of birds (herons and comorants) and a couple of spider monkeys in the wild. We were very pleased!
