San Cristobal, Chipas

From Puerto Escondido we took a 12 hour overnight bus to San Cristobal in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. San Cristobal became famous on January 1, 2004 when the Zapatistas took over the government buildings to protest the initiation of NAFTA and centuries of indigenous abuse with the slogan Ya Basta (Enough!). The town has now been invaded by tourists, expats from the US and Europe, and hippies. San Cristobal has a very relaxed atmosphere, lots of coffee shops, yoga studios, and local artisan shops. The area is surrounded by mountains, jungles, and cloud forests.

Here we took another 20 hours of language class and stayed with a family. We took yoga classes from a hippie from Argentina, which was helpful in learning various body parts in Spanish.

To celebrate our first month on the road, we rented a scooter and explored some of the indigenous communities surrounding San Cristobal. We went with a fellow American student from the language school, Glen, a retired tax lawyer from San Francisco who is wandering the earth in search of community and a more meaningful way to spend his final years.