SAN CRISTOBAL

Given our midday time of arrival it seemed a shame to waste the day and 8 of us set out to enjoy the pleasures of horse riding.  The first part of the journey was accomplished in the back of an open truck and we raced through the narrow streets, hanging on for dear life, to a rendezvous with the horses. 

My horse was somewhat more of a plodder than Kiowa, my indian pony, but he responded to the controls well enough although he kept trying to bit any other horse that got near the grey mare he was intent on following.  The only disappointment was that the route up through the mountains was entirely on a concrete road but the views were fantastic.  The land was much cultivated in relatively small plots with very tall maize being the dominant crop. 

In between, were lots of vegetable crops with cabbages looking to be the most recent addition, although I did see what looked like fresh planted sprouting broccoli as well.  There were lots of women and children looking after goats and sheep but I was advised not to photograph the older women in traditional costume and tried to do so as surreptitiously as possible.  Not much success with this!  Many of the women were busy doing stuff like carding wool as they sat with their charges. 

We finally arrived at the village of Chamula, which looked to be well off the beaten track although there were a considerable number of obvious tourists to be seen.  We spent some time exploring the street market but, on seating ourselves at one of the cafes, nobody seemed to be much bothered about serving us, so we left without refreshment.

Back in San Cristobel the town seemed very lively in the late afternoon with plenty of people about, masses of tourists and some excellent musicians in action just outside the hotel. 

Despite the bright sun, the breeze was now distinctly chilly and the altitude, 7,218 feet above sea level, was beginning to make itself felt.  By the time we went out for dinner I was wearing my thermal vest under a polo shirt as well as a fleece.  Dinner itself was taken in an Argentinian restaurant where massive lumps of meat were grilled over a charcoal fire.  Mine came medium rare as ordered and was better than anything experienced in the USA!

Entertainment followed in the form of a circus act and an excellent Mexican singer accompanied by a guitarist and double bass.  The circus act was run by an American girl, Sara, who was on a two year mission to combine circus as social work on a journey planned to end in Brazil.  Nice to find a young person so completely given over to idealistic motivation.  I wish her well.

A good night’s sleep and I rose to decide that my cashmere sweater finally had a use; it was very cold.