Wow. What an incredible place. Both the state of Chiapas and the ranch. There is something about both places. Chiapas could be a place to spend part of every year when I start my next life which will look nothing like the one I had before. If anyone reading this wants everything I own, you can go to my storage unit in San Francisco and clean it out. I won't have much need for couches, knives, pots and pans, a bed, a desk, or a dining room table. My brother and sister can pretty much throw everything away that I left at their houses except for the photos, art, surfboards, and mountain bike gear. The way I look at it, I can live on El Rancho la Granada for 10 pesos a day (about $.80) which means I have already saved enough money to live there for the next 20 or 30 years. And electricity is overrated. OK, I'm not there yet but it isn't out of the question.
San Cristobal
After an overnight bus ride, we arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas. We were very disappointed to find out that we could not bring beer on the bus. Oh well, the lujo class (luxury) buses are very comfortable and have good seats for sleeping. Everyone was asleep and I stood behind the driver and watched out the front window from 2-3 AM on these crazy, twisting roads. No margin for error. These drivers are good. And they have an extremely difficult job. They are also very well respected here. After a while I went and passed out and woke up for the beautiful drive into the mountains out of Tuxtla Gutierrez. We met a very nice girl from Honduras who worked at the bus station and watched our gear while we went and looked for a place to stay. We found an Italian-run hotel and decided it was good enough. There are lots of Italians in San Cris and in Oaxaca, something I didn't realize. They are easy to spot because they are the white people with bad teeth.
Chiapas is the poorest state in Mexico and it's pretty evident when you visit the mercado central (central market) in town. It has the best market I have seen though. Fascinating and filled with colors and sounds that come at you as soon as you enter. The most beautiful fruit and vegetables I have ever seen displayed and with so much care and precision. The place is at the same time totally organized and completely chaotic. Live goats, chickens, and turkeys in one area. The newest Hollywood movies (all legal, I'm sure) in another. Herbs and bread and cheese and the best meat in the world. All stored at an FDA-approved 80 degrees and hanging in the market. Don't get me wrong, I buy all of my meat at the market. But something is missing for me. We have these strict regulations and rules we follow in the US and all of that is thrown out the window here. And people are not getting food borne illness here. Ecoli is more rare here than in the US. And again, I eat it every day. Not sure what to make of that. And it tastes so much better because it is fresher and hormone and chemical free. I do know that I come from a society that is fear-filled if not fear-based. It's the only way that certain political factions and industries can survive. Anyway, I don't know what the deal is but there is something wrong with the way we produce and distribute food in the US. And big US corporations would love to change the way it's done here. And people are aware of that fact. There are some pretty enlightened people resisting the influence of the Monsantos of the world and the fact that they are poisoning people. I'm not anti business but I do have a bit of revolutionary in me. Viva Zapata!
The part of the market where the market is located is a crazy, chaotic place. People will run you over with their carts, run push you out of the way with their baskets, and have no problems putting you onto the hood of their car. It is solidly third world. The rest of the town is a beautiful colonial place with cobblestone streets and Spanish architecture. Like Oaxaca, art is everywhere. It seems like everyone makes art and/or plays music. The Zapatista rebels are alive and well here also. They have broad based support and there are lots of photos around town of people who have disappeared at the hands of the governement or at least with their tacit support. There is also a lot of indigenous graffiti. It's a very indigenous place. People are very proud to be from Chiapas. I would be too. It's incredible and almost completely devoid of tourists.
After we grabbed our stuff from the bus station and checked into our hotel, we walked around town. There is a huge set of stairs that lead up to a church on top of the cerro in the middle of town so we decided to climb it. We were met half way up by two indigenous girls with pads of paper. They had names of people and what country they were from. They lived next to the stairs and needed money for school supplies. Sounds like a racket to me but we complied and gave them some pesos. The one girl told me that she couldn't afford a backpack for school. She was so cute and suprisingly spoke some English and I let her sucker me. I wanted to go to the mercado and buy her a backpack because I'm sure the money went for food. I never did. The Kernal and I hiked over the hill and down through the colonia on the other side. We saw some guys setting up a beer stand at a church and they told us there was a party and we should come back. We ended up returning to the party at about 10 or 11 and people were absolutely hammered. We soon figured out why - they were serving these giant, 40 oz micheladas. A michelada is a beer with chili powder, tomato juice, lime, and whatever secret ingredient you want to add. In this case, the secret ingredient was tequila. People were just stumbling and falling and throwing up. We felt like animals in a zoo. People were looking at us like we were from another planet. Not a place gringos go. And certainly not at night. But the guys who invited us back were great guys and poured us a couple of HUGE drinks. We drank them and stumbled back to town. We ended up finding a great band from Spain called Kaso Perdido. They were playing in this cool attic space above a bar. They were kind of a punk/ska band. We closed down the bar and of course decided we needed a beer for the room. We stopped into this little bar restaurant and asked them if we could take beers to go. They agreed to it so we grabbed a couple and headed out. Our hotel was extremely quiet and noise carried very well so we couldn't go back. We decided to ask four cops if we could do something illegal - drink on the steps to the cultural center...."I don't care, do you care, I don't care, I don't remember a gringo asking me if he could violate the law before but ok, I guess you can." So we did. And everything was ok until the Kernal decided to pee on a tree. Boom, four cops appear out of nowhere. Some of the same guys and a couple of new ones, including one scary guy with a black mask and a machine gun who was defintiely playing the bad cop. Kernal tried to apologize and they were talking about a mandatory 36 hours in jail. Someone said something about a 500 peso fine and I laid out 300 pesos and just walked away. Kernal was still trying to reason and I told him to just come on and we went back to our room a little lighter in the wallet.
The next day we were off to El Rancho la Granada.
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