ZAPATISTALAND

So I´ve lost all record of dates for now. All I know is that we arrived in San Cristobal around Nov 24th? and stayed for 10 entire days!!! That´s huge for us. I think we became honorary residents of this place- but in the end, that was fine with me. Showing up in San CritObal in the late evening, I could already feel an excitement that I hadnt felt before on this trip. For those who don´t know, in the early 90´s, some rebels upset with the possibility of a NAFTA free trade agreement with the US, decided to ¨have a revolution¨and the rebels chose San Cristobal as the background. It´s a special city located in the state of Chiapas- the poorest state in Mexico. With the background of the Zapatistas, and the influx of indigenous Mayan peoples living in and around the city- I was sure that this would be a hippie capital. Boy was I right. I have never seen such a collection of hipsters (spanning North America, Europe and Australia) in my entire life. All dudes sporting long hair and beards to match (think Dazed and Confused) and all chicks with Mexican arm candy. Our hostel here was the stage for this hippie hangout, for there was a bonfire each evening. Hippies from high and low would surround the bonfire nightly-Mescal (A type of tequila but way crappier) in hand. At first the fun of the city (interesting knowledge of the Zapatistas, good falafals, deliciously strong coffee) excited our spirits. However, the excitement shortly wore thin as we sat waiting in our hostel for Josh´s bank card to arrive. The upside of being stuck in our hippie haven, was that we did start Spanish lessons with an extremely colorful Mexican Minerva. I began to look forward to our lessons each day, as Josh grew more frustated with Citizens Bank each day. The kid even lost his appetite. For those who know Josh, and more importantly don´t know his appetite- you can believe how distraught he was. We really were starting to believe that we would NEVER make it to Guatemala.
An entire week came and went. We started looking for teaching positions in the city believing the card would never arrive. Some told us to just move on to Guatemala. But come on people. If FEDEX couldnt find us in Mexico- how the hell was it going to get to us in Guatemala. Then, with no hope left. The card arrived and we were off to Guatemala.Hasta Luego Mexico!

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico