Cancun and San Cristobal de las Casas – Day 1

I don't enjoy flying, but if we're going to it might as well look like this.

We flew from Las Vegas to Cancun via Dallas. We could have gotten closer, but we wanted to use our American Airlines miles. We spent a day in Cancun. We find that when you have plenty of time, it is best to give yourself downtime between activities. And we had quite an activity coming up, namely a 19-hour bus ride from Cancun to San Cristobal de las Casas.

We made the most of our brief stay in Cancun. We stayed in an inexpensive hotel downtown and took the local bus to the beach with our grocery store meal of chicken, rice, tortillas, guacamole, and pickled cauliflower.

Delicious and cheap grocery store lunch, at the beach.

One nice thing about Mexico is the cheap prices. We had dinner of three tacos, a Coke, and a tamale for 40 pesos: about three dollars.

But our temporary tropical paradise was at an end. It was time for our epic bus ride. To make the ride a little more bearable, I opted for the ADO Ejecutivo bus. Well, I am sure it was slightly nicer than the normal ADO bus, but still not great. It is as good as it gets. Movies to watch, two bathrooms, generally clean. But their advertised coffee and tea station in the back ran out pretty quickly, as did the water in the men’s bathroom. To make up for it all, however, were the amazing views of the mountains and all the little Mayan towns we went through.

Absolutely stunning views during the 19-hour bus ride from Cancun to San Cristobal de las Casas. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Finally we arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas. We find the city to be very welcoming and friendly in general. Currently we are downtown in a nice and inexpensive hostel with breakfast included. It is a short walk to good shops and restaurants, and a longer walk to the local markets which are teeming with life.

We have missed fresh fruits! We shall miss them no more.

During the day we visited the Mayan Medicine Museum. It was inspiring to see and read about land-based healing techniques that are very personal and effective.

At the Mayan Medicine Museum.

Last night we visited a festival in the town center with loud techno music, dancing, and many vendors selling beautiful textiles. Mags is currently lusting over a bright alpaca wool hoodie that is just over $10. The main conundrum is if you buy it then you either have to carry it with you or ship it home. We’ll have pictures from this night out available later.

Today we are purely tourists for one more day. Then tomorrow we start our two weeks of volunteering at a botanical garden that is being built in town. We will stay in housing with the other volunteers. We will learn natural building techniques, water systems, and local plants. We’re looking forward to meeting people, getting our hands dirty, and doing something useful and productive.

Click here for the full Picasa album from this part of our trip.