Wow....this has got to be the noisest Pemex we ever camped by. The trucks were in and out all night. Radios were loud all night. A small military camp right beside us would change patrols in the middle of the night making all the noise they could. Fire crackers went off all night either to celebrate Christmas or to harass the military or the campers!!! Thank God for my ear plugs!
12/27/08-12/28/08....Hogar Infantil near Ocozocoautla
..Satellite view
Hogar Infantil (an orphanage) is located just outside the town of Ocozocoautla. This is some 21 miles (34 km) from Tuxtla Gutierrez but really the best place in the area for larger RVs. It also makes an interesting place to spend the night. There is water, showers, bathroom, 4 cement pads and lots of open grass to park. The power does not work anymore. Camping fees are by donation.
Dec 28/08.... We leave the orphanage at 9 am bound for San Cristobal de Las Casas in the state of Chiapas. We plan to stay at Hotel Bonampak which has an RV site at the back of the hotel. We have the big bustling city of Tuxtla Gutierrez that we must pass through. There are 2 by- passes, one on the north and one on the south. We miss the north by pass (poor signage) and realize we are headed into the heart of the city which we do not want to do! Our group decides to turn back, we find a pemex and do a u turn. It's tough doing u turns in busy traffic but we make it. As we head back out to the outskirts we find our north bypass and turn onto it. Whew! Once on this by-pass the signage improves and we manage to skirt our way out of the city without mishap.
From Tuxtla to San Christobal we climb up to the high lands. A very long climb up the mountains took us to an elevation of 7000 feet and cooler temperatures. We thought we would never stop climbing. The scenery was magnificent.
We start to climb down the mountain road and come to a beautiful mountain city and did not realize it was San Cristobal as our road signs said San Cristobal was 84 km from Tuxtla and we had only traveled 54 Km.....go figure...indeed it was San Cristobal!!! We find a safe place to pull over to unhitch Johnny's toad so he and Larry can find our RV park. They find it back where we had turned into San Cristobal and check out the route we need to take our rigs....a couple u turns etc and we finally make our destination.. Wow, what a difference in Temperature..hard to believe just two nights ago we were suffering with the heat and humidity. We had to put up blankets to protect us from the cool winds while having happy hour and had extra blankets for the nights sleep. Daytime temperatures are a bit warmer.....Larry
12/28/08-12/31/08....Hotel Bonampak, San Christobal de Las Casas
..Satellite view
Hotel Bonampak, San Christobal de Las Casas is located in a very busy area. There is a large shopping mall across the road, a bank and Pemex just down the street. The RV park has power, water, dump, showers, bathrooms and you park on grass. The rate this year is 150 pesos / person.
Dec 29/08……….by Betty Pollard.
What an awesome adventure we had yesterday. Bill, Marilyn, Ben, Lynette, Larry and I took two taxis into San Cristobal Centro. The taxi took us off the main street and up and over and around many narrow, cobble stoned alleys. I say alleys because there was only room for one vehicle….thus San Cristobal de Las Casas is the city of one way streets. The taxi fare was $4.00 USD for both taxis! He dropped us off in front of the beautiful and ornate Iglesia Santo Domingo…..constructed in the 1500's. We were not allowed to take flash photos inside the church because of potential damage to the many religious paintings. The main walls were covered in gold plating. Totally awesome. Outside the church many, many local nativo people were selling their crafts. Their work is all hand done and so beautiful. There are several distinctive native tribes in Chiapas ….. all with their own unique clothing. We poked around from stall to stall for a couple hours before stopping to have lunch. And then the adventure took us down the street to the main plaza…….the main street was blocked off from traffic but we did have to watch and dodge the many cars traveling the cross streets. What a neat experience……we seemed to be the only gringos in a bustling crowd of thousands. Native women were trying to sell us embroidered blouses, beaded belts, bracelets, and jewelry while tugging the hand of a small child and also while nursing a baby. Little boys and girls had the ever present box of suckers or gum to sell us and on every corner there were boys wanting to shine your shoes. A great place to people watch!!! After several hours of walking I finally had to get some rest. Ben, Lynette and I took a taxi back to the RV Park. My toosties were so sore. Last night, John, Sherry, Marilyn and Lynette took a cab back into Centro to try to get tickets for a Mayan musical production…they were sold out so tonight we will try to leave earlier so we can all get in. They had a blast experiencing the night life in the plaza.
Dec 30/08……….by Betty Pollard.
Today, Marilyn, Sherry, John and I took a cab up the hill to Iglesia San Cristobel. Bill, Lynette, Ben and Larry chose to walk up. The church overlooks San Cristobel so we were able to take some good photos. We noticed a bank of several stair cases in front of the church. These led to the town Centro. Everyone except Larry and I headed down that way to explore the town Centro again. Larry and I hiked down the other side back to the RV Park.
The church was open so Marilyn, Sherry and I walked in to say a few prayers. It was one of my most magical experiences. There were five indigenous nativos chanting a novena in their native language that was not Spanish. The two men stood in front of the Altar with their heads bowed. Two ladies and a young lad stood to the side. I was mesmerized with the tone and the beauty of their chanting. The city of San Cristobel de Las Casas has been named a National Monument. I can certainly see why, it is so magical.
