Our overnight bus from Puerto Escondido pulled into San Cristóbal de las Casas around 7am. After a lovely beach Christmas we were going to finish out the year 2023 with our final Mexican stop, in the jungly Chiapas region in the south.
We got our things together and found seats in the bus station lobby, sitting down to chill for the next couple hours, until we could drop our bags at our accommodation at 9am. And chill we did – it was freezing in there! We’re no longer in the warmth of the Mexican coast. We bundled up with our travel blankies, and scrolled on our phones for a few hours.
Just before 9am, we walked to our accommodation to drop our bags, but had to wait almost an hour for them to actually open the door and let us in, despite pre-arranging for us to meet them at 9:00.
Hungry after our delay, we found a waffle restaurant nearby online, and and walked there to enjoy a delicious breakfast.
Still having many hours to kill before our 2pm check-in, we went out to explore the town. It reminded us of a mix of Puebla, Oaxaca, Cholula, etc. Cute and charming, with brightly coloured buildings and festive decorations.
We poked our heads in a little ice cream shop and grabbed ourselves a little sweet treat, and then sat and people watched in a local park.
We headed back to our hotel to check in at 2, and they were 30 minutes late (again) in meeting us, and letting us in. Our apartment was quite cute, with a lofted double bed. We were excited to get to have a cozy sleepover on the top bunk! There was also a little desk and chair in the bedroom, and a little kitchen in the back.
I had an upset stomach, so Wini took one for the team and went out to buy us groceries for our time in San Cristobal, and we had a nice night in.
The next day was New Years Eve! We went to go explore the town more and organize some tours for ourselves for later in the week. We walked around getting quotes from different companies, and settled on a horseback riding adventure for the next day (New Years Day!), and another one to some waterfalls and Mayan ruins called Palenque later in the week.
We walked around the town, visiting a beautiful church up a big hill, and looking for some warm clothes to buy, since our next stop included some chilly, high elevation volcanoes hikes in Guatemala. A lot of shops were closed, since it was a holiday, but we were able to find a few things.
We also stopped to exchange some money for Guatemalan Quetzals, as we would be taking the bus there and wanted to ensure that we’d have some cash on hand.
Apparently Chiapas is known for its coffee and chocolate so we found a chocolateria and bought a bar of toasted almond and vanilla dark chocolate to enjoy.
That evening, we made dinner at home and watched as people began setting off fireworks starting around 6pm!
We were quite tired and we rarely leave the house after dark, but since it was New Years Eve we thought we should push ourselves for the experience. Around 10:30 pm we bundled up for the chilly night and headed to the downtown square.
The square was full of families there for the festivities. There were children running around with sparklers, and couples setting off firecrackers. There was a stage getting set up for a big band, and music playing on the speakers. All the holiday lights were lit up, and the centre was bustling.
We walked around taking in the sights and sounds. The band went on and we joined the crowd of people dancing to the festive music.
We found a nice little bench to people watch as we waited for midnight.
Shortly before the new year, we made our way to the kiosko in the middle of the square and found our spots. We had heard that San Cristobal was known for its amazing firework display, so we were excited to see it. We counted down the new year with hundreds of strangers, and watched in awe as the fireworks began. We were so close to them! So close, in fact, that we were actually hit by some of the shrapnel hahah.
The fireworks were fantastic, and we were happy we pushed ourselves to get out to see them. It felt good to ring in the new year with so many other happy, beautiful people.
We woke up early on New Years Day for our horseback riding adventure. We went back to town and were joined by a Mexican family of four. Our tour operator led us to a truck with seats in the flatbed, and we piled in and drove about 20 minutes to a dirt road lined with our horses.
We ponied up and began our walk. It quickly became apparent that my horse needed to be first. There was no slowing him down. Wini’s horse, unfortunately, needed to be very slow and near the back the entire time, with the other family’s horses in between.
The ride was about an hour to the indigenous village we were going to, through forest, fields, small towns and farms. It was a nice ride, but we were sad to be so far apart!
Arriving in Chamula, the indigenous village, we were given 45 minutes to go explore before getting back to the horses. The main attraction in the town is their sacred church, San Juan. There was an entry fee of 30 pesos and we weren’t permitted to take photos in the church, but we still wanted to check it out.
It was very… different. Not your run-of-the-mill average church I’ll tell you that. The ground was covered in a thick layer of pine needles, so the whole place smelled like evergreens. The ground and tables were also covered in hundred of burning candles, that weren’t contained in any way, just candlesticks straight on the floor, dripping hot wax among the dry pine needles.
On either side of the building there were display cases housing (janky looking) statues of various saints and important biblical figures. There were also giant, velvety banners that hung over from the walls, perilously close to the abundance of open flames.
In addition to the pine needles and candles, there were also people on the ground. Families and couples were huddled together and kneeling on the floor praying, chanting, and lighting more candles among little floor shrines. There were no seats in the church.
It was honestly a lot to take in, and since we couldn’t take photos we just walked around trying to commit as much as we could to memory. It was a totally new experience, and definitely worth the few pesos it cost to enter.
Outside the church, I was a little peckish and we had heard Chamula was known for its empanadas, so I grabbed a plate from a local vendor in the square.
We headed back to our horses, and began our journey back. Same as before, my horse had to be number one, and would start trotting and biting at any of the others that tried to pull ahead. Wini’s was content to be at the very back, slow and steady. Overall it was a fun experience, but we both had pretty sore crotches by the time we arrived back into town.
Back in town, we picked up some food and snacks for our long tour day tomorrow, then headed back to make dinner at home and an early bedtime.
We woke up around 3am the next day for our tour to Palenque and the waterfalls! Our van arrived just after 4am, and we dozed on the 2 hour drive to the first spot, a restaurant for breakfast. We weren’t really feeling like eating breakfast so we decided to just chill outside and wait to continue, but as we were sitting there a random guy came over and asked if we wanted a pancake. We looked at each other like?? And without us even saying anything he was like “I’m getting you pancakes!” and hurried away. Turns out it was someone from our tour van, an outgoing guy named Pepe from San Diego. And the pancakes honestly did slap!
We were back on the road by 7:30, and continued driving for another 2 hours to our first site, a group of waterfalls and rapids called Agua Azul. It was aptly named, with absolutely breathtaking blue water, contrasted with the bright white of the rapids! We had over 1.5 hours to enjoy the gorgeous grounds. Some people were even swimming in the water, though it was a little too chilly for as at that hour.
Our next stop was to another waterfall about an hour away, called Misol-Ha. It was a stunning, tall waterfall falling from a striking cliff.
We had about 40 minutes to enjoy it, and Pepe told us that there a path that led behind the waterfall into a cave, with another hidden waterfall inside. We hurried down under the powerful waterfall, which was an experience itself, and went into the cave. We had to take off our shoes and shine our flashlights, wading through the ankle deep water to the hidden waterfall. It was a cool experience (but caves are not my favourite vibe).
It was another hour long drive to the Mayan ruins of Palenque, so we arrived just before 1:30pm. We got a brief overview of the grounds and then set loose to explore on our own for two hours.
It was stunning! It was much bigger area than Chichen Itza (and only 10% of the recorded buildings have been explored — they have laser tech that has found more buildings now buried in the jungle). It was so gorgeous, with the remarkable buildings half-covered in vegetation.
We took our time, walking through the main palace areas, and then further into the jungle portion of the ruins.
There was a beautiful waterfall in the jungle, and more ruins that you could walk right onto!
After walking the jungle loop we arrived back up at the main ruins. We saw we were also able to climb to the top of the main pyramid, which was an absolutely dizzying sensation. There were great views from the top, and it was amazing to be standing on this kind of history!
We met back up with the group and our final stop was to a buffet style restaurant, where we sat with Pepe and his wife Brenda, who were super fun to chat with. They’re both originally from Mexico but grew up in San Diego, and are spending 2 months travelling in Mexico.
After our late-lunch/early-dinner, we piled back in the van and began our 5.5+ hour drive home (a beast of a day for our driver/guide Eduardo!).
We were dropped back at home at 10:30pm, exhausted but so happy with that INCREDIBLE tour! It was honestly the best tour either of us have ever been on! Each site was more impressive than we could have anticipated, and we were given enough time to really enjoy each spot.
The next day, we did some errands around town to prepare ourselves for our upcoming travel to Guatemala. We picked up some more warm clothes and gear for our upcoming volcano hikes, some sandwiches for our travel day, and then headed home to make dinner and get ourselves to bed early.
We woke up at 5am our last morning in Mexico, and got all our things packed and ready. Our shuttle van to Guatemala arrived and started driving around town, picking up more passengers. When we got a few blocks away, we realized we had forgotten to drop our key for the hotel in the box! Wini SPRINTED back to drop it, and ran right back, and luckily she was super fast so she got back before they were even loaded in the van.
The bus ride was supposed to take about 6 hours, but it ended up taking way longer than expected. Apparently the Mexican cartel was blocking the highway to the border crossing we were supposed to take, so we had to do a 6 hour long detour and stamp out of Mexico at a different checkpoint. It was a really long day, but our Guatemalan driver was such a positive vibe and really boosted the mood for everyone in the car.
We arrived safe and sound in Panajachel, Guatemala for our next adventure on Lake Atitlán, around 11pm, exhausted, but excited to see what this new country will have to offer!