Today in San Cristóbal, Sarah and I had no big agenda. We just walked a lot. I continue to be lost all the time. As I made my way along the choppy sidewalk I was trying to delete photos from my camera, so needless to say I tripped on some obstruction and fell sideways into a building, scraping my elbow raw. Silly me. In the second photo you can see the church we walked up to yesterday.
We went to the Museo del ímbar de Chiapas where I hoped to find a nice piece of amber with insects, but all were over a couple hundred dollars. I hadn’t known that Chiapas is a major source of amber. I also hadn’t known that the resin is embedded deeply in rocks. I’d pictured perfectly polished, fossil-enhanced pebbles strewn across green and flowery meadows, with butterflies resting atop.
We walked to a new part of town to visit Na Bolom [“Jaguar House” in Tzotzil], a museum of the history of the Lancandón people from the jungles (selva) of eastern Chiapas. Their facial features are unlike any I’ve seen in this part of the world, more resembling the photos of seen of Amazon jungle natives.
The Lancandones decide what their day’s activity will be based on their dreams of the night before. I’d like to try that. Well, maybe not. What do you do on a day that you’ve dreamed about images of terror and destruction? The ancient, excavated art is striking: clay people with extended hands bigger than their bodies, and giant penises with skeleton heads.
We had lunch in the restaurant there, sitting next to an Australian couple who talked of their visit to “Chicken It’s A,” where they were disappointed to have missed the light and sound show that plays against the walls of the ruins. “Like Disneyland?” I wondered, shocked. “Yes, exactly!”
Sarah had to force herself to eat her vegetables.
We went our separate ways to do some final meandering through town, since tomorrow we’ll be on our way to Palenque, and the next day we leave town.
I took that last picture for my very own Anna Banana. I bought you a present, Anna.