 | San Cristóbal de Las Casas Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 65 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (65) Every Mexican town has deep roots in the Catholic religion, so every town, pueblo, and city has at least 1 cathedral. The cathedral in San Cristobal is pretty, with simple furnishings. It suits the town and people fine, as they are also simple and beautiful. We saw an older woman in there praying. She had bare feet and was a little bent over from age, but still found the time to come and worship. Many Mexicans are like that, they respect the church and what it teaches and always find some time for religion. Leave a Comment
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The zocalo is the definate hub of Mexican cities, and San Cristobal is no exception. You can see many different people from the various villages here, selling items or people playing music, reading, dancing, or anything else for that matter. The zocalo is the gathering place for society in Mexican culture, and the best place to people watch and see Mexico at it's best. Leave a Comment Directions: Center of town, cannot miss it!
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The Na-Bolom ('House of the Jaguar' in Mayan) Cultural Center is the must see museum of San Cristobal de las Casas. Make sure you try to arrange a guided visit to Na-Bolom, which is an interesting museum dedicated to the Lancandon Jungle and its Mayan inhabitants. The founders of this cultural center, Frans and Trudy Bloom used to live and work out of the same house/premises. I got tons of tips on Comitan, Ocasingo, and the ruins of Bonampak, Yaxchilan, and Tonina. After the tour, they even let you watch an interesting 1 hour film about the life of Trudy Bloom. She was one incredible lady. For more information check out the official webpage for the center at the following link: http://www.ecosur.mx/nabolom/nabolom4.html. Check out their volunteer section if you're interested on helping them out. Leave a Comment
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For those interested on local Mayan traditions, head to the "Museo de Medicina Maya." In there, you can learn about the Mayan culture and their traditional medical techniques. The museum is a few kilometers from downtown. I walked over there enjoying the sights en route (such as a delicious fruit market), but you may want to take a taxi to save time :). Leave a Comment
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The Zocalo of San Cristobal de las Casas is surrounded by the Palacio Nacional and the Catedral. The roof of the catedral is covered by a beautiful Moorish style woodwork (still in its original form), which can also be seen in the Iglesia de San Francisco in Tlaxcala. Leave a Comment
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The nature reserve of Montebello is not far from San Cristobal. It is a nice place for hiking. You can book a tour through a local agency. The Lagos de Montebello are very beautiful and tranquille lakes in the middel of a forest with old trees. There are caves, which you can visit, and there is a blue lake, where you can take a bath in. The border to Guatemala is not far and many people visit Montebello on the way to ruins of famous Tikal. Leave a Comment
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The Centro Cultural de los Altos de Chiapas is located just next door to the ex-Convento de Santo Domingo. This simple museum is definitely out shadowed and outdone by Na-Bolom. If you are low in time or money, then skip it and go to the Na-Bolom cultural center instead. Otherwise, enjoy another good introduction to the area's history. Leave a Comment
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Wow, we did not expect such an interesting museum after the long walk... They tell you a lot about the Maya method of healing and their way of life.
They don't trust in pills and stuff but in herbs, prayers, candles, coke, dead chicken, alcohol, and rituals.
They have some rooms decorated like the Maya homes, with life size figures, a lot of incense burning.
"Highlight" is about the birth of a Maya baby, in the family's house, the mother kneeling on the floor the whole time (!) with her hands on the father's knees, pushing and waiting for the baby to emerge... Incredible!
They have describtions in many languages which is useful as they use very specific words, of plants, parts of the body etc.
It looks close enough to the city center, but you have to walk for a while... you never see any signs, you walk through the huge market, along a poor-looking, dusty road, and just when you have the first doubts if this museum really exists, then you see a sign.
Oh, and there are quite a few public phones on the way, I guess we used all of them trying to call home (it was the morning of Christmas Eve) but the lines to Europe were busy and had broken down... Leave a Comment
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San Cristobal has the biggest market around. Specially on sundays the people from the mountain villages come in their best clothes to sell and buy. It is a wonderful opportunity to make a lot of colorful pics! For more pics please see my travelogue! Leave a Comment
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Midway along the brick surfaced and tree lined pedestrian Andador Eclesiastico there's a theatre of considerable size that features cultural productions that are well worth buying tickets for. We saw a very interesting production called Bonampak, for the Mayan ruin famous for it's colorful mural. I'm sorry that I don't have images her to show you, as we managed to capture much of it on video. It was a wonderfully surreal production that included live music with traditional indigenous instruments. The lighting and acting was as good as any urban theater could expect, Broadway included--no joke! Afterwards, the director made himself available for conversation and we learned a little about how the production was put together. Leave a Comment Directions: About midway between the central plaza and Templo del Carmen on the Andador Eclesiastico.
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on June 10, 2003
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