I've been sick in one form of another since I hit Mexico City. At first I had a tummy bug and as this was clearing I managed to get a head cold with bonus sore throat and had this from Puebla, through our stay in Oxaca (prounced wa-ha-ka) and further south to my current location, San Cristobal de la Casas. Fortunately today I'm feeling healthy for the first time this week, I hope it lasts. Despite illness I did managed to get out and about and do some sightseeing, Monte Alban in Oxacaand another day trip out to some natural mineral springs (petrified waterfall) and a mezcal (tequila) factory. The bus ride from Oxaca to San Cristobal was pretty tough with a cold as it was overnight (approx 12 hours) with the first four hours being a winding road which saw several people on the bus throw-up and just about everyone else (including myself) feel nauseous.

We arrived in San Christobal early morning so we had pretty much the whole day to explore the town. Being a smaller city with buildings dating back to the 1500's, narrow cobbled streets lined with various colourful inviting shops it has a really welcoming atmosphere. Its the first place I've been in Mexico where the native precolumbin culture is Mayan an as I found out today the influence of Mayan culture is still very strong in the area. Its other claim to fame was it was the base for the leftist Zapatistas movements armed struggle against the Mexican government over indiginous rights (amoungst other things) in 1994. There is a lot of Zapatista parafanaliour for sale to tourists and a Zapatista museum in town which is kind of ironic as part of their creedo was anti globalisation and tourism.....

Being Saturday night we went out and found that many of the bars in town had amazing live music. The music was very energetic, it seemed a cross between reggae, ska and salsa. With such good entertainment we grooved away well into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Our guide from Intrepid, Andres, had reccomended that we hire motor scooters and go for a tour of some outlying Mayan villages. It was a tough start at 9am with eight of us reporting bleery eyed after the previous night but at least the weather looked ok, predictably 5km down the road the rain set in. Despite the rain we made it to the first village, following Andres we swerved around the parked vehicle that was blocking traffic into the towns square ahead of us we could see market stalls at the end of the road but we didn't stop. Andres manouvered his scooter inbetween the first row of stalls with confidence, with trepidation we followed on the remaining three scooters which to passers by must have looked like a chase scene from a James Bond movie. Fortunately we all negotiated the stalls, people in heavy wool coats, stray dogs and parked up at the far end of the town square.

The village didn't look too different from any other small Mexican town with colonial arcitecture mixed with modern practacality and a plerothera of market stalls in the main square. What we were in this village to see was the local Catholic church. Having been in Mexico three weeks I wasn't super enthustiastic about going to see another colonial church (another bloody church!) as the novelty of the 16th centuary arciteture was wearing thin, however Andres told me that I should see this one as it was set up in 'Mayan style'. So expecting to be dissapointed I paid the local council my 'donation' and headed in with the group. Going though the door of the church finished in 1524 I was greeted by a sight I wasn't expecting.

In an earlier blog from Mexico I talked about the adaptation of the belief's of the Aztec religion to Catholicism and subsequent conversion that was evident in Tepoztlan. Despite the additional symbology that was evident in the churches around the Tepoztlan area they were still obiviously Catholic churches. What I saw today was very different. Walking through the doors the first thing that struck me was that there were no pews for the congregation to sit. The church building had marble floors covered with pine needles. The paritioners were scattered about the room, some standing, some sitting while others knelt each praying in there own way, some audbly but not in Spanish, Latin or English, still others prayed silently. There was no discernable order or pattern to the placement of these people. Some of the faithful were praying in front of statues of Saints that lined both the side walls of the church, many of the Saints having candles lit in front of them others had what appeared to be offerings placed in front of them. There were still other members of the faithful had cleared random spots on the floor of pine needles and had set up a bank of candles in front of their position and were praying (one was even drinking Coke!!!). This was Catholicism Mayan style! No formal weekly masses are held the people merely drift in and pray their own way and head off again. Priests apparently only attent the church to perform the major sacrements such as baptism, confirmation, marriage! I couldn't help but think how different this was to my Catholic experience. My description doesn't really do the church justice unfortunately, though quiet reasonably, photos weren't allowed.

After the church we cruised to another village where we went to a 'women's refuge' where local clothing was made and we were dressed in traditional Mayan wedding out fits and fed casadeas until we burst. It sounds tacky but the village's who hosted us were some of the warmest and friendlist people I've me so far in Mexico and we had a great time learning about village life. A few hours later and only a few NDEs (Near Death Experiences) on the scooters we made it back to San Christobal and guess what...............as we handed the scooter keys in it finally stopped raining.