Hound Dog
Aug 5, 2010, 8:12 AM
Post #6 of 11
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Re: [Jimbo] Decent, cheap hotel in San Cristobal de Las Casas
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My wife and I are planning to go to Chiapas this December for a couple of weeks. We'll spend some time in Tuxtla and Palenque, but we also want to spend a few days in San Cristobal. Can anyone recommend a decent, moderately-priced hotel? Another poster, replying to a question about the weather there, suggested one might want to find a hotel room with a fireplace or some form of heating - so I guess we'd want a hotel with that too.
Also, if there are "must sees" for people going there for the first time as tourists, I'd appreciate that too.
Well, Jimbo; that was my wife Vichil answering under the Dawg´s name so I can´t take any credit for her comments.
The only thing I will say about hotels in San Cristóbal is that it might be sunny and fresh or cloudy and cold in December but for sure it will be cold at night. Be sure you get a heated rood whether with a fireplace or other heat source. You´d be surprised how many hotel rooms (and private homes) are not heated there at 7,000 feet.
As for "must sees", I recommend that you stay in the historic center in San Cristóbal and plan on walking or taking the cheap, unmetered taxis ($20 Pesos per ride) anywhere you wish to go in town. The historic center is relatively compact with extraordinary architectural gems and the main things to see lie within walking distance of the plaza principal along mainly pedestrian-only thoroughfares. Outside of the historic center, San Cristóbal is not particularly interesting and the hillsides surrounding the city are the homes to many desperately poor disenfranchised indigenous people expelled from their traditional home villages in the surrounding mountains for complex political/religious reasons. You do not wish to stroll in those places. The good news is that the historic center and most of the city are on relatively flat terrain so this is a stroller´s town if there ever was one. In San Cristóbal, "must sees", all within walking distance if you like to walk, include the principal plaza and steets emerging from it in various directions. The city maintains tourist information centers in the plaza and city hall on the plaza to help you decide where to walk. Other important things to see:
* Don´t miss the Santo Domingo ex-Convent and the indigenous vendors in the surrounding park plus the adjacent massive and always highly entertaining municipal and indigenous market where you can just observe or buy yourself a chicken , turkey or pig to take back to your hotel room to slaughter for dinner. This indigenous market is just a couple of blocks from our home in the fascinating El Cerrillo Barrio and when we are there seasonally, we always shop for fruits and vegetables at the indigenous market with its endless variety of seasonal produce largely freshly harvested in nearby mountainside fincas by the colorfully clad indigenous vendors who trek down from the mountains daily to sell their produce, artisanal products, flowers, herbs and livestock. A great place to spend a morning from about 9:00AM to noon.
* If you are there on a saturday night, look for red lanterns on certain homes all over town advertising homemade tamales for sale by the women and children of the homes. Ask locals for the place they like the best as there are many choices. Saturday night is tamal feast night and the local specialties include tamales made with mole or azafran wrapped in banana leaves , "bola" wrapped in corn husks and so forth. These are all served to go and you can take your choice of tamales back to your hotel room to enjoy with an ice cold beer available in countless local tiendas.
* Don´t miss visiting Na Balom, the hotel, dining room and museum that is the ex-home of Franz and Gertrude Blum. This is a justly famous place and you can stay there in the hotel although it is a bit expensive for what you get. It is fun to have dinner there once at the communal dining table as you may meet some very interesting people including, perhaps, some Lacandon tribesmen from the Chiapas jungles along and near the border of Guatemala. The food can be uneven - sometimes quite good, sometimes not so good - but if you are lucky you´ll meet others who might make the experience worthwhile.
* Visit the Maya visitor´s center and museum and the grounds surrounding it to see plants and herbs used for traditional Maya medicinal purposes growing in the museum´s gardens. A fascinating place where you´ll discover many remedies for intestinal and respiratory ailments that, apparently, used to kill the Maya in droves.
ROAD TRIPS FROM SAN CRISTÓBAL:
* Drive (if you can) to Palenque stopping at Ocosingo to visit the spectacular Maya ruins at Toniná which was once a principal Maya city doing extensive trade when not at war with Palenque. Toniná is definitely worth the short detour off of the main highway from San Cristóbal to Palenque and I recommend this as an absolute "must see". Also worth a short detour are several sights along the way to Palenque including, if you have limited time, a sort diversion to Agua Azul although you should exercise caution about eating at the eateries set up there by the local ejido folks or you may contract Chiapas Revenge.
* Drive to the Lagos de Montebello National Park visiting the Chincultik ruins and Spanish art museum and hacienda/hotel at Santa Maria along the way and, if you have the time, drive on along the excellent frontier highway to the Reserva Monte Azul, Yaxchilan and Bonampak. This is largely a wilderness journey so if you plan to do it let me know as there are some guidelines you should follow.
* Visits to Chiapa de Corzo and Tuxtla Gutierrez have already been discussed by my darlin wife so I won´t go there except to say Chiapa de Corzo and the adjacent Rio de Grijalva are very much worth a visit. I would skip the boat trips down the river to the Cañon de Sumidero if I were you since it can be a yawner.
Enough for now. Have a nice trip.
(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Aug 5, 2010, 8:12 AM)
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