The 26th we spent traveling from Palenque to San Cristobal in a van rather than a bus. This gave us the opportunity to stop off at Agua Azul, a series of cascades. They were lovely and Catriona even had a quick dip in one of the pools while David paddled with Sharon.
It took the rest of the afternoon to drive to San Cristobal de Las Casas where we checked into our hotel then went for a quick walk up to Cerro de Guadelope, a church perched on a hill with a great view over the town. As with most of the churches we have seen it was decked out in all it's Christmas decorations with a huge nativity scene at the front and a black Jesus on a cross.
We had dinner with Chris and Sharon at a restaurant serving local cuisine and Catriona had her first Tequila sunrise in Mexico. After dinner we had a look through the supermercado where we found some David coffee, and David bought a "tasty treat". Christiana bought a bottle of Tequila which we all helped her finish in the courtyard of the hotel along with the limes Chris bought, before retiring for the night.
In the morning we set off to find a place for breakfast. The restaurant we ended up in was very efficient with the waiters almost running Breakfast was delicious and filling.We went back to the hotel to drop off our diaries we had brought to write up over breakfast. David started to not feel well but decided to set out to enjoy the town anyway. We first walked up a wide stairway to a church, Iglesia El Cerrillo which had a running waterfall in it's nativity scene. Then on to the markets which were full of fresh food and clothing stalls also many of the stalls were selling fireworks. Once again, just like in Peru Catriona was like a giant next to the locals.
We also dropped in to Tempo Santo Domingo which had walls covered in intricate carvings painted in gold with niches for pictures and statues. The outside was also carved but from stone not wood. David was not feeling very well so headed back to the hotel and Catriona continued the walk by herself with the next stop being Templo de la Caridad which seemed to be a church where Catholicism and the local Mayan religion were mixed. There was a Shaman blessing a young child being held by her mother, he was lighting candles and chanting. Next was a walk down the pedestrian shopping mall to the Plaza 31 de Marzo and a visit to the Cathedral. Catriona met up with John and Lorna in the Cathedral who were visiting the same sites but in the opposite direction. Then it was on to a chocolateria to have a hot chocolate made from ground cacao beans with Chris and Sharon. The three then headed passed Templo San Francisco which was closed and on up the many steps to Cerro de San Cristobal.
Catriona went back to the hotel to check on David who was feeling better so we set out together again. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant full of holidaying Mexicans. Catriona ordered a salad and David decided to give it a miss. Before the salad arrived David took a turn for the worst and headed back to the hotel. Catriona ate lunch by herself then headed back to the hotel as well and not long after also became ill. Both of us were up and down all night to the bathroom. We were up at 5:30am as we had to leave at 6:30am. In the morning we found more than 1/2 of the group were sick so we did not have a very pleasant travel day. We were in a 30 seater bus to the Mexican boarder which took around 4 hours and we were at the boarder for about 1 1/2 hours before being driven to the Guatemalan boarder. The process to enter Guatemala was much quicker and we traveled in a 14 seater van the rest of the way to Panajachel, arriving at 7pm. We tried to call Chris for his birthday with no luck so just left a message.
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