San Cristobal de Las Casas

The last day in Chiapas for two out of the seven of us was in San Cristobal de Las Casas. The first thing I noticed when we got there was how it wasn't humid like in Villahermosa or Palenque. If you find San Cristobal de Las Casas on a map of Mexico it seems to be in the center of Chiapas. It's in a small valley so that must be part of the reason it's not as humid as the other parts of Chiapas. We went to Iguana Hostel and dropped our stuff off. The American girl who was working there for a few weeks was very friendly and welcoming. She got the job through workaway.info and was eventually making her way up to Merida. After we dropped our stuff off we went to eat and then went on a search for chocolate. We also went to an open air market and explored the city a little more.

I can see why San Cristobal de Las Casas is on many lists of cities to visit in Mexico. It is so picturesque. It has that Spanish feel with the architecture and cobblestone streets. It's surrounded by hills and there are mountains in the distance which looks so beautiful from rooftops. There are many indigenous people and culture to be seen as well as many tourists. That was the first time I'd felt such a touristy presence in a Mexican city. The people dressed so well (I felt so under dressed!) and it was more of a modern scene. I would definitely like to visit this city again. I feel like it has a lot to offer!

 Sooooo close to Guatemala! 

 The colors and patterns are so Mexican. 

A view of outside from inside the chocolate shop. 

Palenque

Our next day in Chiapas was spent in and around Palenque. We woke up very early and were dropped off at the ADO station and left on our journey from Villahermosa to Palenque. I was surprised to see that we weren't riding in a huge charter bus, but in a van like bus (the same structure of the cambios in Tehuacan). The bus wasn't full so everything was fine. Our hostel was called Yaxkin Hostal which I would recommend to anyone in Palenque. It's about a 5 minute walk from the ADO station, maybe even less. We were only there for one night but if I ever to go back to Palenque I would like to stay there again. All 7 of us shared a room that was like a little cabin apart from the main reception area. When we got settled in we started our trip. We paid to ride in one of the tour cambios which actually worked out really well. We were able to see the pyramids of Palenque, a water fall that we didn't plan on seeing (but was actually amazing!) and Agua Azul. At the end of the day we had dinner in the hostel's cafe and went to sleep because we had an early bus ride the next day.

Palenque

Palenque was amazing. We spent a little over an hour there but I could have stayed the whole day! The Mayan pyramids are surrounded by jungle. Palenque wasn't on my bucket list but I'm so glad I saw it. It's so gorgeous that I don't know if I'll be impressed by any other pyramids!

Waterfall
The waterfall was an unexpected journey but it was worth it. We only spent 30 minutes there but that was enough time to walk in the back of the waterfall and get soaked! A few of the people I went with also went into a cave that was behind the waterfall.

 This was the 1st sight of the waterfall. It's very huge in person and you can feel the mist from pretty far away. 

By this point we walked past the back of the waterfall. Behind me is a cave. 

Agua Azul

Finally we made it to Agua Azul. It was great to swim in the water because Palenque is very hot and humid. There weren't too many people at Agua Azul so we had our own little "beach" to ourselves. 

Villahermosa

This past weekend was a 4 day weekend for us English teachers because of Mexican Independence Day. I took a trip way down south to Chiapas, Mexico with 6 other teachers. We left from Tehuacan on Friday night at 9:30pm and arrived in Tabasco (a state next to Chiapas) the next day after a little set back. That set back being getting off the ADO charter bus at the wrong stop -_- With all the travelling I've done you'd think I would know to ask if we're at the right stop! I think it was because we were all very excited to get off the bus and be at our destination. So after this set back we got on the bus for 1 more our and arrived in Villahermosa. One of the teachers lives with a host family in Tehuacan and this family has a sister named Isa who picked us up from the airport and showed us around all day. Isa and her husband were so nice, driving us around all day to the see the beautiful and exciting things in Villahermosa.

The first thing we did was eat! Then we went to the Parque Museo La Venta. It has animals and artifacts from the Olmecs. After this everyone was hungry so we ate lunch, went to see a church and ate ice cream in the center of town. They had seats up and ready for El Grito on Monday, the 15th. After this there was a long ride to their house because of traffic. We got ready at their house and then took off again to see a light show and eat pizza for dinner. It was such a nice day, especially because Isa and her husband were so accommodating to us! This was only the first night! It gets better from here...

Here are some pictures::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We couldn't figure out what kind of animal this was. We asked a man and he said a name but we didn't know what the English equivalent was! Then we read a sign that said it is a badger. 

I fed the badger. They like tortillas!

This is a tomb.

Everything was green.

Crocodile!

There was a bird sanctuary.

The outside of the church.

Light show! There are crocodiles in that water o_o