San Cristobal de las Casas

We needed to overnight somewhere enroute to our last stop in Mexico, San Cristobal de las Casas in the Chiapas state.  Blasting out of San Agustinillo area without stopping at an ATM turned out to be an error.  There were no ATMs near our departure route and we saw we’d be going through or near several decent-sized towns before bedding down for the night so we thought it would be OK.

Whelp – by the time we decided on a hotel for the night which only takes cash, we still had no ATM access.  We’d need to detour about 20 minutes off the toll road to a town called Juchitan de Zaragoza to get to a bank.  Once there we pulled into a Burger King with a giant play area for kids and made that our dinner.  Note: while Chili’s had been a very welcome taste of home, Burger King definitely was not.  But Nina had a blast.  The Burger King was guarded by an armed private security officer which tipped us off a little bit that this town was perhaps not the most awesome.

After dinner we went in search of 2 things:  an ATM, and a second choice hotel right in town with secure parking we’d found recommended on iOverlander.  We decided to drive by the hotel first but as we drove through the downtown/centro area we noticed that almost every other lot was just rubble, spilling out into the street.  We had to keep driving around big piles of rubble.  When we got to the hotel, it was just an empty lot with piles of rubble.  That’s when we really knew that this town had been hit very hard by the 8.1 magnitude earthquake in September.  We Google’d it and confirmed that this was darn near ground zero.  Very sad state.  We drove to the ATM and got cash with extra attention to security and got the heck out of town.  While we would have loved to put our pesos to work for the people of this town, it was not safe in this current state where so many people had lost their entire livelihoods.  We did not get photos – we were just so stunned to be witnessing it that it didn’t occur to us to pull out a camera.

A second effect of the earthquake was that nearly every bridge was undergoing major repairs.  Each one we crossed had one lane closed and often the lane under repair was a giant hole in the bridge.  Confidence-inspiring.

Another note about this area from Salinas Cruz all the way until just short of San Cristobal – it is incredibly windy!  The trade winds blow at about 45 mph on average all winter.  Man, was it unpleasant.

We hunkered down for the night at our first choice, the newish Marsi Hotel, just off the toll road.  It was quite comfortable and had secure parking and breakfast offered.  The winds rattled the windows and howled all night, so we cranked our white noise a bit louder than normal.

The next day we expected a breezy 3-hour drive into San Cristobal.  That was not to be.  Just outside of Santo Domingo Ingenio where our hotel was, the teachers had staged a sit-in on the only bridge through town.  There was not another route.  All the trucks were just pulled along side the road.  We pulled into the Pemex station to get some intel and were told the teachers would go home around 4pm.  Thaaaat did not work for us.  Our other choice was to follow another couple of vehicles who were headed to an off-road river crossing on the outskirts of town.  OK, we’ll do that.  I’m so mad at myself for not getting a video of my truck-baby blasting across that river.  She did so great!  So did driver Dmitri.  I’d jumped out to scout the situation and watch some other cars to try and pick the best line.  Most cars were getting bogged down in the large loose rocks in the middle (deepest) part.  Townsfolk were helping push cars out for tips.  We didn’t need any of that.

Thankfully the rest of the drive was uneventful and we pulled into our cute little casa for the next 5 days well before sundown.

In San Cristobal de las Casas we again re-organized our gear since we’d consumed (and obtained) additional stuff and wanted to be nice and crisp before crossing into Guatemala.   We also visited a nearby super-cool cave called Los Arcotete where we also did some rock climbing.  The town square was packed with awesomeness for Nina, and the dining was outstanding too.  I finally got my roots tended to at a salon in town (note: 3 months is too long to go between root touch-ups, but if you camp and stay in other places with bad lighting and few mirrors, you’ll be blissfully ignorant!).  Lastly, Ted went to the vet and got his paperwork in order for the border crossing.  Thankfully no shots required this time – score!

The big news was that on Day 3, ahead of schedule, our truck title arrived!!!  Finally!  That was the culmination of (no exaggeration) 12 hours on hold, 4 hours actively on the phone, 2 faxes (for real, Nationwide?  Fax?), and at least 3 hours each of my parents’ and our friend Tory’s time (all for whom I’m eternally grateful!).