San Cristobal & Day of the Dead

I stepped off the bus in San Cristobal and had this odd feeling. After a while I realised I was cold. I thought back to the last time this had happened and realised it was when I climbed Volcan Chimborazo in Ecuador, all the way back in May!

I have to say, it was quite refreshing to be somewhere with a cool climate after sweating my way through Central America, and San Cristobal is a truly beautiful colonial city. In fact, I'd say it's the nicest colonial city I've seen on the whole trip, not an easy title to claim.

I'd just happened to arrive in for the last two days of cultural week, when the town showcases local art, music and crafts. Every evening in the main square there was local music, everything from indigenous woodwind to an 86 piece orchestra, and during the day the main square was covered in paintings.

There is also a cool cafe/music culture. There are lots of tiny cafe/restaurants (I ate in one that only had two tables) which host buskers that roam around the town popping in for a song or two. They also make great enchiladas (the restaurants, not the buskers). I love a good enchilada. I also love insects trapped in fossilised tree sap (that might be a lie), so I checked out the amber museum - it was surprisingly good!

Next up was the town of Oaxaca (pronounced wah-ak-ah, yes, I'm not lying). I'd found myself in Mexico for Day of the Dead, and Oaxaca is reportedly one of the best places to experience it. The holiday is all about remembering loved ones who have passed away, through celebration rather than grieving. Oh, and everyone dresses up and paints their faces.

The holiday lasts for three days, from 31st October, to 2nd November. The family gathers together and goes to clean the graves of loved ones. They then decorate the grave with offerings, including sugar skulls, flores de muerto (flowers of the dead, orange marigolds) and pan de muerto (bread of the dead, a sugary white bread). They also leave possessions of the deceased and food/drinks that the person in question liked to eat/drink during their lifetime.

Relatives and friends will camp out at the graves all night reminiscing about good times with the deceased, sometimes in the form of poems or songs. There is also a lot of drinking involved, the local Mezcal being the beverage of choice. The great thing about it is the everyone is happy.

As usual I'd not made any plans so I ended up in the only hostel with rooms available. This was a proper backpackers hostel. Negatives - two bathrooms for 30 people, terrible beds, run down and dirty. Positives - cheap, good location, great people. It also had a borderline alcoholic owner who passed around lots of bottles of hard liquor every night. Facepaint was also provided.

Some outfits were scarier than others...

The owner and his friends were really good to us. Not only did they supply copious amounts of free alcohol but they showed us what the holiday was really about. On the 31st we went to the main Oaxacan cemetery to walk around the graves and meet the families. Getting there was a challenge - there were 28 of us and one pickup truck. Everyone knew each other a lot better after that journey... I felt a bit strange walking around a graveyard to sightsee, but everyone we met was really happy that we'd come to visit, and spent ages telling us stories about the people they were there to remember.

The next day I discovered that there are some great cliffs around Oaxaca, what a result! Hangover-climbing was in order. No one covered themselves in glory. Good times though.

The other nights we joined the locals in the bars of Oaxaca and did some serious partying. I have to say, the Mexican people I've met so far have been some of the friendliest of this trip. They also have more swear-words than any other Latin American nation and it seems to be a national pastime to pass this important knowledge onto as many gringos as possible. I'm at least 78% ruder (in Spanish) than I was before I crossed over into this country. Seriously though, I'm going to have to come and travel Mexico properly some day soon.

Right, after all this partying I'm off for some serious downtime in the mountains. Hasta luego!

I ate a cricket in Oaxaca. I can't recommend it.

San Cristobal had some seriously impressive churches.

Another thing they do for day of the dead is create these huge coloured-sand pictures.

Here is a work in progress.