Part 3: The Cultural Capital Of Chiapas

Reading Time: 8 min

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San Cristobal de las Casas located high in the mountains, in the heart of Chiapas. The “big city” – beautiful and colorful streets, good vegan food, cool places to go out to and to meet new people. As I arrived at the city, dark skies and heavy tropical rain greeted me. Never the less, I didn’t let the gloomy welcome to bring me down and I was eager to get the most out of this place.

The main church of San Cristobal de las Casas

With nightfall, the rain decided to stop and set me free to enjoy the city. After two nights without a decent bar to go to I have decided to check out some mezcaleria (a bar that sells mezcal). I find the taste of mescal more interesting and diverse than the taste of tequila, and usually, the mezcalerias are cooler than the tequilerias (bars that sell tequila) which are more popular and commercial. The place wasn’t big but it had a nice bar to sit on and even nicer barman. Not before long, I was joined by two guys that also sat at the bar area. After just a few shots of mescal and few beers, we become “Mejores amigos” (best friends). It was funny to see the direct correlation between our ability to converse and the level of drunkenness. I spoke enough Spanish to start a conversation but keeping it up was another story. However, as we got drunker, the better we understood each other or we just cared less about the parts that we didn’t understand. At midnight the barman strongly implied that the establishment is soon to be closed and we have to find another place to continue our night out. My new local friends knew just the right place where we shall go. Highly drunk, we set foot to the next destination – The revolution bar. The bar is located right in the center, next to the main square of San Cristobal, nevertheless, it is not “tourist only” place and the blend between tourist and local is rather equal. Everything happened so fast and in just a few hours after stepping into the tranquil Mezcal bar I found myself dancing in this crazy Latin party with a live band.
It made me think that maybe it is the essence of life. You go out there every day hoping that this day will end up in a crazy Latin party.

Typical Spanish Colonial street in the historical center of the city

The next day I have decided to visit two small towns near the city. In these towns, the majority of the population is native people. First I took a combi (a microbus that picks up and lets off passengers along its route) to Zinacatan, a town known for its textile and the fact that some women still practice old waving techniques, or at least they do it for the tourists.

A typical textile shop in Zinacatan

The patterns and the colors of the fabrics are a delight to the eye. In the center of the town, like in many other towns, stands a church. I became very fond of the churches in Mexico because of the dramatic way they exhibit Jesus and other saints. A lot of times Jesus is dressed up in this intense colored, extravagance garment, that wouldn’t embarrass the runway of Ru-Paul Drag Race (I am not saying it disrespectfully, it is just the only way I can describe it). Every time I was about to enter a church I was full of expectations of what I was about to see.

The main church of Zinacatan

The category is: Jesus Extravaganza!

After enjoying the first town and even buying something that I thought to be a shawl and turned out to be a table runner, I have continued to the next town – San Juan Chamula. Upon my arrival, I couldn’t understand what is so special in this town. I thought that maybe the answer lies within the church with its beautifully painted arched entrance. As I came closer to the entrance I saw some Mexicans talking to the guard. “The entrance is not free and you have to pay for it”, said the guard. The Mexicans weren’t happy about it and after they showed their deep disappointment they left. At that moment, I was left to choose whether I want to pay or not, obviously, I didn’t want to fall to the touristic “trap” and decided not to pay either. Later on, I discovered that this is not another church, in fact, it is not a church at all. It is a place of worship where people use ancient shamanic rituals, including animal sacrifice. Before coming to Chiapas I have heard that there are places where sacrificial rituals are being held. As a Vegan, I was raged that these types of rituals are being held. A friend of mine told me that it is a rear phenomenon and people that sacrifice animals are in a very grave and hopeless situation in their life and in a desperate need of the help of god. Either way, I didn’t like the idea of animal sacrifice no matter for what reason or cause it is done. I must admit, some curiosity in me wanted to return to this church to see what is going on, with my own eyes. I have planed a few times afterward to return to this church but it didn’t work out. Some people told me that I was saved from experiencing this church because it is full of dark witchcraft and evil spirits. I don’t know about witchcraft, but I do think that it is good that I didn’t go inside because it is not my place to be there. According to what my friend said, the people that do the extreme rituals are in such bad place and despair that to observe them with my curious touristic eye felt wrong and inadequate. Either way, by not going there I for sure was saved from exposure to really bad energies and vibes.

The infamous church of San Juan Chamula

Since I only later learned that the church is the main attraction of the town, I was puzzled and eager to find why this town is recommended to visit. I wandered around and came to the town cemetery. In general, I like cemeteries. I think that you can learn a lot about the culture of a place by the way people are being buried. Fortunately, in the cemetery, I met a little girl that wanted to sell me some artwork but ended up selling me something she didn’t even know worth money – information. She explained to me about the graves. The graves had different colors of crosses next to them. She told me that a white cross means that a child was buried there, black is for adult, turquoise is for a saint (I don’t know about the saintliness of the person who was buried there but the special color was given to his grave for him being a member of the church). I have noticed that there were graves with multiple crosses. This meant that several people were buried in one grave one on top of the other.

The graveyard of San Juan Chamula

Graves with multiple bodies in them

Even after the fascinating guided tour to the graveyard I still felt underwhelmed by this town. It didn’t make any sense to me what was all the fuss about this place. From the main square, I took another combi back to San Cristobal, leaving the hunted church, that luckily I have dodged, behind.

This curiosity that made me desire to return to the church in Chamula is driven by my fascination and admiration for the ancient shamanic rituals (minus the animal sacrifice part). I believe that God is not the unshared domain of the monotheistic religions. I think that even before the monotheistic religions were founded, there were spiritual people who have found god all over the globe. I believe that a person who is pure, just, companionate, and follows the way of love in whatever he does is aligned with god.

I was advised by my friend to take part in a Temazcal ceremony (the Mayan version of a sweat lodge or sauna) that takes place every week in a holistic center named Nahual-Ha. She also told me that the Temazcal ceremony over there was the best Temazcal ceremony she has ever been to. Due to her strong recommendation, I have decided to book a room in that center for a few days and investigate some other ceremonies that are being held there.

Crazy Latin parties are great but I felt like I had to take some time to myself and reflect on the breakup. And If reflection you are after, it better be with an amazing Mayan shaman.

Thank you for reading, and I'll appreciate if you'll share your thoughts about what I have written.
Thanks in advance,
KAWOQ