Floating Away...

I want to reassure anyone concerned that although the flooding has been devastating in the southern parts of Chiapas – in border towns such as Tapachula -- and across much of Guatemala, we had only seen 3 days of heavy rains in Altamirano. I have spent the last five days traveling with my mom and saw none of the floods that are covered on the news. Of course, when my mom came down to Tuxtla, she realized her true purpose was to deliver mail and my scotch. It really is difficult to find good Scotch outside of the US (and of course, Scotland). Laphroaig happens to be the best and well worth the effort of being funneled into a plastic water bottle and flown 2000 miles!

From Tuxtla we took a cab to San Cristobal. The distance between two of Chiapas’ larger cities, the former with the airport and the latter with the culture is a 1 ½ hour ride along the mountains because the express highway all the guidebooks talk about never opened. It seems the bridge of the express highway collapsed one month before they were going to cut the ribbon. San Cristobal remains one of my favorite cities in the world. It has a slow, lazy feel to it with perfectly cool weather and an occasional rain in the afternoon that leaves the cobblestone streets, once the sun returns, glowing like broken silver. There are coffeehouses to explore along with museums, markets, jewelry shops, juice bars, and scores of backpackers and strays from around the world who come to stay or pass through on their way to Palenque. There is Indian food, Sushi, American, and plenty of Mexican cuisine. Tours go out daily to all parts of Chiapas as well as down to Guatemala. If you ever choose to visit, you can stay in a hostel, a Posada, or a hotel, and there is always internet available somewhere around the corner.

We went to the mall on the outskirts of town to see Plan de Vuelo (Flight Plan) in a theater whose screen was at least as big as the largest I’ve seen in the States. I was really hoping it was in English with Spanish subtitles so my mind could take a break from twisting my brain around every word. Then the movie began and there is Jodie Foster, speaking German! If anyone has seen the movie, you would know the rest of the film is in English. The whole movie experience was a pleasant treat. Three hours from Altamirano, San Cristobal happens to have the closest movie theater. On the following morning, we took a tour of two nearby towns with very different indigenous cultures; San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan. In both towns, visitors who take pictures of religious rites get their cameras confiscated. In Chamula, the old catholic church has become a cove for indigenous rites. Inside, the pews have been removed and the flooring is covered in pine needles that are replaced weekly. Locals come with their chicken eggs to roll over their bodies or live chickens to sacrifice as well as candles to light all over the floor; all in the name of medicine or prayer to their Catholic saints. Outside the church, there are two markets – one for the townspeople and the other for the tourists in which some of the best of Chiapan textiles can be purchased. The vibrant reds, yellows, and blues line the corridors of the market making the experience of walking through the market to a color gourmand as sweet as the taste of Laphroaig to a Scotch gourmand.

In Palenque for the second time, I took my mom by taxi to the Misol-Ha waterfalls. When we arrived, we were nearly the only ones there, and I quickly went down the wooden trail that led across the wet rocks behind the falls to explore. Where the path ends, I climbed down on the rocks and across, still under the falls, where exists a set of stairs with an incredibly strong force of water gushing down them. Along the stairs, a rope is provided to help pull me up the stairs and not down the falls. At the top, following a Mexican guy who waited there, I climbed about 90 feet into a dark cave, around rocks and in calf-deep water to the back where a nice waterfall can be seen with a flashlight and bats hang from the ceiling. After that adventure, I navigated back around to the face of the over 100 foot high falls, which are now fuller than usual after several hard days of rain and dove into the refreshing water from its shoreline. The current in the pool below the falls was very strong and though I approached the falls, I decided it was best to pull myself along another rope which crossed the water. It was a truly beautiful place to be and I look forward to returning and sharing the experience.

Today I am back in Altamirano and my mom has returned to Tuxtla. I will start seeing patients on my own this afternoon. I am not worried about the medical part, but the idea of missing some important part of the history makes me a little nervous. Scotch aside, it was good to see my mom.