We got down to Palanque town by collectivo a mini bus that serves as a taxi for loads of people you just wave them down and jump in and pay 10 pesos (about 50p), we found the bus and had enough time to get breakfast (this was before that I figured out that having the malaria tablets before food was not a good idea so my tummy was hopping after) drooped in to the chemist for some calamine lotion for the bites and hopped on the bus that was quite comfortable even if it was a second class one. The journey was uneventful fine.
What can I say San Cristobal we loved it little cobbled streets, brightly painted houses. A private little house for us in the Hostel and 2 beers for 25 pesos great. There was a TV room and DVDs which was great cause it was still raining. We would go walking and get soaked and just come back to the hostel and have some beers and watch some movies.
Finally cracked the bed big problem at that stage I looked like I had the plague I didn't want a photo taken, bow I wish I had just to see how bad they were. We used the sleeping pills that we got for the bus and had one good night of not scratching and then they went. I also said a little payer to St Anthony and that helped too.
On Wednesday we went on a tour of a Mayan village just outside of the town and our guide told us about their way of life. They are still very traditional, they are like the Aboriginals and think that if you take they photo that you will take their soul. Thankfully with the help of my 10x digital zoom I managed to get one without them seeing so I think that was OK well I hope it was. They still speak the indigenous language that they did before the Spanish came they don't know how to write it thought as all the books with it written in were burnt by the Church when the Spanish came saying they were dangerous.
There is a Church that everyone goes to see where the villagers come to pray to their gods. When the Spanish came to Meso America they thought that it would be easy to introduce Catholicism to them as they worshiped a cross but the believe behind it was so different to ours. The Church has a Christian faced but a very Mayan use. When you go in there are no seats, the ground is covered in pine needles to mark a difference from the outside to the place of worship. There are statues of Catholic saints but the people have put Mayan meaning behind them. The villagers come in to ask for help from the gods and they bring Candles, eggs, a chicken and fizzy drink. They believe that any energy expelled from the body is worship for the gods so hence the fizzy drink to make them burp. The eggs are there to expel bad spirits and the chicken is for a sacrifice. We stood around one family for a while to see if they would do it but then I started to feel bad that we were interrupting their praying.
Back in Town the rain had stopped on our last day and we got to walk around a bit. We found these steps that Stu wanted to climb so up we went. God we are so unfit. Half way up the steps two little girls came out of a house to talk to us. They had pieces of paper and asked us to write down our names and where we were from for school then they asked us how much we were going to sponsor them. Little buggers we were hustled by 2 8 year old girls. Later we found out that they had gotten someone else in our hostel so we didn't feel so bad. Then we stumbled upon a market and wondered round Stu got his hair cut and we say a very bizarre item on a butchers block, a cows mouth with teeth nostrils and everything we just had to take a photo.
Our few days in San Cristobal were over we were heading to Antigua the next day another Country very exciting.
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