My plan for my last day in San Cristobal de Las Casas was to go to a meditation thing recommended by my tour guide Ana(I think in like a sweat lodge). But Ana called us and said it was canceled due to the rain.
So instead I went to Chamula with a couple people from the hostel. And thank God we did, it was an experience unlike any I’ve ever had before. We rode in the colectivo for 20 pesos and it took about 30 minutes to get there from San Cristobal. We sat next to some nice Mexicans and I kept offering my bag of chicharrón to them and they thought it was hilarious, but although they didn’t actually seem to want it, they refused to say no.
Once we got off the colectivo we went down the main strip which was a sprawling market where you could buy anything from tacos, to fruits, to the black skirts they all wear made out of some type of black sheep. The market street led us to the main church there which was originally a catholic church, but now is very much dedicated to pagan rituals. Apparently the Spanish allowed the rituals in order to keep the peace in the area.
Walking around the market
Never seen people so entranced
We payed 60 pesos to get in and as soon as we entered the church I felt an awful and strange vibe. The ground was covered in huge pine needles, The sides of the churches were covered in bloody, terrifying Jesus’s and saints, and there had to be 10,000 lit candles littering the floor and sides. There were also 2 kids playing instruments. One hitting a drum and one playing an accordion. I swear they were playing the song from the red wedding in Game of Thrones and it gave the entire church the creepiest vibe.
There were people spread around the church drinking alternatingly pox(their alcohol) and coca cola. They believe that when they burp after drinking the coca cola that that is the evil spirits leaving their body.
We walked up to the main alter area and saw this lady rubbing a chicken all over this man who was kneeling down. Then she pressed it to the ground and snapped its poor little chicken neck. It was pretty wild. She held it there while it did some of its last movements. I breathed in thick clouds of incense as I stared in shock at the dead ass chicken on the catholic alter still twitching occasionally.
I’ve never seen anything like it before.
We then went walking around a little bit, found some tacos and headed back to San Cristobal by colectivo. We stopped at a wine bar where we ordered a wine and got sleepy and I headed to bed. My plan was to wake up super early the next morning to climb the cathedral steps for the sunrise and then leave for the thick jungles of Palenque.