Leaving San Cristobal

I've spent the last while here in San Cristobal in Chiapas, Mexico. Today, I've got a ticket to the Caribbean coast, so I'm finally leaving.

San Cristobal is one of my favorite places, but it's somewhat counter-intuitive that I love it so much. The three strikes against it are that it's cold, it's not very close to the beach (seeing a pattern here), and it's got a lot of tourist traffic.

But there are many things to love about it, too, including some of those tourists. The foreigners who hang out here come in several varieties... you've got the 1-or-2-dayers, who are here to check out the textiles & Mayan culture and appreciate its colonial charm.

Then there are the backpackers who enjoy the above plus the good nightlife, and they end up staying close to a week. They have live music here every night. And not just in one or two bars - I can count at least 4 bars that have live music every night of the week that they're open. And that live music is more along the lines of reggae and ska, as opposed to salsa, merengue and cumbia (which are also prevalent, but not as heavily as in other Latin towns).

There are also lots of hippies/artesanos who sell their wares (mostly jewelry) in the markets and on the streets at night who came for a few days and ended up staying here for weeks or months because of the music, the nightlife, the cheap food and cheap accommodation.

The expats who now call San Cristobal home are pretty decent, usually slightly alternative/hippie-ish, but still pretty down-to-earth. There's a large number of French, French Canadian, and Italians who have decided to settle down here, which means that there are some good restaurants around. Unlike some places in Costa Rica and Nicaragua where you see a lot of divorced and retired men praying upon the sweet local flesh, that's not generally a reason why the expats come here. In fact, I don't recall seeing any of that here, which is refreshing. That's probably because of the lack of warm weather/beach - the pretty young thangs are quite covered up here, so not as much flesh to gawk at.

What this all means is that this place is full of people drawn to this place for similar reasons as I am (music, ambiance, beauty, vibe), and there's hardly a dull moment around. On top of that, I stay at a hostel that has a pretty well-stocked kitchen, and I've been cooking up a storm the past 10 days. Veggie curry last night, home-made creamy tomato and basil sauce with pasta last week, quesadillas, and some good ol' sloppy joe-fu. (Thanks, bro, for coining that name.)

Maybe it's because I've spent more time here than in other Mexican towns, but maybe it's because it only happens here (I doubt it), there are two things that I think are kinda funny, but once you get the hang of it, it works!:

1)The people who sell big jugs of purified water just drive around town all day with a big speaker on top of their truck that blares "The water theme song," which, depending on the company, can be a Mission: Impossible-type theme with a guy announcing the arrival of water to your doorstep just a few blocks away dubbed over or it could be a cheerful xylophone sort of tune. It seems weird and/or annoying at first, but it works. You need water, you know when it's coming with a couple of block's notice. You just hope the driver's shift doesn't start at 7am.

2) The propane gas guys function much in the same way with the back of their truck full of canisters of different sizes. They don't have a theme song; they just have a chain with different-sized metal rings hanging off of the back which end up jingling around as they hit the cobblestones and you hear a multi-tonal metal-against-stone sort of sound. Again, annoying at first, but when I used the last of the gas one day, it worked out AOK.

I'm sad to be leaving here because I know people, and when I go out at night, I run into old acquaintances. However, I haven't quite developed any really strong friendships, so it's probably best I get a move on and start my vacation. And get some of my color back. :)