The Most Magical of the Pueblos Mágicos

It started with food. After a very long 14 hour bus ride from Oaxaca, I landed in San Cristobal hangry and tired. I dropped my bags at the hostel and went directly to the closest eatery on the map they provided. Chips & salsa, 4 barbacoa tacos and two beers for $77 pesos. You can’t beat that. 

Next, was my decision to do something I wanted to do in Mexico City and Oaxaca but didn’t, the free walking tour. Best decision ever! Our tour guide, Carlos, was very passionate about his city, pointing out all the best food, drink, shopping and street art spots. While this wasn’t a food tour, it could have been. We stopped often to taste local delights like coffee, chapulines (grasshoppers), pox (pronounced posh), camboucha, beer and a few other things I can’t recall. During one stop, I got schooled on what peyote should look like, how to have an authentic ayahuasca experience and an opportunity to acquire a very special brownie 😜. Magic!

Discovering falafel was yet another magical experience. Puerto Escondido and Oaxaca had been hit & miss finding good food at reasonable prices. San Cristobal started off great but I followed up those yummy tacos with pricey but average enchiladas. Now it’s Monday, a lot of places are closed and i’m starving. After wandering, I settle on 1 of @3 open places at the end of my patience. A newbie to falafel, I took forever to order, sat down and pouted because I knew it would suck. I took a bite and almost cried. It was so good I bought one to go and ate it the next day. Still wonderful!

I spent my final day in San Cristobal exploring the Amber, Jade and Na Bolom Museums and meandering through the maze of side-by-side tents that make up the main shopping area. A magical day of playing photographer, looking at art and shopping for that perfect piece of amber that continues to elude me. I would go back to San Cristobal in a heartbeat. It’s the perfect home base for exploring the state of Chiapas.