We returned to San Cristobal yesterday. Our last day in Palenque, I went to the ruinas by myself since John preferred to stay in the bungalow by the stream in the jungle. It was quite hot and because I was by myself, I just sat at the top of pyramids in the shade and looked out. An old Mexican man sat next to me and asked me in English where I was from. He said that in Nevada there was a secret site where aliens from outer space taught scientists how to make airplanes invisible and how to use lasers. I thanked him for this information. Most of the visitors are Mexican tourists with their families and it really is a remarkable history of Mayan civilization they have. The indigenous people now consider themselves Mayan, I believe. They practice Mayan medicine.

Today we went to San Juan Chamula, village outside of San Cristobal. This small town has people of the Tzotzil group (not sure about spelling). They wear mid-calf skirts made from black goat fur - some shaggy, some trimmed. Even toddlers wear these skirts. Some men wear white tunics of rough wool over short pants. Others wear jeans. The large plaza in front of the church of San Juan Bautista (John the Baptist) has little stands selling mandarin oranges and potatoes. The church was built in the 1500's. I went in. There were thousands of candles everywhere and pine needles on the floor. There were no pews. Several groups of candles in the middle of the sanctuary had people kneeling and chanting in from of them, some holding roosters. Little children sat by their family groups while men chanted. It was hot from all the candles. Large doll-like figures of saints lined the walls, each with a mirror on their chest. I liked the idea of my image at the heart of each saint. We walked around the town up into the barrios (neighborhoods) and saw mostly women, sitting in their front yards weaving. Little girls about 4 years old in their goat fur skirts, bright waistbands and satin shirts walked among the corn stalks picking up aluminum cans. Later a truck came through with a loudspeaker, and the little girls proudly presented the bag of cans and the driver gave her mother some money. People we passed looked at us with interest since we looked like aliens. When I said "buenas tardes" they smiled and replied cordially. We returned to San Cristobal in a "collectivo" - a VW van stuffed with people and vegetables in the back. Since we were at the public market, we bought a huge papaya and pineapple, which were delicious.

For dinner John had empanadas filled with potatoes and vegetables. I had pastry with onion and cactus filling. I had never eaten cactus. It was kind of like zuchini, but the owner said it had to have the spines removed and be boiled several times to remove the slimy texture. I liked it. We also had salad - carrots, beets, tomatoes. This is an organic food restaurant and they claim to disinfect all vegetables - so we believe them. For breakfast, we buy a big carton of coconut yogurt from the grocery store and put bananas and granola in it that John brought from Seattle. For lunch we have bread from a great whole wheat bakery and carrots and cucumbers.

Tomorrow we will take the bus in the evening to Puerto Escondido on the beach. Back to hot weather. Love from Cathy