Harrisons in Panajachel: Visa reset time again!

Well it was that time again...to leave the country to reset our visas! This time we decided to travel to San Cristobal, Mexico. Here is a little info about the city:

San Cristóbal de las Casas (Spanish

[saŋkɾisˈtoβal de las ˈkasas] (help·info)), also known by its native Tzotzil name, Jovel (pronounced [xɤ̞ˈve̞l]), is a town and municipality located in the Central Highlands region of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was the capital of the state until 1892, and is still considered the cultural capital of Chiapas.
The municipality is mostly made up of mountainous terrain, but the city sits in a small valley surrounded by hills. The city’s center maintains its Spanish colonial layout and much of its architecture, with red tile roofs, cobblestone streets and wrought iron balconies often with flowers. Most of the city’s economy is based on commerce, services and tourism. It is at an elevation of 7200 ft with a population of about 190,000.

We left on Wednesday, March 4th. We were to be at the Dispensa at 6:30am for the public shuttle. We were hoping that there weren't going to be very many people on the shuttle but we were wrong! Our first leg of the trip from Pana to the border...15 people including the driver in about a 16 passenger van! Tight and uncomfortable! :0( For the second leg, from the border to the square in San Cristobal, 11 in a 12 passenger van! It wasn't as bad for it had a little bit more leg room than the first! It was about a 10hr trip!

Ready to roll!

This was the first leg of the trip. This is taken from the backseat where Morgan, Ashlie, Austin and I were sitting. The guy sitting next to Mike and in front of me was pretty sleepy! Boy was he a bobbin! One time he went so far forward that the brim of his hat hit the seat in front of him. We thought he was going to hit the seat multiple times. Ashlie and I were laughing so hard we were crying!

He we are at the border waiting to load into our next shuttle for the rest of the trip! This was a very easy border crossing!

We arrived at Hotel San Luis at about 5:30 pm. It was a nice clean hotel. The beds were a little hard for our comfort, but we survived! It had hot showers and hot water in the sink! Morgan was so grateful for the hot water in the sink, she could wash her face in it! You see, at home we don't have hot water in the sinks, you only have that if you have water heaters!

This is one of the pedestrian only streets, Real de Guadelupe. On it are several restaurants and shops. We are headed to find a place to eat supper!

We found this Mexican restaurant called La Lupe. Between us we had nachos, fajitas, tacos, enchiladas...

and of course beer and margaritas! Yum yum!

Along this street we came across this...their literature table! They have it open from 9am to 9pm!

This is a little quiet plaza area across from the hotel.

Here is Real de Guadelupe during the day.

And here is the literature table during the day! Mike asked if they have to rent the space. The sister in the middle behind the table said no because this is her dad's home. Cool huh?

Chocolate rat anyone? These were among the pastries at the grocery store! Guess who had to have one? Austin! He said it was like a brownie inside. You just never know! :0)

We took a little walk on up Real de Guadelupe to see what else was up there and to find where a sushi restaurant was that Ash and Austin wanted to try out for supper. These steps lead up to a church, we climbed up them to see the view from there!

And here is what you can see from there!

Mike had looked up where the Kingdom Hall was located and we weren't far from it, so we decided to go find it and we did! No one was there at the time, so these are just the outside of it! We found out that there is a Translation Department in San Cris we just wish someone had told us before we left Pana, we would have brought the appropriate clothes to tour it. Needless to say, we were disappointed!

This is a Thai restaurant we went to for dinner. Their menu changes everyday. They usually have about 5 dishes to choose from each day. By the time we got there, they were down to 2 choices, chicken curry and pad thai. Mike and Ash had the pad thai and the rest of us had the curry. Yuuummmmy!

Lunch time! Ash and Austin went to a hamburger place recommended by a brother! Mike, Morgan and I chose this place, Bugambilias. What a name huh? Mike and Morg had pasta and I had a club sandwich and fries. Very good! Can you tell from Morgan's facial expression?

We didn't want to take a public shuttle back home since we wanted to stop at Walmart and Sam's Club on the way back to stock up on things that are much cheaper in Mexico. The exchange rate is 15 pesos to $1. In Guatemala, it is 7.5Q to $1. So we booked a private one. Much more comfy ride back, even with all the goodies we got! Here are some views from the van on the way back to the border.

Back at the border at about 12:30ish! Again you have to unload from one shuttle to the next. Once we had done that and thought we were ready to head out, an official with immigration came out and told us that there will be about a 2 hr delay. What? Really? Why?...

Because of a horse parade through the street that we have to take to get out! So we stood along the road with the other people and watched! Boy were there some beautiful horses! Here is only a couple. I took video, but it would be too long to put on here and it would probably never upload anyway! :0(