The road from Corzo de Chiapa to San Christobal de las Casas is really spectacular!  It's in really good shape, narrow in places but has some places to pull over and enjoy the view.  The road rises from 600m at Chiapa de Corzo to 2300m at San Chris over a distance of only 68km, that a lot of climbing.  As I neared San Christobal, I could see bits of the road ahead as it snuck up and around the peak of the next mountain. "That's got to be the high point of the road", I thought, but each time I got to the "top" I would get a glimpse of another piece of road sneaking around another, higher peak.  It was about 5:00 pm and geting prety cold when I finally topped the last pass and saw San Christobal in the valley below.

San Christobal has done a lot to retain it's traditional style. I only spend two nights in San Christobal de las Casas but I should have spent two weeks to see all there is to see.  I spent most of my time around the Zocalo and Artesania Market.  I also visited all the churches I stumbled across and a few coffee shops. 

Around the Zocalo

There are lots of small hotels and hostels near the city center.  It took less than an hour to find a quite place where it could park the bike in the lobby of a house that had been converted into a hotel.  It think the room cost about $150 pesos per night.

Casa Nabolom	Church with part of the Mercado de Artesania in the foreground

Hand-made, wool bracelets
	Two more examples of Chiapan handicrafts, a clay doll, 4 inches high in wool clothing and a clay snake, 2 1/2 inches across with a fish in it's mouth.

The young lady on the right in the photo above sold me the articles above. At first I thought she was a child of about 9 or 10 years old but she was offended when I asked her age,  I think she said she was actually 24 years old.  Her name is Teresa and she was born with Dwarfism.  She and most of her fellow vendors come from the village of San Juan Chamula.  I plan to visit the village the next time I go through the area.  They have a big festival on the 17th of April.

One afternoon I stopped into a cafe for a coffee and got to talking to the girl behind the counter.  I noticed a poster behind her that mentioned the Zapatista rebels, a group that has been active in the state of Chiapas for many years.  I suspected that she was sympathetic to their cause and asked her about it.  She gave me a sideways glance and said that it seemed to her that all the tourists believed that all the locals were feverent supporters of the movement but that it was not the true, that most citizens were in favor of the government and that the Zapatistas were just trouble makers.

No doubt there are many sides to the argument, each of them with valid points, some selfish and some altruistic.  My own take on the issue is that the Chiapans do need more support from the central government, particularly medical and educational support, and more freedom to govern their own affairs.  Like all indigenous communities from Inuvik to Tierra del Fuego, they have the right to self determination and the right to protect their way of life. 

In any event, despite the rumors and warnings, I never experienced or even heard of any trouble with Zapatistas or Government agents during my time in Chiapas, or in fact at any time in Mexico.  If, during your next visit, you are concerned about security issues, just stay to the better-traveled tourist areas and you won't have any problems at all!

Next, to road to Agua Azul and Palenque