Since I was feeling a lot better, I decided to do a tour of two of the Mayan villages that surround San Cristobal. The first community was definitely the most unique. The town and market surrounding the church were just like most other towns in the area, but inside the church is where things got weird.
In this town, Christianity has been mixed with traditional Mayan beliefs. The church is officially catholic, but it isn't like any other catholic church I've ever been too. There are no pews, the floor is covered in pine needles (to ward off evil spirits, I think) and burning candles (the reason so many of these churches have burnt down). Along the walls are statues of the saints, covered in layers of clothes and mirrors hanging around their necks (so evil spirits will see their ugly reflection and stay away from them). There aren't many images of Jesus, but since it was the church of St. John the Baptist, there were lots of pictures of him. We also got to see a healing ceremony take place in the middle of the church. The person who was there to be healed was sitting on the floor holding a chicken, while the healer, also sitting on the floor, lit candles and chanted. When he was done, he took the chicken, waved it over the person to "absorb" the evil or sickness, then broke the chicken's neck. The chicken was then returned to the person to be buried. Not your normal, everyday church activity!
The second town was a bit less Mayan (no killing of chickens), but still had the pine needles and candles - but they were on stands, not the floor. In this town, we also stopped in at a family's house where they quickly pulled out all their weaving and embroidering to demonstrate how it was made and to sell it too us. We were also given a demonstration on how they made tortillas using a press.
We got back to San Cristobal early in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to wander the city streets, find a post office, send an email home, and do a bit of laundry.
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