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| Streets of San Cristobal |
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| At the top of one of the hills in San Cristobal |
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| Still smiling after 14 hours of poo infused bus |
This town was beautiful and it is indeed a special place for us as there must have been something in the water that made Julien propose to me! Great. So so great! We love San Cristobal!!
Apart from doing the good old street meandering, filling our bellies with Mexican delights and visiting churches, a highlight was a 4 hour horse ride through the hills to a indigenous Mayan village, San Juan Chamula. We were the only people on the trip, and our lovely guide Pancho hardly said a word to us! So off we went, onto the giant horses and up up and away into the wilderness, past rivers with Mayan people cultivating the land and woman sitting alone in the shade to weave beautiful clothes. Julien rode in style, whilst I didnt move with the horse but instead bounced my way along resulting in sore legs and other unmentionable things.
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| Mayan village San Juan Chamula |
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| She was much nicer in person - she weaved our beautiful blanket |
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| Pancho and Julio |
At the village we went into a church where indigenous Mayan rituals still take place. Yes, as a tourist you can pay to watch which was intriguing however we felt quite disrespectful of their culture. They removed all of the saints from the once Catholic church and covered the ground with hay and candles. Chickens were sacrifised and Fanta and Coke was drank as it is thought to cleanse the body by burping out demons! Quite different to health class back home!It was a really weird experience and we kind of felt like perverts as we weren't exactly invited in and just sat and watched... Anyway it was interesting and an experience if nothing else. As I said before we saw these beautiful blankets being weaved in the paddocks and we couldn't help but buy a beautiful big mexican rug to drape over our bed or the couch in London.
So that we both have an even stamp on what we do on our travels, we sometime have a day when one of us organises, and the other goes with as they will have the following day to plan. My day was brilliant of course, very relaxing and included the aforementioned trip to the village by horseback. The next day was Julien's . He will take over now to give you his turn of events.
So the next day was my day. That morning I woke up and thought, yea I should propose today. And that's exactly what I did. I should say something first. The men get the really hard job! It's bloody stressful and scary being the man and having to organise this proposal business. What, organise a ring, plan a decent time, be romantic about it and then ultimately put your neck on the line and ask your girlfriend to commit to a lifetime with me! Anyway, after all that nervous energy and anticipation, it was time to plan the perfect proposal and do what I had been waiting for...
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| SHE SAID YES!!! |
The main thing was that she said YES straight away and it was a really amazing moment! Still all these weeks later we are still so happy.
Its so exciting and what a relief! After getting the ring made, trying
to find the right thing to say and where to do it, it all worked out
splendidly and she accepted!!
We were in the Mexican highlands, in a beautiful little city called San
Cristobal de las cases in the Chiapas state. My proposal plan didn't go
quite the way I had planned... I ended up propopsing twice... The
original plan was to walk to the top of a mountain and ask her
there. Unfortunately there were poisonous snakes and spiders up there
which I didn't realise and Jen had a slight freak out so we headed back
to town for some food and a rest.
After a short lived nap I turned to her and asked
her to marry me. It was very intimate and low key which I liked. I then
had to improve on that and do it properly on one knee at sunset with a
local handmade copper ring (as the proper one is in London waiting for
her). Youll al be pleased to know I went out and got a bottle of Veuve,
some ice and some champagne glasses (no small feat I cn tell you in
Mexico). Got down on one knee, and told her how wonderful she was and
did it properly. As it was two years to the day that we went on
our first date, it was fitting I think. WE had the best night out. So
much champagne, good food, more wine, skype dates with family in too
many different time zones and we awoke the following morning, engaged and with a somewhat elevated head pressure. Such a great experience and we are so happy!
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| Little did she know that today was the day... |
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| First things first - a celebratory cup of tea |
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| Dinner complete with virtual ring and a real rose! |
So after the excitement of that we were all jiggered up and beaming for several days. We spent another couple of restful days in San Cristobal before we decided to head for the border and go to Guatemala. I say several days because then we were hit with horrific food poisoning! Our first week as an engaged couple was spent in a hotel room in Huehuetenango (not so much a happening place as a stop off point for adventures further inland) worshipping the porcelain God and taking our turn.
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| The ring waiting for Jenny in London |
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| Veuve of course |
First things first though, the border crossing... The Mexican, Guatemalan border is unlike any border crossing I have ever had. Normally there is the exit booth at the actual border and the entrance booth for the next country directly on the other side of the border. You would think that, but anyway, that wasn't the case. After getting a taxi to the border, we walzed into Guatemala without an exit stamp and were very quickly ushered back to the nearest town (ten min drive away), for another taxi fare of course, to get a stamp. This was no easy feat either. The queues were long and we were sent to the bank down the road to pay an exit fee. The exit fee we had already paid when we arrived in Mexico, however I think the passport man wanted to put his kids through private education. As we couldn't produce a receipt from the airline signed by the CEO of the company we were forced to pay again. I hope his kids are studying very hard. We crossed the border and what a difference. There were no more airconditined buses and instead of taxis there were tuk tuks .It was great!
Then something happened. Jen was struggling at the border and she knew something was happening down south. We were supposed to have another 3.5 hour bus ride to Xela to get to the Hostel we had booked for the night. We only lasted 2 hours in the local chicken bus and had to check in to a hotel. After reading all the horror stories of Guatemala we are sitting on the bus and it gets dark very quickly ... Rambo is being played on the DVD player extremely loud, and all of our fears of Guatemala come flooding to our minds. Fortunately there was no problem, and we arrived safe and sound ready to coma for a couple of days. By this stage I was feeling fine and just looking after Jenny. A lovely Guatemalan man ran off the bus and got Jenny some pills which he said would help. We were a little suspicious so thanked him politely and put the pills in our pocket. A lovely gesture all the same.
WE made it to the hotel, ordered plain rice and went to bed in our luxurious hotel room complete with running water and an ensuite. Jen struggled all night, and then about 8 hours later I was in the same position and we had to just take turns with the bathroom.
What a start to our engagement! After a few days of this we were finally ready to get on another bus and mission it to Antigua, the beautiful colonial city, famous for Spanish language schools and not much else. It was fantastic there! We ended up spending two weeks there with local families learning Spanish and our teachers made sure we did that, boy did they crack the whip! More to come on that soon.
What a splendid account, and I love the photo of Jen with the rose in mouth.
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