Aug 4 - San Cristobal

After our morning routine at the hostel, we went to an 'internet' cafe near the Zocalo to take care of some things. Then we went to a cafe I ha dread about called La Selva (the forest), where Frank had huge tamales and I had tortilla chips (something of a rarity here). The organic Chiapan coffee was delicious. Afterward, I took another stab at finding jewelry at the Expo Ambar, but to no avail. Our Spanish class was enjoyable as we learned about the history of the school, our teacher's previous employment, and the myriad specific uses of the preterite and imperfect tenses.

Next we went in search of the Museo de Cafe, which we found to be no more than a few rooms, but it was interesting. The museum detailed the history of coffee cultivation and production in general and specifically in Mexico as well as the political and social issues surrounding indigenous coffee growers and the history of coffee cooperatives in Chiapas. We then had delicious hummus and falafel at a little Israeli eatery that we had seen little ads for all over the place (in Hebrew and Spanish, so we knew it had to be good). Frank thinks one of the chefs was speaking Hebrew with a group of travellers as we entered.

We attempted to find a bookstore that a friend had recommended, but we discovered that it had moved to a place incomprehensibly described by the man we asked in the chocolate store that had replaced it. Instead of searching aimlessly like we usually do, we returned to the hostel and read for a while. Going back out for yet another beverage and pastry run, I discovered bottled pina colada in a convenience store. Unfortunately it was truly gross.