120 Topes to San Cristobal

Hi everyone!
I am back from the village of Matzlan. I had a great time. The drive there was ofcourse... beautiful. Although... it was one 90 degree turn after another... and between Ocosingo and San Cristobal (which is less than an hour from Matzlan) I am told there are 120 topes. Topes are basically speed bumps... but a car goes from driving 90 kph to 1 kph because they are higher than speed bumps in the U.S. They are very annoying, and painful to say the least... but the scenery makes up for them. We arrived at a Presbyterian school and church way up in the highlands where the road is gravel. We accepted their meal of chicken and potatoes in a sort of broth. We had just eaten a big lunch in San Cristobal... I we were not hungry. Coke was also served... and I took that "to go" meaning handed it to someone else. I tried to eat everything on the plate, as it is polite... but the chicken was about 200 chews per piece. Then we had a little service with the youth at the church, and headed off to another church not too far. We had to eat there again. I say "had" to because trust me it was not voluntary. This time it was beef... and other stuff... including Pepsi... which I handed off when they weren't looking. We had a really long service at that church.

The women were in traditional dress... which are similar to eachother because of their specific village. The women and children were on one side of the church and the men on the other. We introduced ourselves and sang a song... which went horribly. Most people there didn't speak spanish... only Tzetzal, so communicating was hard. Although, I learned that smiles are universal.

Afterwords, we went back to the first church and stayed the night there... but not with out eating MORE! I was about ready to die. This morning we had another service, and came back here to Ocosingo. Another group is about to arrive in a few hours, and tomorrow is my birthday... which means cake in the face.

I will post pictures from the village soon. Peace