Na Bolom

18 years ago - #Mexico

Our hotel in San Cristóbal was pretty incredible. We spent three nights at Casa Na Bolom which is a short walk from the center of town. Casa Na Bolom is a cultural center, a restaurant, a museum, a garden, a hotel, and a historical icon. All the rooms are individual and scattered throughout the estate, down hallways, across courtyards, up steps, etc. It's a huge area that I would stroll around and constantly find new little buildings or gardens hidden around a corner.

The front entrance of Na Bolom. At night, you have to knock on the door to be let onto the grounds. The floor is made with upside down wine bottles embedded into cement.
The front entrance of Na Bolom. At night, you have to knock on the door to be let onto the grounds. The floor is made with upside down wine bottles embedded into cement.

This is the room we stayed in for the first two nights.
This is the room we stayed in for the first two nights.

The main courtyard
The main courtyard

Some iron work along the hall
Some iron work along the hall

The view of the courtyard directly outside our room.
The view of the courtyard directly outside our room.

David built a fire in our room. Being in the mountains, it got quite cold at night.
David built a fire in our room. Being in the mountains, it got quite cold at night.

Although our room was nice, on the last night we asked if we could try another room. We specifically asked for the room that Diego Rivera slept in on his trips to San Cristobal. It was another great room with a view of a garden.

The Diego Rivera Room - although that's not what the hotel calls it.
The Diego Rivera Room - although that's not what the hotel calls it.

A picture of one of our group admiring the beautiful day.
A picture of one of our group admiring the beautiful day.

This post is part of a series called...
Chiapas!
I'm going to put all of San Cristóbal on hold for a second and talk about what happened the next day because it was one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever encountered. We celebrated "Fat Tuesday" in a small mountain town called San Juan Chamula. Unfortunately, the one experience that is the most difficult to describe is the one place we were absolutely not allowed to take pictures. The locals strongly believe that it steals your soul. There were signs posted as we got to the main square saying "NO PHOTOS ALLOWED AFTER THIS POINT".
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Today was our first real touring day, although it started off with a long car drive. We got up relateively early to prepare for the trip. A car was picking us up and taking us to Palenque to visit the ruins. We met two of our group - a young woman named Kelly from Washington D.C. and an older woman named Melanie from Sacramento. We made polite conversation, but it ran out quickly considering we didn't really know each other. It was about 2 and a half hours to Palenque. It was good to adjust oneself to the fact that we were in Mexico. That area was particularly lush and green.
On our last day in San Cristóbal, we decided to get an early start, drive to Chiapa de Corzo, and take a tour of the Cañón del Sumidero before heading to Tuxtla Gutiérrez. It's a very striking canyon that you tour via speedboats that take you up the river to look at the dam and back. To get there, we took the most harrowing ride of my life.