Thewesternprovinceblog

The road to Chiapas – Part 2

Hola once again todos! Late blog entry for this one as had been a very challenging few days getting here. I am now In San Cristóbal de las Casas, the last major stop before the dodgy border zone with Guatemala. Ended up here a bit early as decided to move up early. But let’s back up a bit. Qué pasó aquí?? Well let’s go back 2 days ago to Salina Cruz.

I start my Wednesday okay had a good night’s sleep and my bus is due out at 1135 and I’m 2 mins walk away from the station so can have a bit of a lie in which is exactly what I did. 1045 rolls round and I’m all sorted and out I go. I stop off in the Oxxo to load up on water and munch for the 6.5 hour journey to Tuxtla Gutiérrez. I’m in the station and the board says all on time nice and good.

This is where it starts to go wrong. 11:35 comes by but no bus, no Biggie they run late but other passengers start asking them at the counter after about half hour but no idea what’s going on. 12:35 still no news. I’m starting to think I might be stuck in Salina for another night but 12:55 it comes and we are on way after a near 90 minute delay.

The ride up to Tuxtla is another interesting one. It’s lots of flatlands leaving Oaxaca state then just before we get across the state line we have a 30 minute stop in this restaurant. Drives got to eat so fair enough and apparently that bus started from Puerto Escondido which is 4 hours west of Salina Cruz, so long day for drive!

Once we get rolling again we begin the climb up into Chiapas state. It’s more Anatolia esque twisty roads then once you get to the top it’s a big plateau until you descend slowly into Tuxtla. We arrive at Tuxtla and then it’s an Uber to the gaffe. I get to the hotel around 20:30. What should have been a 6.5 hour journey took the best part of 9! 

Now the hotel we are in is not the best to put it kindly, I had booked 3 nights here thinking Tuxtla would be okay. Oh boy was I wrong! Will cover the hotel in detail in part 3 but it is important to describe the area around it because as bad as the place was I was initially still willing to stick it out however going out and having a wander that opinion soon changed.

After a 9 hour road trip what do we want now? A nice gentle couple of beers and some scran please. But this is where we see Tuxtla is not good for travellers especially the Welsh. Food? Forget it as all the resteraunts shut at half 8. What about a beer? Went to 2 places and get turned away for no proper reason but eventually find this lower class sports hall type place and have a few bottles of victoria so at least the beer part gets satisfied but they say they are shutting soon.

Tuxtla does not look like a great place to go wandering either so luckily I find a circle k by my gaffe and one that will still sell you tins after 10pm – they would not in Salina Cruz. So a 4 pack of modelos it was and back to the hovel we went! As I was getting myself sloshed enough to sleep in that hole the executive decision was made to cut the stay short in the morning but would sort the logistics out once we get through the night……