Day 6: San Juan Chamula

We tried a new place for breakfast called Maya'e, which is where we met Rigoberto, our host. He was an elderly Mexican man from California who spoke English better than Spanish and was in the Vietnam War and a quarterback at Boston University; he also sang Pink Floyd and REM to us! He looked like he came straight out of a painting. After breakfast, we took a bus with the UNACH students to San Juan Chamula. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the church since it's religious. It was gorgeous inside and out. There must have been at least a thousand candles on the ground and tables. The candles on the ground got wax everywhere because they were just stuck to the ground. There were also large figurines of religious figures and several large paintings on the walls. One group of people was sitting on the ground sacrificing a chicken: they held it by its feet and wings and waved it over the candles a few times while saying a prayer. Once we left the church, we had 45 minutes to explore the local market, which was similar to the one by our house. Later that night, a few of the UCF students went to a chocolate restaurant, where we got fancy chocolate drinks and talked about our day.

The Church of San Juan Chamula!