Yesterday morning we left the parental house in Saltillo to make our last tour together through Mexico, after spending three months here. We were actually thinking of going from Mexico D.F. to San Cristobal de las Casas to Cancun, all by bus. When verifying ticket prices, we noticed that prices for the bus to Mexico D.F. or either a bus to Monterrey and then a plane would end up practically the same. While doubting the options, a new plan came to us. We could also fly to Tuxtla, then go to San Cristobal de las Casas directly. And from there, maybe even more to Guatemala! We liked this new plan much more, so we gave up on visiting Mexico D.F., maybe even better, seen the actual chaos around the rise of gasolin prices.
It was Thursday night when we got this new idea, but we didn’t book right away. Luis got sick and we considered it a better idea to wait until he would feel better, since we would leave in a short amount of time. On Friday he felt better, so we got back to checking ticket prices. There are two cheap airplane companies in Mexico, Volaris and Viva Aerobus. With the first one we could bring a suitcase of 25 kg each and 2 small bags, with the second one we would have to pay extra in order to be able to bring a 15 kg suitcase. We found cheap flights for the next following days, but half an hour later ticket prices at Volaris dropped almost half of the price! Only problem was that it meant we would have to leave the next day.
My suitcase wasn’t ready yet, we hadn’t said goodbye to the family yet and we really wanted to go to the cinema – oops. So, in the upcoming afternoon and night we saw Why Him? – and because of my mistake (pregnancy?) we had to see it in the way more expensive VIP cinema. Bummer, not really. It was a nice ending of our time in Saltillo. The next day it would be the birthday of my father in law, so we organised a small birthday party with the rest of the family that was in Saltillo, and we celebrated with taco’s and Milky Way pie.
Around these festivities we managed to pack my 25 kg bag, handluggage and Luis’ bag. A few hours of sleep later – I woke up from noises of the wind – we said goodbye to Luis’ father at the airport of Monterrey. Bizarre how fast this all went! To be honest, it makes me feel really sad. The downside of living abroad – when you go back home, you will always leave another home behind. And in this case someone you love deeply. Fortunately you can always go back, but deciding on which place to stay for the moment is a pretty rough decision. All places have their good and less sides.
After security check we shared a ham and cheese panini and bought a bottle of Coca Cola – a must for me, I never want to fly without my coke. Since we already knew our seats, we waited with boarding until we were last in line to get on the plane. Apparently the ground stewardess didn’t check us off the list of people who got on board, so they called for Luis on the speakers. He held his hand up and walked to another row to stow his bag, since our row was already stuffed with the big suitcases of the flight crew. While standing there, he asked a stewardess about them calling out his name. She said it was all fine.
At the same time, another lady of Volaris came up to our row with a note in her hand, she looked at the row number, the empty seat, scrabbled something on her note and walked out again. She didn’t seek for information of the surrounding travellers, neither from the flight staff, so I wasn’t sure if I should have spoken to her. Since the stewardess told us it was fine, we trusted her.
Right after take off we both fell asleep until the end of the flight, so time literally flew by. Luis got a little airsick – so the Coca Cola did come in useful.
Arriving in Tuxtla Gutierrez, we noticed one of our big bags was missing. Ground staff acted quickly, they actually approached us and asked us if we were still waiting on luggage from the Volaris flight, apparently we were the last persons waiting. They asked us to come upstairs and filled in a form. Apparently they didn-t put our bag on the plane for security reasons, because they thought Luis never boarded. You would think they would put a bit more effort before deciding to leave our luggage behind. I mean, we were travelling with two. Why would I be on the plane and my husband not, when we did check in together? We were not so pleased with this Volaris flight. There wasn’t even foodservice – as in, not even the paid for food service. So if you would have boarded hungry and thursty, well – you would have been screwed.
When we were finally done, we walked to the OCC counter for a bus ticket. But.. there was no one there. After waiting for five minutes, someone put a sign that the staff would be back at 14h30. Great, it was only a little after 1pm. So we missed the bus and got an even larger delay because of the failure of Volaris. Hungry and tired we went to one of the airport restaurants, where we enjoyed tamales with chipilin and mole.
Some time later a van finally brought us to our destination, San Cristobal las Casas. The way up there was amazingly beautiful – nonetheless, I passed the biggest part of it being asleep. A kind taxi driver took us from the bus terminal to our hotel, and gave us some travel tips for the city. We found that people here are very nice and helpful.
The hotel, Rincon del Arco, is very nice. It-s peaceful and quiet, there is a big garden with all kinds of fruit trees and our room is big and beautiful. There is a restaurant in the hotel, but we still decided to go for a stroll into town.
After a few blocks we arrived at La Abuelita, which has three different areas with different atmospheres. We choose the part in the back, where there is a music machine where people can pick their own songs. Luis went for a Sopa Tlalpeño, because his stomach still isn’t acting like it should. We shared garlic mushrooms as an appetizer. Food was okay-ish. It was not the best moment to enjoy a perfect meal. We were so tired!
We decided to go back to the hotel and rest, if I would get hungry, we would always order roomservice. And we did! It was freezingly cold. Something we weren-t expecting. I trusted on Luis and didn’t do my usual tourist investigation before packing our bags. Fortunately I did pack my warm pyama, but for the rest I only had summer clothing with me. My warmer sweaters were in the bags that was still on its way back to us.
So, back in the room we ordered an extra blanket and two hot chocolates to warm up a bit. Luis didn’t bring any pyama, so he slept in his clothes and bodywarmer. We snuggled up and fell asleep at 9 pm – yep, we are two youngsters with a very vibrant life haha.
