My niece and I arrived in Chiapas on a Friday evening. It was such a long journey! We took three flights starting from Baltimore. Although it was long, it was worth it the moment I began to see where we would be landing. Out of the airplane window I started to see lush green land and mountains and I was already in awe of all the beauty in front of me.
We were picked up by the Humanity First Guatemala Team* from the Tuxtala Airport which was about an hour drive from San Cristobal De Las Casas, our final desitnation.
San Cristobal is located in the Central Highlands region of Mexico in the state of Chiapas which makes for some interesting weather conditions.
We were greeted by rain and a pleasant 70 degree temperature.
As soon as we got into town and checked into our hotel, it was time for dinner!
Hotel Parador Margarita
So this leads me into telling you about all the places we ate at in this area.
Mexican food is one of my all time favorite cuisine so you can only imagine my excitement!
Tacos from Restaurant La Lupe
We ordered chicken and steak tacos which were delicious! We were able to dress them up with a variety of condiments from the salsa bar which were on point and elevated the flavors of the tacos.
Breakfast at Hotel Parador Margarita
The hotel included breakfast with your room purchase. They offered quite a variety with fresh juices every morning! I ordered avocado toast on the daily (so predictable). They offered fruit cocktails, crepes, pancakes and more.
Churros from the Street
A friend grabbed some churros from the market when we were shopping around. They weren’t like the ones I am used to (with the cinnamon sugar) These had a milk cream on them. Still good though!
Quesadillas from Parador Restaurant
This was technically not in San Cristobal but was a restaurant we ate at during one of our excursions in the state. What I loved about it was that a. there was a lady making fresh tortillas by the second. b. they didn’t have a proper written menu and only offered a few items which made it easy to pick something.
We started with a soup (which was amazing). My main dish was cheese quesadillas. It was a super simple meal but honestly very delicious especially with the fresh guacamole. This guacamole was the best one we had on the trip.
Lime Popcicle
We all stopped to get a popcicle after climbing up and down stairs to see Lagos de Montebello (the blue lakes) we went to. It was a refreshing and super delicious treat! The little boy who was selling these at the bottom of the steps was was offering them in different fruity flavors including coconut which was the popular flavor amongst our group.
Coconut Water
Coconut water is huge here. You can get this hydrating drink pretty much all over. This particular coconut was purchased after our hike back down from seeing the El Chiflon Falls.
Horchata from Cacao Nativa
You can’t leave Mexico without having horchata, a refreshing rice drink that is pretty common.
Nachos from Cocoliche
The nachos I ordered were a big portion and I couldn’t eat all of them but they were delicious! This restaurant offered some good vegan and vegetarian options and everyone really enjoyed their meals.
Berry Smoothie from Yik Cafe
UGH…this was so delicious! The smoothies and fresh juices were just so good everywhere we went. Basically you couldn’t go wrong ordering a fruity drink from most anywhere.
Sopes from TierrAdentro
One of my last meals were these delicious chicken sopes. They were on point, juicy, flavorful and the perfect amount of seasoning and spice! I think this was probably my favorite meal in this city.
Pizza from Pizzería El Punto – Plaza San Agustín
Pizza? Yup. When I arrived in Mexico I was like I am going to eat Mexican food every day! After having some delicious food for the first 5 days, I was like okay….I need some NOT Mexican food for a while…hence the pizza.
The pizza was surprisinly very good (although the basil tasted a bit different than the kind I’m used to having in the U.S.).
Ice cream from Oh La La! Pasteleria
OMG this ice cream is the best ice cream I’ve ever had! I wanted to eat it daily but it didn’t fit into our schedule. I had it twice and I dream about it all the time.
*Okay, now I’d like to talk about why I went to Mexico in the first place.
I had the opportunity to go to Chiapas, Mexico with Humanity First Guatemala Women, a non-profit organization helping serve mankind. The specific one I went on was a Meternal-Child Mission.
The experience itself was great. We were able to serve 437 patients (exceeding our goal of 400).
We were also able to sponsor five pregnant women to whom we provided nutritional shakes to. These shakes will benefit the mom and the baby in giving them the nutrients they otherwise wouldn’t get.
Besides seeing patients, we also conducted educational workshops regarding mental health, domestic violence and nutrition. I am not in the medical profession which was one of the reason I was hesitant to go on any of these kinds of missions but I became an expert on taking blood pressure. I also handled all of the social media for the mission which I really enjoyed doing!
Overall, it was a successful mission and we left feeling humbled and with our hearts full of love for the people of Chiapas. They may not have much but they have the biggest hearts we’ve ever come across.
