Orquideas Moxviquil and the Market in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas - Day 6

Before I begin to tell you about our wanderings on Day 6 in San Cristobal, I want to share with you a photo
that a friend and blog reader sent to me yesterday.  He surreptitiously snapped this photo in the church in
Chamula.  Note the pine straw all over the floors.  That was a detail that I forgot in my description.  Walking on it was like walking on sliding silk.  It forced one to carefully maneuver through the building.  This photo is
a treasure.

                   A spiritual sight portrayed that has been practiced for centuries on sacred sites in Mexico.

On Day 6, an "open day" we headed out early to the market and the nearby church for my friend Nora to photograph the outside and inside of the church.  I wandered in the market and did buy a couple of blouses.
Now I wish I had purchased more as they were only 150 pesos each.  Oh well.  This trip was definitely not a shopping trip like my first one.  It was way more about the sights and scenes of Chiapas.

With that in mind, we headed by taxi out to the periferico to Orquideas Moxviquil.  In our taxi was not only the driver, but his wife and baby.  It was a joy to watch them all interacting.  It was about a ten to fifteen minute ride by taxi and the charge was 35 pesos.  We were surprised as in town, just going a short way it is the same price.  That is about $1.75 USD

We paid for our ticket into the park like setting of the orchid and bromeliad gardens.  There were buildings for conferences, offices and who knows what.  We went to see flowers so we headed that way. There was a big greenhouse where the gardener and two other people were entering, so we followed.  Hot and humid would be an understatement.  However, here was where there were a few, very few relatively tiny orchids e blooming.  Much to our dismay we learned that the orchids in San Cristobal do not bloom until July and August since the elevation is one thousand feet higher then San Miguel at 7100 ft elevation!

Outside, there were bromeliads in most of the trees.  I've grown these for about thirty years both in Houston and San Miguel.  I find them very hardy and almost maintenance free.  Something to enjoy when blooming or not.

 It was a disappointment not to see more orchids, but I'm glad we went out there.  One never knows what to expect.  There are lots of stone stairs to go from one level to the other on the mountain side.  No there were not handrails and we did not venture any further then the greenhouse after the gardener told us there was nothing to see higher up at this time of the year.

Tomorrow will be the last segment of this trip. I started to add it to this day, but the Sumidero Canyon and Chiapa de Corzo deserve their own day and writing.  It is a spectacular place.  Stay tuned.