Day 35 - I came to San Cristobal de las Casas, here in the Chiapas mountains, in the hope that I could descend a cave called Chorreodero. It is a 3.5km through trip which drops 330 vertical meters. Most of the drops, over 40 of them, are jumpable. It is one of the world's funnest caves and ranks as one of Mexico's most sporting trips.

Unfortunately, the monsoon season started the day I arrived. Despite having clear weather for weeks, torrential rains have happened every afternoon since I got here. Within 10 minutes of starting the streets here in San Cristobal have water a foot deep. Normally the season does not start for a month or two, so this is quite unusual, I'm told. This means it is impossible to descend the cave, as it is flash flooding every day.

I haven't been able to do anything but walk around the town. I just don't want to be caught out somewhere on the motorcycle when the rains start. Even though it's bright and sunny in the mornings, once it starts raining, it continues until sunset. Instead I'll come back through here on my way back from Guatemala -- maybe this will just be pre season stuff, and be a little better then.

San Cristobal de las Casas is a really beautiful town. It's high up in the mountains, surrounded by pine forest. The streets are clean, cobblestone, the air fresh and cool, and lots of people walking around. There's a lot of stuff to do around here -- I just wish the rain would hold off!

I met the guide for Chorreodero, Carlos, who is really nice and introduced me to his friend Maurisio. As it turns out, Maurisio grew up in Monterrey, and was a caver and canyoneer there. He knows everyone from Chuy (who put together the rendezvous there a couple weeks ago) to Fofo (vice chair of my local caving club in the Bay Area). We had a nice dinner at his house in town. He and his flat-mates were hosting 5 couch-surfers at the time. I think I'll try doing that on my way back up through Mexico -- I'm tired of the $30 per night hotel rooms!

There is a Museum of Jade here in the town. I got to try on some $2000 jade necklaces. They looked fantastic! I seem to remember the jade in Thailand was considerably less expensive though, so I was able to resist. Jade is definitely my stone -- my favorite item is a small jade necklace I got in Thailand that I almost always wear.

The pic of the day is of my hotel, in the morning before it starts raining :)