San Cristóbal de las Casas owes its name to the legendary Bishop of Chiapas, Bartolomé de Las Casas, who stood up for the indigenous population in the 17th century and is still revered today as a “patron saint of the people”.

The town is picturesquely situated in the fertile high valley of Jovel, surrounded to the west and east by three thousand metre peaks. It is an important market place for the Indian population. Many of the Maya descendants now make their living by selling handicrafts to the ever-increasing number of tourists who visit the capital of the Zapatista uprisings of the 1990s. (read more …)