Yesterday it was a beautiful cool day here in St. Cristóbal so we went for a looooong walk. (I’m sorry for you folks up there in the US. We’ve been hearing how awful it’s been, temperature-wise.)

When we first got to San Cris, on our way into town, our driver took a route that went right by a cemetery that looked incredibly cool and it was a goal of mine to find it and photograph it. So yesterday, we walked and walked, in search of the cemetery. We walked down the Pan American Highway towards Tuxtla figuring well, we came from Tuxtla so it had to be on the way to Tuxtla. We made a little side visit to what was apparently a mall that looked A LOT l like a Walmart. As usual, the music was blaring and it was packed with cheap goods. We also saw the prettiest little church:

and just as I was ready to give up because we had already been walking for hours,  Huppy says, “Let’s go this way.” As usual, he wanted to go left when I wanted to turn around and go home. I was just about to start haranguing him when we saw it: San Cristóbal’s Necropolis!

See? It’s easy to think it  might just be very interesting. There’s just a hint that there’s something cool behind those walls. And boy, howdee, was I ever right:

Huppy was enthralled. He’s used to cool cemeteries, being from New Orleans and all. They have some of the best graveyards ever. But these? Even he was impressed.

They look like tiny little homes, some with porches and electricity! And they’re all very colorful.

On the inside are tributes to the deceased. This guy liked motorcycles, beer, smoking and tequila (but then again, who doesn’t?):

And this little boy died too young. His family put all of his toys in there and lit it up:

Some are quite modern:

And I thought this one was almost alpine:

This one was my favorite. It’s not a little house at all, but just a covered bench and a grave; Simple, yet tasteful. It looked like a great place to be contemplative:

Not only is the place colorful, but it’s also lively. The families are responsible for the upkeep and they also spend time there, celebrating and reminiscing. This family was having a huge party:

There was food, music and kids running around playing. It wasn’t a sad vibe at all. Another family even had a mariachi band! We couldn’t believe it. We both decided that we wanted to be buried there. I mean, there was so much life in the cemetery. What a great place to hang out in when you’re dead. I only wish we could see it on All Souls Day. THAT must totally rock.

I’ve got to give them credit, these folks REALLY know how to be dead.

I’ve created a slideshow over at fotki so you can see all the pictures. There’s too many of them to post here.

OK, just one more: