Breakfast begins on at the Restaurante Italiano - housed in the Hotel Posada Tepeyac on Calle de Gaudelupe No. 40. Best breakfast of the trip. Creative, delicious and reasonable.
 |
| Restaurante Italiano |
Then, off to Tuxtla by public bus. Only 70 minutes away but a world apart from San Cristóbal. Tuxtla is a modern city of over a half million residents. It spreads across a lowland valley with its suburbs lapping up against the surrounding hillsides. The cool mountain air is a memory; thick heat greets us as we exit the bus.
Like San Cristóbal, the changes in Tuxtla during the intervening years of our visits is unbelievable. Again, nothing is recognizable. The bus station is new and no longer located in the unappealing city center; the hotel - where we previously stayed (the Flamboyant, now a Holiday Inn) - had felt marginally tethered to the rest of the town. Now, it is just one of many businesses (malls, hotels, restaurants) strung across the city's main roadway.
We choose to stay at the Crowne Plaza. The high life. Well, actually the nearby Camino Real would have cost us a small mortgage for the night. The Crowne Plaza is a little more plush and quieter than the adjoining Holiday Inn. And it is only $10US more expensive. For our last night, it's worth it. (BTW: Book on-line to get the best rate. No discounts are given to walk-ins. Believe us, we tried. But they let us use the hotel's wi-fi to connect to the Crowne Plaza website and make an instant reservation at the discounted rate.)
The hotel is also located across the street from the Plaza Crystal and the Galleria - two large shopping malls that contain a supermarket, a branch of Sanborn's (with its signature restaurant) and a better-than-expected (though noisy) food court in the Galleria.
We still have time that afternoon to take a quick tour of Tuxtla's renown zoo - informally known as ZOOMAT. A 50 peso cab ride delivers us from our hotel to its entrance. The zoo is known for its animal-friendly, spacious, open-air fenced-in "cages". We are able to see the elusive queztal as well as a jaguar, a puma and a number of local birds called guans. (The guan with the red-horned head cap is the emblem of the zoo.)
After an hour and half we leave the zoo at closing time - 5:00 pm - and take a cab back. (The trip back costs 60 pesos. Go figure.)
Dinner at Sanborn's that night and back to the hotel for an early turn-in. Incredibly comfortable beds help us get a good night sleep before our early morning - 7:30 am - flight back to the States.
