house for rent, San Cristobal, Chiapas, advise please

[evafla]

Can someone help with advise , please .
We are traveling in small motor home with two dogs , and are right now
in Oaxaca, heading to Chiapas .
We need/want to stay close by to San Cristobal for 2-3 months, till the worst heat over in coastal areas .

If someone knows, please tell us which small town/village in the area,
is good starting point to look for house for rent .

Our requirements are very low key , can be the smallest, very modest,
just water/shower and electricity .
What we really need is parking for our vehicles , motor home, and towed car,
and some save space for the dogs and we do not want to be in the city ,
and a price matters, we would like to close our monthly expenses for rent in 300-400
dollars . I know this is low , but we even ready to rent a piece of land with power
and water .
What we are looking over here for, on the forum , is the hint, which area close by to SC ,
is friendly toward travelers , who want to rent accommodation ,
and has some accommodation available .
Question caused by quite a few not the best experiences in Oaxaca
and surrounding villages . ( first time in Mexico these kind of bad vibrations,
and we are a little bit tense about going father south ) .

greetings eva

[Heyduke]

Mist all towns close to San Cristobal are Indigenous and do not welcome outsidders. The only one I can think of is Teopisca.

[stilltraveling]

Originally Posted by Heyduke

Mist all towns close to San Cristobal are Indigenous and do not welcome outsidders. The only one I can think of is Teopisca.

Things have heated up in the Altos in the last couple years. Heyduke is right. They just don't trust any outsiders right now. I've been working for many years in the autonomous communities and even I have to get permission several days before showing up these days. Even when I do have permission, I've been turned back at the gate and told to return later because of paramilitary activity in the area. The situation has been up and down for the past decade, but right now it's definitely down, probably one step away from becoming a shooting war again.

In addition, if you go in and out of any of the caracoles (that's the name given to the autonomous communities), expect a lot of scrutiny from the Mexican army, the local police and the occasional unmarked vehicle parked outside your home in town. It can get very intimidating.

San Cristobal is practically a hamlet anyway (a lovely hamlet nonetheless). I wouldn't recommend outsiders looking for a place outside of town. You're only asking for headaches. Expect things to heat up even further when the PRI comes back to power.

[conklinwh]

I looked up RV Parks for San Cristobal. The site ontheroadin.com came up with Bonampak Hotel & RV Park. Has phone numbers and email.

[Heyduke]

I don't intend to scare you about moving to a community outside of San Cris. The problem is that it is indigenous land and being a nonindian you can't live there. For the most part they don't trust nonindians but are friendly if treated with respect. <almost all of my friends are Indigenous and even though I try I will never understand them completely. You should have no problem finding a house to rent in SC. Just look on the bulletin boards and you should find many. The closer you get to the tourist season the harder it will be to find a place.

[stilltraveling]

Originally Posted by Heyduke

I don't intend to scare you about moving to a community outside of San Cris. The problem is that it is indigenous land and being a nonindian you can't live there. For the most part they don't trust nonindians but are friendly if treated with respect.

I didn't mean to scare anyone either. My experience in Chiapas is limited to the Altos between SC and San Andrés. The situation there has been precarious since the uprising in the 90s. The first time I went, many years ago, the situation had been very calm for many years. Fox made it a priority to calm the whole thing down. However, the past few years I've noticed a steady increase in the tension. It's not the kind of place you can just drive into and expect to find a hotel or a house for rent. One of the health centers burned down a few years back and it just sat there unrepaired because they didn't know who they could trust. Lots of NGOs offered to help, but the whole thing was just paralyzed because the suspicion is that many of the NGOs are feeding information to the "mal gobierno".

I hope to get back before the year is out. It's not as easy to just go in and out like it used to be. It's a little off-putting to outsiders, especially those who have come to help, but I certainly understand why they have to do it this way. The communities I served are literally fighting for their survival, their families, their land and their way of life.

People who aren't from there would be absolutely flabbergasted to learn what goes on up in those hills, but it's also safe to say that people who aren't from there would have to look real hard to get caught up in it.

[Heyduke]

Where were you Oventic?

[stilltraveling]

Originally Posted by Heyduke

Where were you Oventic?

Mostly. Clinica la Guadalupana.