Stalking the Mayans

Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas, Mexico

We have covered a lot of ground since the last update.  I will try to be brief...

Last week we took a half-day tour to "Chocolate City", a small town close to the Guatemalan border, famous for their chocolate-making abilities.  We visited a family owned chocolate business where they demonstrated, using traditional tools and methods, how the chocolate goes from a pod on a tree to an incredibly rich hot chocolate drink.  You can see a couple of the local women hard at work in the accompanying pictures.  We both agreed that this was one of the most interesting, personal glimpses into the lives of a particular family that we have ever experienced.

They have recently won international acclaim for their particular product (at a big chocolate showdown in Italy) and it really shows when you take a sip of the aromatic brew - could be very addictive.

 

After leaving the chocolate business, we travelled a very short distance back towards Tapachula, where we were able to visit the Mayan ruins at Izapa, considered to be the oldest know Mayan site, possibly the birthplace of the Mayan calendar which has had so much publicity lately.  Indeed, on Dec 21st of last year, many people made a pilgrimage to this site to await the arrival of the end of the world.  It is generally believed that that did not actually take place.

After leaving the ruins, we travelled the 11 kms back to Tapachula where we had lunch at a local Botanaro, a bit of a different approach to food and drink than we have seen before.  Basically what they sell is beer (or if you really insist, Coca Cola) at a very reasonable price (25 pesos - about $2.00).  With each drink, the price includes a snack (botana) of your choice, usually some small, cooked delicacy of some sort such as a tamale or bowl of soup or some seafood or other.  This place is really popular with the locals and is a very family oriented affair.

After a day of rest back on Sine Timore (that means working on boat projects), we left with our guide Arturo for a 3-day trip to the town of "San Cristobal de Las Casas", located in a highland valley (2160m) surrounded by pine forest.  When we arrived, after a 5-hour drive, we were greeted by a cold, rainy day.  Not surprisingly I guess, we were totally unprepared for the cold - we have gotten so used to the warm temperatures that we neglected to take any warm clothing, including any footwear other than sandals.  Our hotel, while quite new and modern, had no heat at all (I am not sure there are any hotels in San Cristobal that would have been any better), but it did have lots of hot water, so we used hot showers to warm ourselves up and somehow we managed to survive.

In the afternoon we toured a couple of nearby villages which were both very unique.

The first, San Lorenzo Zinacantan, is the main village of the Zinacantan people, part of the Tzotzil Indians.  Elaborate woven shawls and embroidered blouses are the order of the day here.  We visited the home of a local family, three generations of women all named Maria, where we observed the incredibly complicated weaving process and Susanne was only too happy to buy a shawl to keep her warm.  They were a very welcoming family.

The second village, San Juan Chamula, is the home of a fiercely independent Tzotzil group, about 80,000 strong.  This is their main village and is the center for some unique religious practices - imagine a Catholic church with fresh pine needles spread thickly on the floor and various small animals calmly awaiting sacrifice, while families clear spaces on the floor to plant and light many candles and hold picnics, where sharing a bottle of Coca Cola is a solemn ritual.  The rest of their beliefs are similarly bizarre, at least to us.

The highlight to any visit to this area is, of course, a trip to ancient Mayan city at Palenque, probably the top destination of the state of Chiapas.  The 5 or 6 hour drive up from San Cristobal is not for the faint at heart, as the drivers try to make time on the busy, twisty switch-back strewn road, with more tope's (speed bumps) than you could possibly imagine - it is just over 200kms.  We were with a group of Spanish speaking people and the driver did not speak any English, so we weren't really sure where we were going until we got there - but that is half the fun.

Palenque is a very impressive site, one of the best examples of Maya architecture in Mexico.  Although only a fraction of the site has yet been excavated from the surrounding jungle, what is already uncovered is amazing.  Because of the distance involved in getting there and back in one day, we only had 2 hours in which to explore the ruins.  We hired an English speaking guide (a history student) who was able to give us a quick understanding of the site and I think we did a pretty good job of climbing up and down the more important features - if there are stairs, we always have to climb them.  Fortunately the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful sunny and warm day in which to really appreciate the site.

On the drive back from Palenque, we made two more stops, at two different waterfalls, at Misol-Ha and Agua Azul, each of interest in themselves but we would have preferred to have been able to spend more time at the Mayan site itself.  All in all, a very full day, leaving our hotel at 6AM and returning at 9:30PM.

Since we had not had a chance to explore San Cristobal as yet, we were able to extend our stay for another day, giving us a full day to tour around and see this wonderfully eclectic town, and hear about its exciting recent history.  Only 20 years ago, this was the center of the Zapatista rebels, and is still a hotspot for sympathizers (and opponents) of same.  In addition to a thriving tourist infrastructure and an interesting population of artsy and politically progressive foreigners and Mexicans, it has a great selection of hotels, cafes, bars and restaurants.  In some ways, there is a very 60's hippy vibe to the place, with the associated drug culture as well, I am sure.  There were lots of international tourists about, but not many from the US or Canada.  The big items to bring back from San Cristobal are Amber and Jade, both available in quantity and quite cheap.

For this last day in San Cristobal, the weather was blessedly warm and sunny, although the evenings cooled off very fast.  From what the locals were telling us, this was a very unusual cold snap - the coldest it has been this winter - just our luck to have been there for it.  I guess it will be good training for our imminent trip back to Edmonton in a few days.

Another visitor spotted at Palenque

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{GMST}16|44.13|N|92|38.15|W|San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico|San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico{GEND}