Mexico & Guatemala

Part 2:

Chiapas

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Introduction

In ancient times Chiapas was the western part of the realm of the Maya. In recent history it's been a poor province of Mexico with a large indigenous population. It shot to world fame in 1994 when the armed Zapatista rebel movement EZLN, led by instant cult hero subcommandante Marcos (a university professor turned guerillero), appeared out of the jungle and occupied San Cristobal and three other places for a few days to demand more rights for the indigenous people.

January 15th (day 7): Cañon del Sumidero and Chiapa de Corzo

We arrived in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital, by night bus from Oaxaca. Tuxtla itself isn't interesting, so we immediately sought out a local bus to take us to the Canyon del Sumidero. We went through it by boat from the town of Chiapa de Corzo, which we visited afterwards.

Cañon del Sumidero

This canyon became a huge lake when a dam was built at its end. We took a fast tourist boat from Chiapa de Corzo to the dam and back, a 70km trip which took only two hours. The walls of the canyon are a staggering 800m high at some points, and it is just filled with all kinds of birds.

Chiapa de Corzo

Chiapa is the oldest Spanish settlement in Chiapas, though they quickly moved their base to San Cristobal. We were very fortunate to visit during the annual Fieste de Enero, with which the local people commemorate the Spanish conquest, and even more lucky that it was the day of the Parachicos parade.

In this parade the local men (who are mostly indian) wear absurd blond whigs and white-faced, emotionless masks with beards to impersonate the conquistadores. Dressed up like this they dance and whirl through the streets to the sound of drums. This noisy spectacle was neither cheerful nor mournful nor angry, it was just totally psychedelic. Without a doubt the coolest bit of folklore I have ever seen.
In the evening we moved on to San Cristobal which we visited the next day.

January 16th (day 8): San Cristobal

San Cristobal is the town that was conquered by the Zapatistas (but quickly retaken by the Mexican army) in 1994. The LP made it seem like the most beautiful and fun place in Mexico, which is probably why it disappointed for us. It's a nice and charming place alright, but it is essentially a smaller version of Oaxaca with less to see. At an elevation of 2165m, it was also very chilly.
In the evening we moved on again, to Palenque.

January 17th (day 9): Misol-Ha, Agua Clara, Agua Azul

We'd been traveling at top speed so far, but now we'd decided not to make the detour to southern Guatemala that we had intended to make, so we could afford to slow down the pace a bit. On this day we made a day trip to some beautiful spots in the jungle around Palenque.

Misol-Ha

Misol-Ha is a 35m high waterfall that was used in the movie Predator.

Agua Clara

A turquoise pool.

Agua Azul

The main event: a series of waterfalls called Agua Azul.

January 18th (day 10): Palenque

About the Maya

Palenque was the first of seven ancient Mayan cities we visited, so we interrupt this broadcast to give you some useful background information on the Maya.

The Maya inhabited the region that is now Guatemala, Belize, the Yucatan peninsula and Chiapas, and their culture is considered to be the highlight of pre-Hispanic American history. It flourished during the so-called Classic period of about 250 to 900, during which time they built spectacular monuments, made beautiful art and excelled in mathematics and astronomy. They also excelled in sacrificing humans in the most horrible ways.

After the 9th century the Mayan culture just collapsed in mysterious circumstances (probably internal conflicts and droughts) and all the cities were abandoned, except in the northern Yucatan where some Mayan cities continued to flourish until around 1440. Towards the end human sacrifice became such an obsession to the Mayans that it probably contributed to their downfall.

By the time the Spanish arrived the Maya were reduced to a number of warring tribes, but they still offered more resistance than most and were never fully pacified. Still, like all indigenous American peoples they have known nothing but misery and humiliation since the Europeans came.

Palenque

Palenque was actually called B'aakal and rose to prominence under king Pakal, aka Sun Shield, who ruled from 615 to 683. He and his son Jaguar Serpent II (I just love these names) raised most of the monuments that survive today. Like all other cities in the Mayan heartland, Palenque was abandoned after 900 and quickly overgrown by jungle. It wasn't rediscovered until 1746.

We started off with a jungle tour. We'd first wanted to pay a guide but when we saw there was a path we decided to find our own way. We memorised every turn we took and I even used my compass just to make sure we'd find our way out again, but to be honest it turned out to be as easy as a walk in the park.
Now for Palenque itself. We were a bit disappointed to find that they didn`t just clear the jungle around the monuments but also made grass fields around them, bit ridiculous. But the monuments were still fantastic. These are just the best ones, there are many more.
The Temple of the Inscriptions was actually the burial monument for king Pakal, whose tomb is inside (just like Egypt's pyramids!). Because the sweat of visitors damages the murals, visitors are not allowed to go inside the tomb anymore. Except, that is, if early in the morning you go to the museum at the other end of Palenque and ask for a special permit, which we did :) (thank you Lonely Planet for mentioning that!). Funnily, the lady at the museum made us write a little essay about why we wanted to visit the tomb before giving us our permit. It allowed us entry from 15:40 to 16:00, together with a sympathetic old Canadian couple (only four people at a time are allowed in).

The best thing about visiting the tomb was that we were allowed to climb the temple while everyone else wasn't. I had great fun standing on top triumphantically while all the other tourists were wondering why I was allowed up and they weren't :) And of course, I had to play high priest of the Maya up there.
The tomb itself was interesting but not spectacular. The treasures inside have been carried of to the museum in Mexico City where the whole tomb has been recreated, so it was interesting to see the real thing now.

El Panchan

The nights before and after our visit to Palenque, we didn't stay in the ugly modern town of Palenque, but in a hippie camp called El Panchan in the jungle near the ruins. It's an excentric place where you can rent wooden cabins to stay in, so besides hippies the place attracts a lot of backpackers like us.

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