Tour of Chiapas
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Fri 20 Apr 2012 04:56
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Tour of Chiapas
state
Mike and I have just completed an amazing
and exhausting whistle-stop tour through the state of Chiapas.
We left the marina on Monday morning at
7.30 am with our tour organizer Arturu, for the 550km drive up to San Cristobal
de las Casas. Tapachula is the closest city and we then headed to the capital of
the state Tuxtla Gutierrez and on to our guesthouse, La Media Luna in San
Cristobal.
That afternoon we wondered around the
delightful town, admiring the architecture and beautiful handcrafts. Being so
high up in the mountains it was quite cool and for the first time in months we
wore jackets at night. This town is the cultural capital of the state, full
of musicians, artists and restaurants - and also very famous for the
Zapatista uprising and violent repression in 1994.
  Catedral de San
Cristobel Courtyard
at La Media Luna Guest House
The next morning at 6am we were picked up
by another van for the trip to the ancient Mayan ruins at Polenque.
Although this journey is only about 250km, it takes over 5 hours to complete, as
the roads wind up the mountain, and have lots and lots of speed-bumps. Our
trip up took a little longer as we stopped at two beautiful waterfalls along the
way before we reached the ruins.
  Agua Azul
waterfall Misol
Ha waterfall
In the mid-afternoon we reached the mayan
site of Palenque, where it was as hot and humid as hell. We decided
against a guide, as we were sitting ducks for a major rip off,
and instead, walked around at our own pace with our guidebook. What an
amazing site - with about 20 major buildings & temples and many still
uncovered! Palenque is regarded as the best example of Mayan ruins - This
"city" was built from 300 AD, at its zenith was ruled by king Pakal and
then for reasons still unknown, deserted in about 900AD. There is still a lot of
archaeological work being done and thousands of glyphs are still to be
interpreted.
  Temple of The Inscription;
Temple XII & Temple of the
Scull One
of many carvings
We then headed back down the winding road
for 5 hours back to our guest house.
The next morning we took another tour ..
this time to two towns close to San Cristobal, where the descendants of the
Mayans still live a traditional life. The first town, Zinacantan, specializes in
textile weaving and embroidery, as well as growing of flowers. We visited a
traditional home where were shown how they make tortillas over an open fire and
told stories of their culture. Whilst all the ladies wear traditional clothing
and live like their ancestors, there are TV's and cell phones everywhere! We
also got to taste "posh" a strong cane spirit used by the shaman, and our guide
explained how they drink this spirit and then coco cola, burping to release
spirits. Amazing how a modern product (Coke) has been totally integrated into a
very traditional belief system.
  Making Tortillas on an open
fire in the
house Traditional
Weaving - her top is all embroidered
The next town was San Juan Chamula - part
of a small autonomous region of 50 000 Indians. They have nothing to do with the
government of Mexico - they have no taxes and their own police, and all
outsiders have to be out of town by 6pm. This stems from when the Spanish
invaded, and were not able to conquer these people. (This reminded me a
lot of the way the Kunas are organized in Panama) This group has a decent
economy, as they grow most of the vegetables for San Cristobal and also control
most of the taxi's and colectivos (shared mini vans) in the greater
region. Again almost all the people are in traditional dress, which for the
women is a thick black woolen furry skirt, with embroidered tops. The local
policemen wear shaggy white tunics.
  We were then taken to the church, which
our guide kept on insisting was not a church, but a hospital for traditional
medicine... and things were about to get pretty weird! We could not take
photos but were allowed to wander around freely inside .. and this is what we
saw: The building has no seating and the floor is covered in wet pine needles.
On the edges are wood and glass cases with 30 to 40 different saints - and at
the front is John the Baptist with Jesus as the second in command. Some of the
saints have their hands chopped off and most have mirrors to reflect back the
curses of the people unhappy with their plight, or the failure of the Shaman's
treatment. In between the pine needles there are various shaman, kneeling
on the floor, consulting with people. Depending on how serious their issue is,
the person would have lit lots of different candles on the floor. They also
bring the shaman a bottle of "posh", some coca cola
(for burping/ release the spirits) and often a chicken (Yip! they
wring its neck right there!) The shaman all look pretty drunk and while some are
chanting, others are smoking or talking on cell phones?! Not your
everyday church visit!
  The church/ hospital at San
Juan
Chamula Getting
ready to see the Shaman
After all that, we were happy to spend
more time in the lovely town of San Cristobel, enjoying a good meal and a
little bit of jazz guitar in one of the bars .. oh yes, and a
margarita!
  Tomorrow we leave Puerto Chiapas to cross
the dreaded Gulf of Tehauntepec - an area of fierce winds and rough seas!
But we believe/ hope that we have a 36 hour clear weather window to travel
about 250nm, and so have to check out with the Port Captain in the morning, and
then get moving!
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