Mexico: Chiapas and Yucatan states

After Oaxaca, we grabbed seats on an overnight bus to San Cristobal de las Casas. As we mentioned previously, the bus system in Mexico is highly functional, with many brand new buses outfitted with private lights, deep-recline seats, and televisions for hours and hours of Spanish-dubbed blockbusters. For these western luxuries one must of course pay a western price, with fares similar to those applied to transit on your typical greyhound bus. Before departing our luggage we dutifully inspected and an officer with a video camera filmed every last passenger (Mexican overnight buses, especially in the south, have a long, rich history of being hijacked along remote stretches of highway, for purpose of robbery and kidnapping. Very exciting.).

Our bus arrived in San Cristobal at 6am, which was actually nice, as it gave us an hour or two to wander this quaint mountain hamlet in solitude before waking up guesthouse staffers for a room. We skipped the first two we came across, as they were a little too granola and sticky-icky for us; San Cristobal, as we would later discover, is a huge hippy hole. The indigenous Rastafarian that met us at the second place had not taken a shower in several weeks, by my estimate, and after presenting his finest room (the ¨Zapata¨ Suite, complete with a life sized painting of the masked militant above the bed), tried to first bum a joint, and then a cigarette off us -neither of which, it so happened, we had. We made our exit, and after wandering for another half-hour or so came across the ¨Casa de Jose¨, a nice little family guesthouse with a private room and bath for 180 pesos, about US$15.

As we were keeping a tight schedule (trying to ¨do¨southern Mexico in less than three weeks), we caught a 9am minibus to the famed ¨Canyon del Sumidero¨, where we shelled out 175p a piece to join the boat tour down river, through the steep canyon (one vertical wall rose to a height of 1 kilometer above the river). While the trip was pleasant, with good company (local Mexican tourists) and the occasional crocodile spotting, I would recommend a skip for anyone traveling on a tight budget -visit the Grand Canyon instead. One of my favorites of the many ¨guided tour¨shenanigans out there is the pay-for-return move, in which the guide (boat driver, in this case) stops the boat at the point furthest away from civilization, and earnestly passes his hat around for tips, before deciding whether he will return you to your point of origin. What can you do; a few bucks each from you and your counterparts buys your freedom... in hindsight, its always good for a laugh.

We returned to San Cristobal mid-afternoon, and spent a few hours wandering around the Sunday market, filled with indigenous craftspeople selling their

wares. Unfortunately, as one mentioned earlier, San Cristobal is a haven for hippies, and we were disappointed at the large number of foreign (mainly European) transients who were selling beaded necklaces

and other trinkets to sustain their open-ended bong water trip to southern Mexico. This sort of behavior often unfairly competes with local artisans on price, as pot and mushrooms are cheaper than food, and we have come across far too many derelicts in our travels. These people are the reason that really cool countries, like Bhutan, charge all tourists hundreds of dollars a day to visit, in order to keep out the trash. But I digress.

In the late afternoon, we took a minibus to a local village, San Juan Chamula, home to a very interesting religious practice. When Spanish missionaries first invaded Central America, they often resorted to strange compromises in order to persuade locals to adopt Christianity. In this particular town, the indigenous people practiced ritual sacrifice, so the church allowed this tradition to continue within the bounds of the new faith. So, what looks like a typical Spanish church on the outside, is something quite different within. To this day, no electricity has been installed, and the entire interior is lit solely by hundreds and hundreds of candles. Instead of pews, fresh pine needles cover the tiled floor. Families gather, seated in groups throughout the church, and offer domestic animals for sacrifice. We witnessed family, who prayed and gesticulated extensively, before snapping their chicken´s neck and gyrating it over their youngest child (we assume in the manner of a blessing) as it flailed in its death-throes for several minutes. They all sipped constantly from bottles of coke, as it is believed that soda helps burp away bad spirits. Along the walls of the interior were posted the common glass-paned boxes of waxed saints and the ubiquitous Jesus-with-the-creepy-wig statues. We were not allowed to take pictures within, as it is believed these steal the soul and energy of the saints, so you will have to take our word for it, and drop in yourself when you visit. Very different.

The next morning we caught a 6am bus to the small town of Ocosingo, junction for the 20 minute ride into the mountains to the site of the Tonina ruins. Awesome. This particular site is often passed by, and we enjoyed the ruins mainly to ourselves, and for free (a rarity) for several hours. Different than the common sprawling city-like layout of most sites, Tonina was a city on a single base structure; a city within a pyramid. We were thrilled to wander through countless tunnels, past well-preserved carvings, and into burial chambers (impossible at major Mayan sites) deep within the complex. Tonina was a place of calendars and rituals, and the people here dropped a major butt-whippin´on the larger, grander Palenque to the south... impressive.

Next stop, Palenque, where we purchased onward bus tickets (for the following night) and hopped a collectivo (shared van) to el Panchan, a small outpost

at the entrance to the ruins site. A decent deal on accommodation (150 pesos) with shared bath, but the local food options were expensive and disappointing. We opted for a lot of beer and tequila instead (still expensive, but much more satisfying), and made a late(r) start for the ruins the next morning. Palenqueoccupied between 100 BC and 900-ish AD, a magnificent and sprawling site ruled at its peak

by the father-son combo of King Pakal and the junior ¨Snake Jaguar¨(cool name). This site is set deep in the mountain jungles, clouded in thick mist and the eerie calls of howler monkeys. Here we saw our first ball court. The Mayas indulged in a game, played with a rubber ball and large stone rings mounted on steep cemented walls, that can be found at most sites. The game honored beliefs related to the circle of life -the losing team was often ceremoniously beheaded. And our sports stars argue over salary caps. We hung around Palenque town for the remainder of the day, before hopping on our overnight bus to Merida in Yucatan.

On arrival at 6am the following morning, we caught another bus to the ruins at Uxmal. We really enjoyed these, as the crowds here were small, and late (we arrived a half-hour before the site opened, so were alone for the first hour or so on the site). This site is younger than the other popular stops in Yucatan (600-900 AD), so has very well-preserved buildings. But it was the style and spread of the complex that impressed us so much... this ended up being one of our favorite stops. From the round-edged pyramid, to the vast halls of the ceremonial buildings, to the grandeur of the governor´s palace and the ornate roof structures of the buildings used for astronomical observations, this place continued to impress us at each new turn. This is a must-see for anyone visiting Yucatan, in my opinion. It was here that, while exploring some really interesting unexcavated ruins on the site´s periphery that I happened into a hornets nest. Very unfortunate for me, but at least Tatyana escaped unmolested. See the pics.

We jumped on a bus back to Merida, where we caught, yeah, another bus to the small town of Piste, access point for the ruins at Chichen Itza. We arrived in the early evening, and found a hotel with a nice little bungalow for 250 pesos (more than we would have liked, but when you get into a place in the evening, you tend to settle for anything dry). We switched rooms after about five minutes, as it turned out we were sharing the first room with a large, mischievous opossum -scared the crap out of Tatyana. The second room was adjacent, but the banana-and-corn leaf roof offered only one hole, which happened to be just large enough for him to stick his head through, and nothing else. That worked for me. Early the next morning we walked a few kilos to the Chichen Itza ruins, arriving at the open, among a throbbing mass of tourists (bussed in daily from the northern beaches of Cancun and Cozumel). This, the most popular site in Mexico, was an enormous disappointment.

While a grand and sprawling site of some very interesting structures, several incidents of tourists falling to their death has resulted in the roping off of every last interesting structure. You can´t climb on, walk into, or otherwise meaningfully explore any part of this site, and that really sucks. Tatyana is not so fervently annoyed by this particular element of tourism as I am -IF YOU ARE TOO OLD OR OTHERWISE IMPAIRED TO BE CLIMBING UP STEEP STEPS ON STRUCTURES THAT ARE THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD, ENJOY THEM FROM THE GROUND. This really pisses me off; the number of times we have been told we can´t do something because some overweight 60-year-old American pensioner with bad hips and a 20-pound camera bag slipped and fell 100

feet to her death; following which her family (of course) sued the managers of the site for not properly safe-proofing the ruins... thereby requiring the inflation of ticket prices for everyone and forever closing off access to buildings. If you really want to explore Mayan sites in southern Mexico, skip the headliners (Chichen Itza and Tulum) and instead hit the less-frequented sites (Tonina, Palenque, Uxmal, and a host of others) that have yet to be roped off. And do it soon; its just a matter of time, right?

From Chichen Itza we caught a bus toward Tulum, jumping off at the smaller site of Coba for a quick hour of speed-walking several kilometers through the jungle to reach and ascend this tall pyramid with cool views before the park closed. These steps were pretty steep, made slightly more technical by the fact that we were humping our packs with us as we ascended... but the views were well worth it. On the way back down we passed a Russian couple slowly making their way up. The man was lecturing his wife about how she should be stepping, and how slow she should moving, so as not to fall. About a minute later, as we reached the bottom, we heard some scrambling and turned to see the very same man slipping off the steps, several people leaping to his aid to prevent his falling... darkly comical... At least he wasn´t American -I don´t think. We made it back to the park entrance as they were shutting the gates (walking; everyone else uses trishaw drivers to shuttle them around). We caught a late bus on to Tulum, where we found a nice little hotel room with hot water and cable, where we could unplug and pass out before hitting the Tulum ruins the next day.

Tulum, also disappointing, and more so because it is the closest Mayan site to the beaches. So lots of folks in flowery shirts and bermuda shorts (and knee-high socks with sandals) swarming over this otherwise beautiful site on the sea. We spent all of about 30 minutes here, and quickly made for the exit. We spent the afternoon on the beach, enjoying some much-needed sand and sun, and made back for the town. Tulum is a popular town, because of the ruins, and used to be a great place for backpackers, but has lately turned into a busy spot. And the town´s location, several miles from the beach, actually makes this place somewhat inconvenient. On the flip side, we enjoyed really great street food and a convenient launching point to Belize, our next stop. All told, southern Mexico was great for remote Mayan archaeological sites, precolonial villages, Spanish colonial cities, and of course, food! Well worth the trip.


See the following link for pics of Chiapas and Yucatan, as well as a few addtl photos from Oaxaca.

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