Reunion in Chiapas-The last days at Palenque

After spending a whole day in Tuxtla Gutierrez we shot out for the road to Palenque in the north of Chiapas. This kind of backtracking has been typically of my extended ventures in Mexico and I would advise against it, no matter how much money it seems like you might be saving in airfare, you will lose it all and more in gas and time. This took us back past San Cristobal just around sunset. I had been warned by not more than a few people that driving on that particular mountain highway after dark was a bad idea. It runs right through the heart of the Zapatista nation, and is, as mentioned before, notorious for bandits posing as the well-intentioned rebels.

I soon realized however that the greatest threat on this road was not some bandana-faced thief with an AK-47, but rather the unending hairpin curves and the near total darkness. Add to this the light drizzle that started to fall, the occasional lack of road for falling into the valleys below, and the relentless speedbumps, only some of which are marked, and it makes the time I spent on that road possibly the most stressful 2 hours of my entire life. So once we got to Ochosingo, the first pueblo of size sufficent enough to sustain a hotel, we stopped over until the sun would retrun to light our way.

After the much needed rest and an always filling breakfast of Chilequiles verdes (chicken, onions, cheese, and salsa served on a bed of fresh tortilla chisp), we were back on our way. It took some time to find our way out of Ochosingo, as again, roads are not clearly marked and main highways are confused with busy market streets in Mexican towns. It did give us a chance to observe some of the Independence Day decorations going up here and all over Mexico.
Once we were actually on the road again, we got a chance to see what incredible beauty had hitherto been obscured by the darkness. As we were in the mountains and it was fairly early on in the morning, the clouds dangling just above our heads were especially puffy and magical.

The highway also included many young girls selling no so fresh produce in a manner probably learned from their storied bandit cousins - they wait for an approaching car and pull a string across the road so that you don't really have much choice but to stop and heed their sales pitch.

We took a diversion to Agua Azul along the way, which I heard from the same people who issued warnings, was a beautiful spot for a leisurely dip in the bright blue waters. As it was nearing the middle of the rainy season, however, the water was neither so inviting for it's high banks nor it's murky brown color. But it's an impressive cascade nevertheless. And the cool mist was a welcome respite as we had by now descended from the brisk mountain air into the oppressive summer jungle humidity.


A flavor of the local wild fauna, which I had always associated more with the decidious woods of Massachusetts than the jungles of central America.
We had a chance to see contstruction of one of the myriad food and souvenir huts. Although they now use steel nails to fasten the members, the method seems pretty ancient and very sustainable, utilizing products readily available in the local jungle.
What the roof may look like in a few years.
We arrived at Palenque in the early afternoon with plenty of time to see the ruins, but as our flight wasn't until mid-afternnoon the next day from nearby Villahermosa, and the jungle humidity has a way of encouraging laziness, we decided to take it easy with a nice leisurely lunch that became a drunken evening. We were well entertained in our jungle hotel complex first with live music and then with a fire show. I couldn't help but feeling a bit cold blooded in the darkness like these lizards.
The next morning was all business however, as we arrived early to the ruins and hired an English speaking guide. Palenque was one of the most important Mayan cities, and certainly one of the more interesting spatially. Only about 1/5 of the city has been excavated.

Note the skull at the base of the pier to the left.
This very well preserved/restored pyramid is, unlike the norm in Meso-American, also a royal tomb. The king Pakal still resides deep within the pyramid, at about the same elevation I was when I snapped this photo.
And here is a relief of Pakal, I believe. It's amazing how cultures all over the world tend toward the same modes and themes of expression.
Atop the royal palace at the cities center. Note the niches revealed to the left, which seem almost Islamic in form.
And the tower, probably an observatory, which is unique in my expereince of Meso-American sites, struck me as something more like a Chinese pagoda. It was completely reconstructed. Note the frieze above the portals.
Even in the 19th-century, people were prone to tagging.

Our guide explained that this dried leaf, ubiquitous around the site, could be smoked to obtain about 1/2 the experience of smoking marajuana.

Like with Uxmal, we felt that many of the ruins took on a Hejduk-like mask quality. I guess Hejduk merely liked to explore what older architectures always took for granted: that architecture needed a face.
And of course we got plenty of good exercise with all those steps.
The view of the royal precinct and the lowlands beyond.

Reunion in Chiapas-Canon del Sumidero

Nearby to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas state and your typical late 20th century faceless city which seemed to have grown way to fast, is the Canon del Sumidero, a vast natural fissure. There are two ways to see the canyon, from the lookout points above, and from a speedboat in the Rio Grijalva which flows through it. As we had rented a car, we ended up seeing it from both vantages. This was not the original plan, but I had some pretty lousy navigation (I was designated driver), and in the end, it was not without merit to see it from above and below.

Here are some of the vistas from the various lookouts above the canyon.

Various preferences for recording the moment.
This dated space age lookout was once a restaurant at the end of the lookout road, but much to our disappointment at the time, is now only an elaborate shelter for souvenir vendors.

Down at the embarkment below, which I'm still convinced can only be reached from one side of the highway (see the part about navigation above). At least only one side has any signs whatsoever to give a clue as to how to find the boats.



Nearer the embarkments there are scores of people fishing.

The gentle slopes gradually give way to the sheer drops that characterize the most dramatic parts of the canyon.

It seems like maybe a few hundred people get this tour every day, as evidenced by the numerous other speedboats we passed and saw from the lookouts above.
The wildlife we saw on our tour, the this lazy crocodile is evidence of Mexico's biodiversity: there were also spider monkeys and cranes. It is one of the five most biodiverse countries on the planet.
Our guide took us into one of the many caves in the canyon. This one at the water's edge has the peculiar quality of lacking echo.

Although there has been a concerted effort to clean the river in the last twenty years or so, there was still a visible presence of filth floating in one portion. True, much of it is natural waste, but there is no shortage of plastic bottles and other such refuse. At one time, the entire reiver was choked with garbage (a problem still plaguing most of Mexico's not so plentiful rivers).

And of course, even here, one can find a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The 'Christmas Tree' waterfall.

A recreation center located on the river includes very long ziplines through the forest canopy that from the looks and sounds of it, seems like a lot of fun.
A vast lake is located at the end of the tour, formed by a dam which has helped to modernize much of Chiapas. The clearings for sheep herding looks absolutely old World, however, as we were all in agreement that this was more something to be expected in Scotland or Ireland than southern Mexico.
The march of progress, complete with Soviet-style monument to the workers who built it.,