Sorry guys we didn’t update the blog earlier, but the Caribbean sun makes us lazy and the lack of internet in Cuba made it very difficult :)
After the Yucatan peninsula, we headed to Chiapas, a mountainous south-western Mexican region, home to one of the largest indigenous populations in Mexico (mainly Mayans). Chiapas’ history is centred on the oppression of these peoples, with rebellions such as the Zapatista uprising of 1994. Our first stop was Palenque, a town located in the middle of the rainforest without much interest, but hosting the most impressive Maya ruins in Mexico. We stayed at El Panchan, the backpacker spot of the town, where we slept at a cabana in the middle of the jungle. One could hear the Howler Monkeys scream all night long (they kept us awake!). A lot of travellers told us El Panchan was famous for its all night long parties... but honestly, all we saw were wannabe hippies pretending to enjoy Peruvian flute bands (???). The stay was fun though.
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| Our jungle cabin at El Panchan |
We visited the Palenque ruins early in the morning and found an extremely nice indigenous guide who showed us around. First, he brought us to the rainforest where hundreds of Mayan temples remain buried because the jungle literally ate them during the last centuries. Then, we went to the main temples (those who have been dug up, they reckon only 10% of the whole Mayan city!), as he described the ancient Maya city of Palenque. We were astonished by the complexity of their engineering works: sewer systems, aqueducts, etc... And remember the “Juego de Pelota” fields we saw in Uxmal? Well, we also learned that the game was a face to face of two players, in which the loser was sent to war, and the winner had.... the honour of being beheaded! How nice to be a Mayan !
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| Palenque Ruins from the top! |
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| Templo de las Inscripciones |
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| Impressive |
After Palenque we went to San Cristobal de las Casas, but stopped on our way at two waterfalls: Misol Ha and Agua Azul.
We swam in Misol Ha, a wonderful waterfall of more than 30 metres. The stream was so powerful that we couldn’t even approach it. The weather wasn’t that good, so we were the only ones who dare to take a cold bath in there.
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| Misol-Ha |
Agua Azul was much more impressive, but unfortunately the swimming area was not located below the waterfall, so we just behaved like Japs and took many pictures.
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| The day we learned how to take panoramic pictures |
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| Joana at Agua Azul (not very azul though...) |
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| Chiapas and its magnificient waterfalls... |
San Cristóbal de las Casas is by far the most mystical city we’ve been up to now. Although it seems it is now some kind of theme park for many wannabe hippies (yoga, spiritual centres, and Bernardos - see explanation below), the indigenous community is still very present and the city preserves a unique colonial architecture.
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| Nombrado el más mágico de los pueblos mágicos de México... |
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| Joana lost in San Cristobal |
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| San Cristobal in November |
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| The Zapatista movement is still alive! |
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| Hungry? |
We stayed 5 nights at the cosy Posada El Abuelito. The place is owned by an American couple but was mainly occupied by BERNARDO. Bernardo presented himself as a street bongo player who hadn´t worked for the last 15 years. And indeed, all he did was getting drunk, smoking weed and listening to reggae. And playing bongos yes. Fun but sometimes annoying... especially when groups of wasted hippies would join him at 3am to play the drums. Drum circles day and night! We wondered how that guy could afford such lifestyle , but we later discovered that he actually was a partner in a real estate business and that he also drove a huge American SUV. Der Schein trügt, las apariencias engañan! Eventually we kinda liked him…
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| The garden of our Posada |
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| Bernardo... el mito |
During our stay in San Cristóbal, we visited the Cañón del Sumidero, a massive canyon inhabited by crocodiles, spider monkeys and many many cool birds. We were impressed by the altitude of the surrounding cliffs, which sometimes reached 1000 metres.
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| The Cañón del Sumidero |
We explored the 30km of national park on a speedboat and therefore were able to watch the 3m long crocs at a short distance.
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| Scary mega croc! |
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| The speedboat |
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| Looks fake right? Well, we thought the same until we saw it get into the water... |
As we mentioned in our last post, we spent the famous “Día de los Muertos” in Chiapas. During that week, the indigenous communities rushed into the local markets to buy and sell flowers for the graves of their deceased family members. We went to San Juan Chamula on November 1st, an indigenous village located in the high mountains, and witnessed the rituals and celebrations of these communities. Unfortunately, photography is strictly forbidden on that day, so no pics. Furthermore, we did not feel very at ease because all the villagers were very drunk and did not appreciate much our presence. But the astonishing display of flowers in the cemeteries were worth it. Also, the clothing of the indigenous villagers was surprising, as all the women wear unconventional skirts made of black wool, and men wear long white tunics and cowboy hats.
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| A local market in Chiapas during the festivities |
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We also celebrated a bit el Día de los Muertos, by having lunch with these new friends |
We left San Cristóbal with mixed feelings: culturally speaking, it was by far the most enriching visit until then. However, we also felt that the myth of the Zapatista movement is being commercialised a bit too much, and that the indigenous background of the town is exploited in order to attract the crowds and alternative businesses. Let´s hope the indigenous community will at least take some profit from it.
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| Leaving San Cristobal |
A 24 hour bus ride took us back to Cancún where we caught a flight to Cuba. We spent an unforgettable week in that beautiful country and we will tell you more about that trip back to the 60´s in our next post.
