Chiapas - an amazing place

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Before heading for the amazing state of Chiapas I made a short stop over in Campeche, the capital of the same named state.

The city doesn't have much to offfer. There is a nice cathedral, some churches and the old town is good walkable (there is not as much traffic as in Mèrida). The houses are usually renovated and colourfully painted. You can also get access to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico whose waters unfortunately don't resemble those of Caribbean Sea.

One day, or acutally the half of it, was more than enough time to spend in this town. By the way, I was the only guy in a 13 bed dorm room and there was only another English couple in the entire hostel (!).

The trip from Campeche to Palenque was a long one. About 6 hours in a comfortable ADO bus with three movies and one documentary. As there were in Spanish I picked up some usufull words on the way...:-)

It was interesting to see how the landcape changes during the travel. The vegatation of most of the Yucatan Peninsula is very dry with trees barely having any leaves. The ground is so dry that a single spark could probably ingnite a big fire. This picture changed something like two hours after Campeche city. The landscape was till pretty flat but the flora became vividly green. It was a change for better as it seemed like everything got back to life. In another two hours one could see the first mountains on the horizon and a big river Usumacinta marked the border between Campeche and the state of Tabasco.

In Tobasco we made a quick stop in town called Emilia Zapata, which I believe was named so after the famous revolucioner, and then we headed further to my first destination in Chiapas - Palenque.

Due to recommendation of some travellers, especially Chimi, I ended up staying at a place called El Panchan near the Palenque ruins. This place is really amazing. Positioned middle in the jungle with hawler monkeys screaming like crazy and birds making whisling noise I never heard before. It has its own atmosphere and is full with travellers from around the world. Unfortunately, also a big hippy community lives there. You know those guys who think taking shower is uncool.

Because I was alone I decided to take a tour to the ruins and the amazing waterfalls of Agua Azul and Misol-Ha. First we went to the famous ruins of Palenque...

I have seen Tulum and Chichen Itza before, which both were really nice but Palenque that was indeed something special. Situated in the middle of a jungle at the edge where the first mountains arise from the plain, the ruins offer splendid views and an amazing surrounding with dense jungle climbing the hills.

The ruins themselves were big with el Palacio being the most famous building with its three floor tower. Unlike Tulum and Chichen Itza one could climb the ruins and make some nice pictures from very close. The whole area was pretty big with still some structures overgrown by the jungle.

After more then three hours of visiting this amazing site it was about time to head for the two other attractions on our tour, the waterfalls of Misol-Ha and Agua Azul.

Misol-Ha was good. Nice big pool with a waterfall plumbing from a height of maybe something like 25 meters.(ca, 70 feet). We didn't take a swim there as we'd been told that Agua Azul is much nicer and bigger and we would spend there more time anyway.

But then the shock; our driver announced: "We can't go to Agua Azul because the Zapatistas blocked the road". We said: "Okay, then give us the money back". and he answered: "No, I can't do it. It's not my fault that the Zapatistas blocked the road". You can imagine that I was furious.

In our group there was an Italian couple, who claimed to speak Spanish and fucktioned like sort of translaters between us and the driver. After a while I figured out that the Italian couple didn't speak Spanish at all but was mostly guessing what the other guy was saying because of the similarity of Italian to Spanish. In addition their English was intermediate at the most.

I felt like stepping forward with my very basic Spanish and talk to the driver who didn't speak a word English. We finally reached an agreement that he can take us to other waterfalls, not as special as Agua Azul but at least we could get something offered for our money because in no case he would give it back to us.

The Italian couple, which I disliked by the time, was saying something like :"The Mexicans are very nice people. You can trust them in any case. Once they gave us a ride for free!".I looked at them two and felt like I had to counter that statement and quickly invented a story telling them: "Well, I know a story, where a girl got badly raped by some Mexicans". The Italian girl flashed with her eyes and said "Yeah well, that might happen..." I added: "Yes, they can give you a ride for free or they can rape you. It's Mexico!" The Italian couple didn't talk much after that...:-)

The next day I left Palenque and El Panchan and took a bus to San Cristobal on a 5 hour trip. The landscape was very mountainous by then with beautiuful vistas. The winding road was sometimes pretty dangerous with here and there some potholes. There were also many police or better said military controls on the way. Especially scared me when I saw young teenagers dressed in uniforms and carrying heavy weapons. I mean the oldest was maybe 19 year old!

Finally, I arrived in San Cristobal, a city agreed upon as a "must see" destination for every traveller visitng Mexico. And indeed, my friends, the city is beautiful with cabblestone streets climbing up many hills, gorgeous churches and a bright mixture of people. I immediately felt well here and was eager to explore the city's hidden treasures.

San Cristobal is also known as one of the main places for Mayan culture. There are plenty of Mayan people in the city offering their handcraft for sale. At every corner a band or capela would play some music.There is also plenty of cozy caf'es and restaurants where you can sip a coffee or eat delicious lunch or dinner.

For the first day I was looking forward to meeting with Chimi, who happens to be there with a group of tourists travelling from Mexico City to Cancun. We met in a nice bar called "La Revolucion" and partied all night long!

The next day I had a bad hangover and slept almost all day long. It wasn't until the following Monday that I could get the first glimpse over this unique town. And I am telling you my friends, San Cristobal is so different from Cancun. The colonial architecture with all those churches, well preserved houses and the mountains in background is simply amazing. In addition the town is renowned for her unique atmosphere. You have to come here to experience it yourselves,

Also the living costs are lower than in Cancun. For example: 1 taco costs here an unbelievable 1,50 Pesos! They are small but if you eat 10 of them you're gonna be full and that's for 15 pesos! My hostel is also ridiculously cheap. I pay 70 pesos per night for a bed in a dorm room. And this room is very big with huge window overlooking the city.

Unfortunately, some nasty people moved recently into the room. We have an obnocious Canadian guy from Vancouver Island and an old retired bum form the States. Thank god the number of nice people overweight by far, so that I still stay at that hostel.

Because I felt like doing something usuful with my time I signed for a Spanish course recently. It's really good fun. Finally somebody can explain to me some of the grammar rules. Of course it's not gonna be enough for writing a dissertation but it might help me better communicate with people. And believe me my friends, if you see all those nice chicas here you really want to talk to them :-)

One day a woman from Czech Rep, who I randomly met on the streets of San Cristobal some days before asked me if I would like to go on a real jungle tour with her. I was pretty suprised and completely unprepared. The local guide was a brother of a good friend of her but didn't speak any English. I intuitively said no at the beginnig, but when the guy started to explain to me the details I started to be interested.

It wasn't a tour like the one you book at a travel agent office. It was completely private and we would go to places normally nobody ventures into. We would sleep in tents or hammocks, eat what we catch (like fish) and wander through the jungle in its true wilderness. In addition, we could also enter the Zapatista villages and they would provide us with a armed guard, apparently to protect us from jaguars.

It all sounded very interesting. Imagine guys what a story I could tell you then...
But it also wasn't entirely safe. I mean the danger was to get beaten by a snake, get attacked by a jaguar or maybe get involved in a skirmish between the Zapatistas and the Mexian army. Also, it bothered me that the guide completely didn't spaek English, so I had to rely on the Czech woman whom I knew for two days only. That was too much of a risk to me and although I first said yes, I withdrew my decision at the last minute.

For now, I will for sure stay in San Cristobal till the end of the week. I don't know what to do after as the Santa Semana weeks approach quickly.

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Photos

San Cristobal in Chiapas
Real de Guadalupe - main street with lots of cafes and restaurants

Campeche city
The main square

El Panchan
Accommodation in the jungle near Palenque