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Published: August 14th 2006
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Chamulan Church
San Juan Chamula, near San Cristobal.... San Cristobal De Las Casas
This is an affluent settlement, about 12 hours by bus from Pochutle (near Mazunte). I took an overnighter and arrived at about 8am. This town has the typical Zocalo layout (town centre) with lots of shops and so on and plenty of tourists (too many for my liking).
I managed to take a look a the local live music scene which was a mix of Samba and Rock and Roll, an interesting combination. There were a number of salsa clubs (which are in just about every larger town) however these dont get going until after midnight. It seems that all Mexicans i have met can salsa, its almost genetic. I also sampled a local drink known as "posh" which uses alcohol extracted from corn mixed with fruit, in a sort of a punch (it was good).
The village of Chamula
The city limits are surround by indigenous mayans which have quite a colourful history of skirmishes with the Spanish and more recently, the Mexican government.
Two Mayan 'states' were at war around 1511 at which time the Spanish entered the fray and backed the winning side. After the war, the Spanish
San Lurenzo Zinacantan
A Tzotzil (Mayan) wedding dress...... proceeded to convert the Mayans of the Yucatan to Christianity and then took their land from them and turned them all into slaves. The Mayan ruler Montezuma thought that Cortes was a god (which was foretold in their prophecies) OOPS! This is the primary reason why the Mayans and Aztecs were conquered so easily.
However when you consider that most Mayans were born into slavery anyway (to the ruling class) it wasn’t much of a change (except for religious beliefs).
In any case the Yucatan Mayans (called Zapatistas) have fought the Spanish for 300 years and were finally granted autonomy after the war of the castes in the 1990´s.
Ocosingo / Tonina
There is a small town called Ocosingo which is on the way to Palenque that has a set of ruins called Tonina (about one hour by combi) from the town centre. Ocosingo has basically zero tourists. As such, there was virtually no English! This is where my trusty English/Spanish dictionary came into its own (without it i would have been in trouble).
I really did not want to stay the night here, but there was no lockup in the bus station and
Tzotzil Boy
A Mayan youngster (The native Mayan town of San Lorenzo Zinacantan)..... so i had to find a posada (guest house) to put my stuff. I spoke to a taxi driver who drove me about 12 blocks (4 if you took the direct route). Having found the place, i asked the driver to get out and open the boot (so i could retrieve my pack) at which he said it is open. The primary reason for asking the driver to get out of the car is so that he/she cannot drive off with your luggage!! (this does happen) but for some reason i did not do this (brain fault). So i got out, went to the back of the taxi to find the boot still locked..... the taxi driver then started to drive off!! (with my pack) you can imagine what is going through my mind, so i yelled PARAR! (STOP) and he kept driving for about 10 metres then stopped the car, poked his head out the drivers side window and started laughing, he thought it was a great joke! (i guess he got bragging rights to tell all his friends). Lets just say that since then, the "Taxi Cautionometer" was raised to new levels and now i force the driver
Mayan Decapitation Altar
The Mayan city of Tonina to get out no matter what (i have since heard of at least two other back packers that have lost their pack in this fashion).
Anyway, i got my stuff into the posada and then had to figure out how to get to the Tonina ruins. I marched down the street (without a map) and asked around (the people are always polite), having received various contradictory directions from the locals i managed to find the source of a steady stream of combi vans. So i "crammed in" ( i was the last person that could fit without causing bodily harm to the existing clientele)
Having arrived at the park entrance, it was about a 2km undulating walk to the ruins. This site is quite impressive given that it is almost not on the map. They are complete with a ball court and sacrificial alter (that’s for the guys that lose the game). Most of the buildings are built into the side of a mountain and at the very top you have an incredible panoramic view of the surrounding country (with a nice cool breeze), there was also a small museum.
Palenque
What can i say
Pakal's Tomb AD 692
The Ancient Mayan City of Palenque about Palenque? Hot, sticky and dusty are the words that come to mind.... i am now not too far from the Yucatan so we are talking tropical weather. The only reason i came to Palenque is to see the ruins (I suspect this is the only reason people come). In terms of accommodation, this was by far the worst I had experienced to date but partly due to the company. The resident Austrian hippie in my room.....actually she was okay, except that she need the light on in order to roll a joint at 4.30 in the morning! However given that i was not really in the accommodation most of the time i managed okay.
The Palenque ruins however were another story, by far the best i have seen so far complete with a palace complex, astronomical observatory (these are rare) and several tombs.
Now on to the Yucatan…. Uxmal and Chichen Itza (two of the largest Mayan Cities)
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Liew KW
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Very Interesting
Craig. The world have so much to explore. :) Sometime it is just worth to forget about all TCPIP/BOS/........etc etc and just go out. Mexico is definitely interesting