Zapatista Land - Waterfalls, Ancient Cities & UFOs

After calm days of not doing very much on the coast the past five days have been quite a contrast. I arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas after a 13hr overnight bus ride from Puerto Escondido.
From sea level to above the clouds - the last few hours of the ride offered dramatic views of the valleys as we rose higher and higher up from Tuxtla Guttierez into the mountains high up into the skies. They were considerably more atmospheric than the terrible Steven Seagal film the bus company inflicted on us for the first couple of hours of the ride. I swear the Mexican bus companies source out the worst possible DTV drivel they can to inflict on the gringos who ride primera clase - and unless you have earplugs of a walkman there´s no escape as the sound is blasted around the bus. It´s a suprise more drivers don´t deliberately drive over the cliffs in desperation.

Anyway back to SCdlC - the town is reminiscent of Oaxaca - lots of narrow streets arranged into a rough grid like pattern. But here the streets are narrower and are thronged in places by the inhibitants of nearby indigenous villages who come here in search of work. They have darker features and brighter clothes than the Mexican-Spanish Mexicans and often fierce expressions of concentration on their faces.

The town hit the headlines on New Year´s day 1994 when a left wing guerilla army, the Zapatistas, stormed the city - their aim to overthrow the establishment and improve the living standards of the native `Indian´ tribes - some of whom had never been conquered by the Spanish conquistadors but had fled to the jungles of the area to face problems decades later from loggers and farmers who deforested the land making it more vulnerable to flooding and hurricanes. The army eventually forced them back with around 150 casualties (mostly Zapatista) but the groups leader Subcomondante Marcos is now a cult figure. The ex-university professor´s masked pipe smoking face is featured on several t-shirts sold and worn around the town. Negotiations with President Fox have taken place but agreements have never been put into place. Though the group is now mainly non-violent, and spends a lot of its efforts fighting a public relations battle over the internet, there are still tensions. Driving down some roads in the area you encounter signs declaring the surrounding areas Zapatista territory.

There´s more information at:

EZLN

Global Exchange

The zone, like much of Mexico, is also Volkswagen territory thanks to the German company locating several of its factories in the country. Speaking to Mexicans it´s amusing to learn that Volkswagens here have a reputation for being unreliable cheap cars unlike their European counterparts. I spotted the example seen on the right just after arriving - many examples are in far worse condition.

I spent the first day here wandering the streets trying to get a feel for the place. One of the joys of being a single traveller in this part of the world is that locals often come up to me, ask where I´m from and start a conversation. It´s interesting that they often assume I can speak Spanish. Reference to Braveheart (or Corazon Valiente) helps to explain where Scotland is, although not every time. One girl asked a fellow traveller where she was from - when she replied Europe the girl asked where in the USA that was. In my experience though every adult has at least heard of England and London if not Scotland and seems amused by my descritions of our weather.

As atmospheric as the town is the reason it´s become such a travellers haven is that it is the perfect starting point for tours into the Chiapas region. For my second day here I went on the daddy-of-them-all. A 14hr trip to Palenque via two waterfalls.


The ride itself is an experience. 11 other travellers from Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and England and myself were packed into a white van at 6.30am which then sped around narrow mountain roads at high speeds. There´s no crash barriers and the drops go on for over 1000 metres in some spots so you´re really putting your trust in the driver and hoping the fact he must have driven the same route thounsands of times will help. (Actually yesterday´s newspaper headlined with a collectivo crash caused by high speeds - two women are described as `flying´through the air!). Anyway after a brief breakfast the first proper stop was Aguas Azul - a series of wide waterfalls in the middle of the jungle.

I´d met a group of girls (Sinead, Gaby and Zoe who had worked together in a Walkabout Pub in England) on the bus and we set off together to walk along the falls before the fun part - diving into the waters. The first 30 seconds are bloody freezing but then it seems the temperature rises - or maybe it´s just the body going into shock. Anyway it was a pretty amazing experience - only enlivened by helping a French pensioner swing over the water holding onto a monkey rope.

Another hour and a bit later we arrived at Misol-Ha. If you click and enlarge the photo you can get an idea of its size by looking at the people walking behind it in the hollowed out area. Once again we were able to dive into the waters and this time swim under the falling water. The force of the water meant that as soon as we stopped swimming we were pushed back again towards the edges of the pool.

Then finally, at around 4pm, we arrived at Palenque itself. The size of the site is mind boggling. The ruins of pyramids, tombs, observatories, palaces and pelota courts stretch over 16 square kilometres - mostly still covered by jungle and screaming howler monkeys - one of whom produced an very impressive stream of urine from a nearby branch during out tour. We ended up touring with a Spanish guide which meant I had to provide an English translation for the girls. I think I got most of it right, though there may have been a couple of unique facts that could have crept in.

Since we only had 2hrs to tour our guide concentrated on the main excavated area. The Mayan city was first occupied around 100BC and reached it´s highpoint around 700 years later. But by 900AD it had mostly been abandoned - it´s thought because the land was exhausted and the inhabitants could no longer sustain themselves. It´s been claimed several tribes descend from the Palenque people but no-one knows for sure where they scattered to. There´s lots more information at:

Palenque Mesoweb

One story that made me check my translation was about the carving found on the tomb of the city´s most famous king, Pakal (seen on the right). Erich Von Daniken claimed it showed the king riding a spaceship giving credence to his `ancient astronauts´ and `Chariots of the Gods´ theories. Archaelogists argue he´s bonkers - and looking at the picture the wrong way up. In fact it shows the king at the point of death, laid out in the fetal position (as was the Mayan custom) in between the heavens, earth and the lower world. If you prefer the former version there´s more madness at:

Palenque Mesoweb

UPDATED: Palenque was first revealed to westerners in the mid 18th century when Mayan hunters revealed it to a Spanish priest, but it was almost two hundred years later that archaelogists cleared the vegetation from the dead king´s huge crypt. Many buildings are still obscured and several ´hills´ in fact contain further unexplored features. However clearing away all the trees and plants could cause some of these structures to collapse if costly supporting scaffolding were not first put in place. For the time being Palenque´s half discovered nature will add to it´s mystery and appeal.

OK that was 1st day´s tour! After a five hour drive back to the hostel I was exhausted (lots of sitting around in the back of a bus does that - very tiring!) and since I already had another tour booked for the next day had an early evening.

Thursday´s booking involved a trip to the Lagos of Montebello, the Grutas de San Cristobal and another huge waterfall who´s name I can't remember or locate in the Lonely Planet). Another coincidence - on the tour group of 5 people was another student from Solexico - Annalie, from Sweden.

She´d finished studies a couple of days before I started but we´d briefly met at one of the school´s weekly ´go out and drink a lot of alcohol sessions´. In the traveller´s world that equates to a long established friendship and proved once again going on a tour is a short cut to making friends in an unfamiliar city. It also meant it was worth packing my cd headphone splitter as we could share some tunes on the long drives between destinations.

First stop was the caves - or more accurately one long huge passageway deep into the earth. According to the LP the army took control of the area in 2003 but there was no sign of them when we arrived. Instead there was a local native girl offering a tour of the cave which consisted of pointing a torch at the walls and claiming the rocks looked like 'cosas que faltan algo' - things that lack things. So we were treated to rocks that looked like faces lacking a nose, bodies lacking arms etc Quite amusing but kind of scary after about 15mins. I think you really have to be quite high on peote to see half of the things she claimed were there.

Next stop was the day´s highlight - a 30min trek into the forest to a HUGE waterfall - standing on a platform metres away we were both soaked. Then slightly downstream we went for a dip in the freezing crystal blue waters. I´m not actually sure you´re allowed into the section we went to - the water was very fast moving and in parts if we hadn´t grabed onto a submerged tree roots we would probably been swept down the rapids. Nothing like the promise of a brutal death to get the adrenaline going.

The guide gave us a curious glance when we got back to the van - he was worried we{d soak the seats (sitting on towels saved that problem) - and we shot off to the lakes only making time for a short delay when the police pulled us over for being severely over the speed limit. The lakes were pretty, but with only 20mins on average to look at each one there wasn´t much to do except grab a few pics and allow lake fatigue to set in.

And onto the third excursion - the Canon of Sumidero. This is VERY impressive and well worth booking an extra day in SCdlC to visit. After arriving at the edge of the canon our tour group was piled into a fast moving boat and we shot at very high speeds across the water - we seemed to have a supercharged boat that outpaced all the competition on the water and sent a bracing breeze across our faces. No worries as there is lots to marvel at. The photo showing the three walls is found near the start and is the symbol of the state of Chiapas found on government posters and other material across the area. Along the way we saw lazing crocodiles, herons and other waterbirds, a waterfall that flowed behind the cliff-face to emerge halfway down giving life to a startling array of plants which grow right out of the rockface - and then there´s the cliffs. At one point they stretch up more than a kilometre while and down below the boat for a further 350 metres. As eagles circle high overhead it´s easy to get the sensation of being a very small part of a very big place. Then finally about an hour´s ride down the canon you come to a huge set of overhead electricity cables.

The canon was dammed several years ago to produce what is currently the world´s most powerful hydroelectric dam providing electricity to about 30 Mexican states (need to check that figure) as well as much of Central America. If you cut the wires a lot of the country goes dark.

Along the waters leading up to the dam boat loads of workers slowly empty the waters of dead vegitation and other rubbish that collects into huge slurries of rotting mass. We were told it´s slow and expensive work, but there´s no alternative. As each boatload of tourists pass (and there´s lots of them) the workers stop, look up, grin and wave at the gringos and fellow Mexican tourists.

For my last whole day in town I decided to keep it local but did pay a visit to the Na Bolom museum/project on the recommendation of a friend. The centre was set up in the ´50s to help protect indigenous tribes against those wanting to come in, take their land and use it for logging or agriculture.

Gertrude was a Swiss woman who had been involved in Socialist politics in her youth, was imprisoned in a German concentration camp and after the war came to live in Mexico. There she met the Danish anthropologist Frances Blom - they married and set up the volunteer project that has outlived them both. Gertrude´s life was fascinating - usually the Indians refuse to let anyone photo them, but they allowed her to take pictures of many of their most private ceremonies and her archive is now a unique resource tracking how the tribes changed over the 20th century. During this time she became very friendly with the last king of one of the tribes - he continued to father children beyond his 100th birthday, but since the Indians believe the world will end in 2012 they haven´t bothered replacing him. She was also friends with Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera and was awarded one of the UN´s most prestigious awards before her death. A really fascinating insight into her life and the work she did - the guide said the new volunteers are lucky she´s dead as she would frequently have them in tears - she was obviously quite a complicated character. There´s a very good doco to be made about her life.... Anyone planning to visit SCdlC should try to get a place on one of the tours and there´s also the opportunity to stay for dinner and meet those working with the Indians. More details at:

Na Bolom Home Page

Just a couple more things - the nightlife is great - especially El Revolucionario (The Lonely Planet lists it under its old name) where there´s live music, projected films and free flowing alchohol every night - Blue nightclub is fun and if you fancy a change from all the Mexican food Maymbe on calle Real de Guadalupe is superb.

I stayed at Posada Mexico which you can book via hostelworld. I´d highly recommend it, and not just because they upgraded me to a huge room with ensuite bathroom at no extra cost. They provide a tasty choice of breakfast, free internet, will book tours and fall over themselves to help in any other way possible including running off to get a taxi at bargain rates.

It´s also a great place to meet other travellers - as can be seen: 2 more friends from Solexico (the alumni really do get about) and a couple of very cool Argentinians who have given me another huge list of music I HAVE to have! OK - doubt any more entries are going to be anywhere near this long....