Back from the Selva Lacandona - Field Trip - Day One

Last night the intrepid explorers returned triumphant!  Or, more accurately, the aging baby-boomers straggled in, sweaty and tired, and went to bed.  Over the last three days we spent more time in a Volkswagon Jetta than we want to think about; but, it was the price we had to pay to see some marvelous places and achieve some life-time goals.

I negotiated a customized itinerary with a tour agency up the street.  Sara and I and our next-door renter, Susanna, went with Jose Luis in his car on a three-day excursion.  Apparently, our itinerary was such a good idea that the agency sold it to three other couples who accompanied us in a separate van.  That turned out to be all good, because they were wonderful people to travel with, all Mexicans - two young couples from Mexico City and a couple about ten-years younger than us from Cuernavaca.  Javier, Solidad, Raul, Elizabet, Manuel y Maribel were muy buena gente.

In the thee days, we visited four Maya archaeological sites, spent and hour-and-a-half in a lancha traveling on the Usumacinta River which divides Mexico from Guatemala, spent two nights in a cabana in the Lacandon jungle, went for a two hour hike at dawn through the last rain forest in North America led by a  Lacandon Maya Indian, and visited several beautiful waterfalls and cascades.  We got to see a lot of the Chiapas countryside; we went from 7000 feet to sea level and back up again.  Yesterday afternoon when we left Palenque it was over 90 degrees; it was around 50 when we got back here to San Cristobal.  Sara likes 50 a lot more than she likes 90.  A whole lot!  She is more pleasant, too!

Day One

Jose Luis picked us up at seven o'clock and we were off on our adventure!

The green rugged mountains we drove through

Our first stop was the Maya ruins of Tonina.  It is fairly recent excavation site.  I may have seen its name before; but, it was certainly not on my radar.  It is about three hours from San Cristobal.  The excavated portion is not large; it is essentially a huge, multi-layered series of temples ascending a steep hillside.

It was half-mile walk in from the parking lot

Looking up from the grand plaza

An altar

Uncovered glyphs

Stucco carving depicting ball players

We had this site nearly to ourselves.  It was so peaceful.

As Sara and I walked back, apart from the rest, what struck us was the silence, only insects and the rustling of leaves in the breeze.  There are so few places in modern life where we are not surrounded by noise.

View from on top the structure

The state of Chiapas was the center of the Zapatista upraising in the early 1990's.  The Mexican government sent in a lot of soldiers and there was some unfortunate loss of life.  It seems to be mostly calmed down now; but, there are still areas where there is an on-going Zapatista sentiment.  Just outside the archaeological zone there was this sign saying that the land there was Zapatista.  In the distance can be see the huge Mexican flag on the grounds of the new, large Mexican army base.

EZLN stands for Zapatista National Liberation Army

From Tonina, we went on to Agua Azul, a series of cascades on a river that have been developed into a holiday destination.  We had a late lunch there; some of our group went for a swim before we headed off to our ultimate destination in the Selva Lacandona, another three hours drive.

With our traveling companions, ready for our 4 pm comida
at Agua Azul

A large group of Chumula kids arrived just as we did.  It seemed a little strange to think of these traditional Mayas coming to this resort; but, why not?

Us with our next-door renter, Susanna, the anthropologist
from Cambridge, England.

The last two hours of our drive Tuesday night was in the dark, headed south towards the border with Guatemala.  We began seeing small groups of young people walking single file along the edge of the highway headed north.  As we saw them, Jose Luis said, "Ilegales."  They were walking from Central America, through Southern Mexico until they could get to town with a railroad connection where they would ride on the top of boxcars to the US border.  Everything they owned was in a small backpack or sack they carried.  It was sobering to see them and consider their lives and what drove them to take this great risk.

When we finally arrived at Campamento Lacandones, it was very dark, and we were too tired to stay up for the open-fire grilling they had planned.  We just asked for some rolls and went to bed in order to be up for our seven o'clock departure for Yaxchilan.

End of Day One.  To be continued in the next post.