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| San Cristobal de las Casas |
Mon 12/05/03 |
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Got a few hours sleep on the night bus although the seats on Cristobal Colon weren't nearly as good as the Estrella Blanca buses, arriving into San Cristobal at around 9am. Walked to the Magic Hostal which turned out to be leagues better than the one in Oaxaca and got a single room for the first couple of nights.
Wandered around town for most part of the morning and got a bit of an orientation where the main churches, markets, pubs and restaurants were before returning to the hostel stopping off at "Revolucion" a cool bar/cafe with a fast internet cafe upstairs.
Headed back out for dinner at the Gato Gordo, which was not really convincing and returned to Revolution for some live jazz, a good Caipirina, some fairly expensive beers and a good chat about Argentina with a chica I had met there. We were the last to leave at around 12:30 which bemused us both as the nightlife in Argentina only would start to get going at that time.
| Visit to Chamula |
Tue 13/05/03 |
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On the second morning in San Cristobal I discovered a fast and fairly cheap internet cafe close to the hostel where I spent some time before heading out to a small town called Chamula, about 12km from San Cristobal together with Josh who had arrived earlier that day. The town is renowned for it's inhabitants "interpretation" of the catholic religion, which is laced with Maya rituals.
The church acts as a house of prayer as well as a type of "hospital" with it's floor covered in pine needles, from the surrounding forests. The most important saint is John the Baptist with even Jesus taking a lesser role, oh and interestingly Jesus' body did not go to heaven but is symbolically buried in a coffin in the church. The people bring lots of Coke and sparkling beverages to the church as they promote burping which is supposed to expel evil spirits. Then every little group of people praying in front of 50-100 candles set up in rows usually brings their chicken - yes chicken - which they plan to eat later on and by bringing it to church it becomes blessed food, or something along those lines. Photos are strictly forbidden inside of the church. Some of the stories around the hostel recount tourists disobeying this fundamental rule and being relieved of their camera which is subsequently emptied or broken and they are then expelled from the village.
Before returning in a VW Van collectivo, wandered to the cemetary where lots of sheep were grazing on the graves making for another interesting sight.
Discovered a cinema and a very good and cheap food place called Antojitos El Chilango on the way back to the hostel which would also be our last stop for the day, as Josh, I and some other folks from the hostel decided to have a quiet night in with some refreshing alcoholic beverages.
| Relaxing in San Cristobal |
Wed 14/05/03 |
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Spent the morning writing up the Mexico stories and calling Gerd on his birthday, before heading to the internet cafe to update my website. Then revisited my "favourite" restaurant Antojitos El Chilango - #42 Av. 16 Septembre, where I tried a quite tasty, freshly prepared and decent sized taco dish for 20 Pesos.
Went to the local cinema to see "Dreamcatcher" (2 for 1 on Wednesdays) after failing to obtain 2 for 1 drinks at "Revolucion" which decided to not open that day for happy hour, with the the patrons and staff standing outside offering a shotty story about having lost the key to the pub the evening before.
After the cinema met up with some other people from the hostel and went to "Las Velas" a bar/discotheque for drinks and dancing. Unfortunately the club had the very annoying policy of spontaneously changing two for one specials without prior notice or suddenly not accepting free drink coupons as the "free" alcohol has run out - nice...
On a positive note the live music and the DJ's were quite good making it an entertaining and fun, yet somewhat expensive evening out.
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Magic Hostel - San Cristobal
47 Guadeloupe Victoria - Ph: (19) 6747034
90Ps/Single - 40Ps/Dorm |
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| Catedral San Cristobal |
Magic Hostel - Courtyard |
Iglesia - Chamula |
Tres Niņas - Chamula |
Tres Niņas - Chamula |
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| Iglesia Santa Domingo |
Plaza de Catedreal |
Iglesia Santo Domingo |
Iglesia Santo Domingo |
Iglesia Santa Lucia |
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| Palenque and the Chiapas Lowlands |
Thu 15/05/03 |
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When I got up at 6:30 to catch the ADO bus from San Cristobal to Palenque I still felt quite tired, but managed to get a little sleep on the bus which turned out leagues better than Cristobal Colon. I got into Palenque at around 2pm and after a brief look around town headed towards El Panchan in a VW bus looking for the Maya Bell campsite, which had been recommended to me in San Cristobal.
Had no trouble finding the place, so checked in and rented a hammock and a security locker for my stuff. After stringing up the hammock successfully attempted to sleep in the very hot and humid afternoon, subsequently paying the "legendary" pool a visit.
Had dinner at local restaurant which was quite pricey yet bearable and marveled at the continuously more obscured moon which was totally eclipsed by the Earth's shadow at around 9pm. Walked to El Panchan with a couple of Canadians and one Israeli where we enjoyed some of the cheaper Cuba Libres and later on in the evening wandered about halfway back towards Maya Bell stopping at an "alternative campground" where a reggae band was playing live for their "full moon party", so had a very good time dancing to some good Mexican reggae tunes.
| Yaxchilan and Bonampak |
Fri 16/05/03 |
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Got back from the full moon party quite late, so didn't seem like an awfully long sleep when I rolled out of my hammock at 6am to catch the airconditioned minivan which would take us to the Bonampak and Yaxchilan Ruins on a day excursion.
The minibus was packed tight when we started, slightly belated on our 160km road trip to the Bonampak ruins on surprisingly good roads.
When we finally arrived at Bonampak the heat of the day was already beginning to set in and the climbing of large Maya stairs resulted in extensive amounts of water being pumped out of them pores. Wandered around Bonampak for about an hour and then continued to a small village further towards Guatemala where we caught a boat for the 40 minute ride to the Yaxchilan ruins in the middle of the jungle rising up from the shores of the river Usumacinta. The Yaxchilan ruins were more impressive than the Bonampak ones, partly due to their larger size as well as their more untouched and natural surroundings.
Spent some hours walking around the ruins and hiked up the the buildings 39-41 which are somewhat removed from the main ruins on a hilltop. One of the three temples is climbable and from the top one can enjoy a pretty decent view of the surrounding jungle, if it weren't for those persistent insects...
Had a short swim across the fast flowing Usumacinta river to Guatemala before heading back upstream to the little village Fronteira Corozal where we had a late lunch prior to our return to Palenque.
Had a brief look around town buying a hammock which I will hopefully get to use in Brazil, returning to Maya Bell by Taxi as the VW buses don't run any later than 7pm - damn.
| The Palenque Ruins |
Sat 17/05/03 |
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After a full nights sleep my plan for this Saturday was to pay the nearby Palenque ruins a morning visit, before the masses of tourists were due to arrive. Didn't quite beat the crowds so wandered around the very impressive site together with a couple of busses full of mainly European and Mexican tourists.
Walked back to Maya Bell after a few hours of looking and wandering around the archaeological site and relaxed at the pool for a little while before packing up my bags and heading into Palenque to catch the afternoon bus to Villahermosa.
The not very flashy but seemingly down to earth city is located in the neighboring Tabasco province and acts as a transport hub for the region. I caught the nightly UNO service to Mexico City from there after having spent some time in a nearby internet cafe. Had chosen to go by UNO - the most exclusive Mexican bus company which had been recommended to me by Ingo, as I only once wanted to experience the reported difference first hand. To be honest the bus was very nice and the chairs have more legroom and are wider than in any other bus I had taken so far, but the 30% markup over the nearest competitor seemed slightly extortionate.
(On review of this page I must admit that a recurring topic in Mexico seems to be the high prices and opportunities to save money. This really was a significant concern since traveling here is quite expensive in comparison to South America and 5 EUR are spent all too easily.)
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Maya Bell
1km past El Panchan, Palenque
25 Peso Hammock / 15 Peso Rental |
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| Maya Bell - "Legendary Pool" |
Information about Bonampak |
Panorama Bonampak |
Information on Stale I |
Stale I |
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| Stale II |
Mural Painting |
Main Stairway |
Main Stairway - Detail |
Panorama from Above |
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| Map of Yaxchilan |
Information about Yaxchilan |
Entrance to Labyrinth Building |
"El Laberinto" - Inside |
"El Laberinto" - Outside |
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| Yaxchilan - Gran Plaza |
Yaxchilan 360 Panorama |
Yaxchilan 360 Pano QTVR |
Grande Acropolis |
Stale |
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| Path in Surrounding Jungle |
Buildings 39-41 |
Entrance to Palenque |
Templo de los Inscripciones |
Templo de los Inscripciones |
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| Tomb of Pakal |
Templo de los Inscripciones - Interior |
View of "El Palacio" from Above |
Templo Conte |
El Palacio from Below |
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| El Palacio - Interior |
German Tourists - With Hints |
Templo XII |
Maya Symbols - Detail |
Palenque Living Quarters |
Read about what happened to me in Mexico City
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