San Cristóbal, Aguas Azul and, Palenque

Cathedral Of San Cristóbal
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<<EXHALE>> I am tired. This morning I arrived in Oaxaca after a hectic three days in Mexico's southern most state; the state of Chiapas. They were an exhilarating few days but also exhausting. Let me explain.

Last Sunday, the 17th, I boarded an overnight bus to San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the cultural center of of Chiapas. San Cristóbal is a small city (129,000 inhabitants) two and a half kilometers high, located in the heart of the state which shares a boarder with Guatemala. The terrain is largely tropical jungle and mountainous. The state is one of Mexico's poorest and in recent years has become a well sized tourist stop (particularly for western europeans). Also, it is from Chiapas that the Zapatista (indigenous rights) movement has spread since its inception in 1994 with a brief takeover of San Cristóbal.

Falls At Aguas Azul
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Like I said, I boarded my bus on Sunday and arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas in the early morning on Monday, the 18th. I wandered around the sleeping  city for an hour or so until I found a hotel. I got a room and fell asleep.

Sometime later, around nine o'clock I was awoken by construction taking place outside my window. I decided that sleep would have to wait and instead I chose to take a  walk around the local market. It was still early and the vendors were still opening their stands and arranging their wares. It was cool; it had rained the night before. I bought breakfast and went to wait for the Museo de la Medicina Maya to open.

Tower At Palenque
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At ten o'clock the museum, which is dedicated to explaining the traditional forms of medicine of the Maya and their ancestors in Chiapas. It was very interesting for me to experience non-western medicine and to try and consider illness as something other than scientific but also spiritual and natural. Leaving the museum I felt particularly tired and, therefore, chose to return to my hotel and sleep. When I woke up later that afternoon I wrote some postcards and made plans for the following day. Then I slept some more.

Beans, San Cristóbal Market
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The next day, Tuesday the 19th, I woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning in order to make my 6:30 bus to Aguas Azul and Palenque. There were twelve of us in the bus: two Dutch fellows, two Mexican girls from Tiajuana,  two Brits, an older Brazilian couple, an Italian, a Frenchman, the driver and me. Cramped in an old beat-up van, we pulled out of San Cristóbal just as daylight began to breach the mountains to the east of the town. Five minutes drive and we were completely out of town and in the midst of the fog-ridden, pine-treed, mountain range.

Avenida 20 De Noviembre, San Cristóbal
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Two and a half hours later on a winding mountain pass and the fog was beginning to clear. Through the window and from the vantage point of the pass, the deep, jungled valleys connecting the rows of mountain were defining themselves in reaction to the sun. It was incredible.

We wound along, out of these mountains and into those for another two or so hours before arriving at Aguas Azul. The site, which boasts a large series of waterfalls and has been converted into a tourist attraction complete with stalls selling 'Mayan artifacts,' was less than captivating but, in less than an hour we were back in the bus and once more heading towards our true destination: Palenque.

El Palacio, Palenque
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When we arrived at the ruins in the mid-afternoon, the jungle was buzzing with energy all around us in stark contrast to the lifeless bunch of foreigners that stepped down from our bus. But it wasn't long before we had righted ourselves. After finding a guide and a quick, five minute walk on a jungle trail we came into sight of the three thousand year-old ruins. And they were spectacular.

Two and some hours we spent wandering between the Templo de las Inscripciones (Inscriptions) and that of the Calavera (Skull) and the others of the Reina Roja (Red Queen) and Sol (Sun) and Jaguar. All were built out of stone bricks and all by hand without the use of metal. What's more, all of the buildings had had to have been recovered from the surrounding jungle that had over-run them and covered them with trees and vines and howler monkeys.

As you might imagine, I was very satisfied as we drove back to San Cristóbal that evening. Upon returning to civilization after the five or so hours-drive back, I had exactly one hour before I had to turn around and board another overnight bus to Oaxaca; the city in which I presently find myself and the source of my exhaustion. I suppose should apologize, that this entry is longer than the others and that it has been several days since my last entry, <<INHALE>> but what a few days it has been.