San Cristobal De Las Casas and Xela

The journey to San Cristobal was along some really winding roads so I was glad when we finally got there. San Cristobal was a pretty good place.

On our first full day we did a tour out to some Mayan villages with a local guide. This was a lot better than I had expected - he took us to 2 villages to show the contrast between Mayan villages who have combined there religions with Catholisism and another where the old religions are a lot less evident.

The first village was called Chamula. The guide explained a lot about the culture and history of the place. There were a lot of fireworks going off and we learned that this was to signify the election of a new religious leader - we also learned that the firework rockets were set off directly from peoples hands.

Our first stop was an old cemetry which looked scary enough by day - I certainly would not like to have been around at night! (Very Resident Evil!)




We then went into the local Church. It was a very strange Church as there is no priest and the inside was covered with pine needles and incense was burning. We were told that we could not take photos inside. If we got caught then they would confiscate the memory card! Well believe it or not the people actually sacrifice chickens inside the Church (we were there during one of the ceremonies). The chickens are tied and the people wave the chickens over there bodies and over the candles to cleanse themselves from evil spirits. The people also have Coke and other soft drink bottles lined up as part of the ceremony - they believe that it has a spiritual power and when they burp they purify themselves by expelling evil spirits. There was also lots of different coloured candles which each signify different things.

After the ceremony they take the chicken home to eat and burry the bones in the back garden. It was such a strange thing to see - your natural instinct is to think it's a show for the tourists but our guide assured us that it goes on all day everyday, and infact you were told not to stand and stare.

The village had its own police force who carried sticks instead of guns and had there own laws. Visitors are normally allowed to visit one of the leaders houses - but as there was a new leader ceremony taking place we just got to quickly look in.

There was a lot of children begging around the market and judging by the types of goods on display the people seemed very poor.

The second village called Zinacantan was completely different. The people seemed to be a lot richer and there was no begging children. We visited a local family who cooked some tortilla and pumpkin seeds for us. We then got to try the local booze called "Posh".

The next day was a free day so I walked around San Cristobal a bit. I climbed up to get a good view of the city.

From San Cristobal we travelled to Quetzaltenango by chicken bus - I did not enjoy this journey as we were squashed in 3 to a seat - I had to keep pulling myself up by the luggage rack to get comfortable - I did not fit in the seat as I was over the wheel and my legs were knocking against the metal seat in front. When we arrived we had to get another shared taxi-bus to the hotel. The hotel itself was a strange one as it seemed to have been built inside a multistorey carpark. Had an Italian meal then went for some beers with some backpackers our group had adopted. We had a late start that morning and headed off to Panajachel by Lake Atitlan.

Palenque

From Merida we headed to Palenque - this was a long travel day and our bus was one hour late!

My choice at the group meal was absolutely minging - On the menu it said pork sausage and pork chops - so I thought I´d be getting like a mixed grill but what arrived was something cut into small pieces (including bones) and then smeared in greasey cheese - lovely!

Next morning we headed out to the ruins.

Now I know some of you (especially you Mr Purkiss) are enjoying my visits to the ruins and have requested some additional information about each one. Well I will be holding a number of slide show presentation evenings where I will discuss at great length my extensive photo collections of each site - I will also be discussing the similarities and differences between the Maya and Inca civilisations!

Palenque began as a farming hamlet, perhaps some time around 100 BC, that is, during the so-called Formative Period [2500 BC - 300 AD]. Over the Early Classic Period [300 - 600 AD] the village grew, and in the Late Classic [600 - 900 AD] became the city which ruled much of what is now the states of Chiapas and Tabasco. At that time, Palenque's development peaked, as evident in the complexity of its architecture, ceramics, and particularly its inscriptions.

The ancient city itself holds over 200 buildings of varying size and complexity, all adapted to a landscape extending 2,800 yards from east to west, and 1,100 yards from north to south, giving it a total area of some 620 acres.

There were a couple of temples to check out. On top of each temple was a stone tablet with a glyph (pictures that the archaeologists have translated) which tell the history of the site.

After visiting the ruins there was a good walk back to the museum through the forest past a waterfall.

The museum was pretty good too as it had lots of stonework recovered from the site and it showed you a bit about how the glyphs had been translated.





After the ruins we headed back to the hotel then went off on a trip to Misol Ha and Agua Azul Waterfalls.

On the way to the falls we got stopped by Zapatistas who had blocked the road - they had a story about raising money for a boy who was knocked over and needed medical treatment but they had ropes tied accross the road as well as a plank of wood with nails which they wouldn´t move till we paid them 50 pesos. There was also a lot of them hanging around by the roadside and although we didn´t see any guns they were probably armed. Fortunately we paid a small amount each and they let us continue (See the comment about guerillas under the Chichen Itza and Merida entry).

The first fall was impressive and you could walk around behind the fall. You could also climb up to a cave that had another waterfall inside it. The second falls Agua Azul (Blue Water) weren't as good and because of all the rain should have been called brown water!

We got back to Palenque to get ready for an early start next morning.

Chichen Itza and Merida

We caught our bus to the ruins of Chichen Itza. The site was quite impressive - I found a good website telling you all about it if you want more information.



The best bits were the ball court where it´s claimed that the winners of the game won the honour to be a human sacrifice to the gods (no real incentive there then!).

The site is dominated by the the Pyramid of Kukúlcan. The Pyramid was designed in such a way that during the equinox the sun casts a shadow on the steps so that it appears as if a snake is crawling down to the bottom.



Originally each side of the pyramid had 91 steps and with the addition of the platform at the top there are 365 steps, one for each day of the year. This shows that the Myan year had the same number of days as ours.

There was also a well where they made more human sacrifices (the people were a lot more violent due to influence of another civilisation - the Toltecs). The well has been excavated and loads of bodies and artifacts were found.

After the tour we had time on our own to wander around the ruins - there was a lot to see and the ruins went right back into the jungle.



We left the ruins and headed to our next stop - the city of Merida.

We had decided to have a Pizza party on the roof of the hotel - however this was interupted by a very heavy rain shower.

Next day I got up for a walking tour of the city. The tour took us around the main square and Cathedral before finishing in a cool building full of Murals telling the history of the Mayans and the town.

After the tour I wandered around a bit. I found a market where they were selling live beetle jewlery - I bet that would be interesting to get back through customs!

I then had to mentally prepare for the long travel day the next day (9 Hours) to Palenque.