This
was my annual group trip to visit numerous Maya ruin sites, and this particular
trip to the state of Chiapas in Mexico was one of the most enjoyable trips I had
ever taken. The group was as follows: Skip Caldwell and Cleta Polk from
Colorado, Gaye Greenwald from New Jersey, Rip Phillips from Florida, myself from
South Carolina, and the 2011 trip giveaway recipient; Julio
Torres from
Mexico City. Our transportation during the week-long trip was by a large
11-passenger van which we rented in Villahermosa,
for $987 USD, and even though four people in our group did their share of driving during the
week, Rip Phillips drove the majority of the time and I was glad that he was
such a good driver.
Day
1 - All I can say about this day was that it was very aggravating, long, and
rather eventful. Finally, however, everyone managed to arrive to the city of
Palenque, where we all checked into our rooms at Hotel Xibalba. I was glad to be
there, so that I could relax a bit and allow my blood pressure to decline from
it's high state which had continually built up throughout the long day of
travel, from having to deal with one issue after another. The brochetas de pollo dinner at El Huachinago Felize Restaurant I had, was very
good. Even though I've cut back tremendously on my drinking these days, a couple
of cold beers were just the thing to help me relax as well. I was very happy to
know that everyone had arrived there safely and we could start our week-long
adventure as planned, the following day.
Day
2 - After a nice breakfast, we all loaded up into the rental van, and set out for the first site on our itinerary; the
stunning Maya ruin site of Palenque. I was the only person in our group to have
had the pleasure of visiting the site before, so not only was it a treat for the
rest of those in our group to go there, but I was eager to once again enjoy the
beauty of the magnificent site as well. I could tell that Julio Torres was a very happy
man, to be fulfilling a life-long dream of visiting the site. Even though Julio
is a very knowledgeable person about Maya history, this was his very first Maya
ruin site to visit and I was happy to be there with him on such a special
occasion. There was a large
amount of fog at the site, which not only made it quite picturesque, but also
made for an enjoyable visit to the site as well, since it is normally very hot and humid
there.
After
visiting the site, we went to eat lunch in town at Restaurant La Cañada; one of
the nicer restaurants in town. The food was good, but it was rather expensive. I had decided that we had enough time left in the day to visit one of the
nearby waterfalls, which I knew to be very beautiful. We arrived at the entrance
road that leads to Misol Ha Waterfalls and had to pay some men who stopped us before
entering, for allowing our group to pass. The men were Zapatistas, and after
paying them a small fee, we were allowed to pass for going onward to a guard
station, to pay the official entrance fee for visiting the waterfall.
Everyone
in the group really enjoyed the beautiful waterfalls and there were other people
there as well, who were swimming in the pool of water below the falls. Once
back in town, Julio and I had to go to a nearby pharmacy for buying some
congestion medicine, since I had previously been a little under the
weather before embarking on this particular journey, and was slightly still congested. Also,
we found out that there was a bank in
town which is open everyday, so it was nice to be able to exchange some dollars
there on Sunday.
Day
3 - We drove 3 hours south
on highway #199 to the town of Ocosingo, and then went
a short
distance further
to visit the Maya ruin site of Tonina. I had wanted to visit this site
on my previous trip to the area in 2005, but did not due to time restraints. I
was anxious to finally be able to go there, since it is also where the last Long
Count Date was found to be carved in the entire Maya World. The
site was not very large, but there was a lot to see there. It was quite hot
there too, which made climbing the structures and stairways more
difficult
than they already are. We
toured the site for 2 1/2 hours and then drove south down the winding road through the
Chiapas Mountains for the next 4 1/2 hours, finally arriving to the city of
Comitan de Dominguez which is near the Guatemalan border.
Once
there, we did not have very much trouble finding the Hotel Internacional where
we would be staying for the next couple of nights. We did, however, have trouble
driving the large van into the entrance of the hotel parking lot. It was an
extremely tight squeeze! After everyone settled into
their rooms, we decided to have dinner at Restaurante Los Portales nearby.
The food there was reasonably priced and was very good as well. Afterwards,
we toured the central plaza, where some vendors were selling all sorts of items,
as part of the Festival of San Caralampios celebration.
Day
4 - For many years I had wanted to visit a couple of sites near the Guatemalan
border, but since they are located in such a desolate area of Mexico, I had not
done so before. On this day, however, I would finally get to visit those two
sites, as well as another in the area which I did not know even existed. We
first visited the Maya ruins of Tenam Puente, which was located very near to the
city of Comitan de Dominguez.
The
site had a lot more structures than I had expected and consisted of numerous
plazas and three different ball courts. It was overcast and windy on this day,
and quite cool. After visiting this particular site, we drove onward to visit
the nearby
Maya ruins of
Chinkultic,
which was the 100th Maya ruin site that I had visited. The guards at the site would not allow us to take
our backpacks or bags with us into the site, fearing
that we would take pieces
of ceramics and other artifacts from the site, as we left. It was not a bother
to me, since I only really needed my camera and bottle of water, anyways. The
site was situated between two large lakes and consisted of three different areas
of structures. The main structure was located on the other side of a small river
and was situated on top of a large hill, which overlooked the entire valley. It
was a strenuous climb to reach the main structure, but was well worth the
effort.
After
leaving Chinkultic, we decided to go onward to visit another Maya ruin site
nearby, which was unknown to me, even though Julio knew a lot about it. Once we
arrived to the small village of El Lagartero, I could see why the site was named
the same. There were a lot of beautiful streams which contained crystal clear
water, as well as some small lakes. Being quite hungry at the time, we decided
to eat lunch at one of the small restaurants in the village. The lady at the
restaurant only
offered three dishes; fish, shrimp and chicken. While we were waiting for our
meals to be prepared, some of those in our group decided to watch two local
women prepare home-made tamales. The two local women did not mind at all, to
show those in our group how they made the tamales.
While
we ate our lunch there were a lot of baby ducks, as well as chickens, walking
all around our table as well as underneath it. After lunch, we had to drive
down a small dirt road and cross many small streams along the way. A couple of
those streams were pretty deep, and thankfully had a really hard bottom of
bedrock. The Maya ruin site of El Lagartero is situated beside a small lake and
the structures there are very different than I had ever seen before. The small
site consisted of four pyramidal structures, as well as a ball court. Upon
entering the site, I was fortunate enough to be able to see two blue-crested
mot-mot birds, as I had arrived well in front of the others in our group.
Day
5 - I knew this would be a very long day of driving through an area of Chiapas that I
had little information about. I was a little worried. It wasn't the fact that I felt unsafe to do so, but
simply the lack of knowledge about the roads which we would be driving on, as
well as the availability of gas stations along the route. After I
had asked Julio to call a friend of ours who lives in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Jesus
Escobedo assured Julio and I that the road was fine, and the only warning he
gave us was to make sure we filled the van with gas before we left Comitan de
Dominguez and to expect a lot of topes (speed bumps) along the way. The long drive was very scenic and we stopped the van and
all got out to take photos, once we arrived to the bridge that crosses the
Lacantun River. The water in the river was turqouise blue. It was absolutely
amazing to look at, for I had never seen water colored such as this in a fresh
water river before.
Once
we arrived to the village of Chajula, which is located along highway #307, I
wanted to take a short cut through some villages to hopefully shorten our
driving time for the day. Even though the road was merely dirt and contained a
lot of sections which were washed out by recent flooding, at times, I was glad I
made the decision for taking the short cut as we did. It made a difference in
driving time and we easily made it to the city of Benemeritos de las Americas so
we could refill the van with gas as needed. After refilling the van with gas and
buying some soft drinks and snacks, we went onward to visit the Maya ruins of
Bonampak to see the beautiful 1,200 year old murals that are there, which
completely cover the interior walls and ceilings of three of the structures at the site.
Before arriving there, we had to stop at the fifth military check point for the
day, and the soldiers made all of the men in our group get out of the van, put
our hands on the side of the van, and spread our legs. They were searching for
drugs and weapons, so they frisked all of us.
While
at the site, I noticed a large flock of parrots which flew over the main
plaza. They were squawking as usual and I could hear them coming from at least
1/4 of a mile away. Another pleasant surprise which I encountered while at the
site, was meeting one of my Facebook friends; Luis Adrian Rojas from Monterrey,
Mexico. He was part of another tour group that was also visiting the site
on this day. It was quite a coincidence to meet him at
Bonampak, for the first time in my life. As I had encountered during some of my
previous adventures, I never know who I am going to run across, while there.
Julio had never met him in person before either, but knew him quite well from
Facebook also.
After
leaving the site, we only had to drive through one more military check point
station, before arriving to the village of 'Once de Julio', where we would lodge for the next two nights at the ranch of Willy
Fonseca; Vallescondido. Arriving there just before dark, Willy was happily
waiting for us when we pulled into his driveway. He showed everyone in our group
to their cabins, and after we showered and rested up as needed, we were treated
to a wonderful dinner prepared by two of his workers.
Day
6 - Most of those in our group enjoyed the buffet-style breakfast at Willy's restaurant across
the road from his ranch. While at the restaurant, Willy had asked me which sites we had planned to visit
for the day. I told him I wanted to visit a couple of sites in the area, and he
told me that he had nothing to do for the day and would come along with us, if we
didn't mind. Heck, he even offered to drive the van, which I had no problem with
agreeing to. He asked me to wait for a few minutes while he and the cooks
at his restaurant made some sandwiches for our lunch later in the day. After arriving to the town of Frontera Corozal and paying the
mandatory fees as needed, we parked at the designated area along-side the
Usumacinta River and loaded up into one of the lanchas, to take the trip down
river to visit the Maya ruins of Yaxchilan. Along the way, we were thrilled to
see a scarlet macaw which was flying above, and also a crocodile
basking in the sun on a fallen log.
We
toured the site for around 2 hours and then made the boat trip back to
Frontera Corozal as needed, while we ate our lunch
along
the way. Once back at Frontera Corozal, we drove onward to the village of Plan
de Ayutla, where we had to pay a man for being granted access to visit the
desolate Maya ruin site of Sak Tzi, which is located on a cattle
ranch nearby. The site
was very nice and was surprisingly
restored
more than I expected. When we headed back
towards Willy's ranch, he wanted to show us some waterfalls nearby. I had no
idea where he was taking us, but when we arrived to the waterfalls of Las
Golondrinas, I was glad
we stopped to visit them. The waterfalls
are
very nice and people
are allowed to swim in the numerous pools
there
as well. Once
back at Willy's ranch, we were treated to another very nice dinner. It was also a
pleasure to meet Willy's son; Cesar, who was very helpful
with anything
we might need at times.
Day
7 - After breakfast at Willy's restaurant, again, Willy asked me what our plans were
for the day. I told him that the only plans that I had were to drive back to
Villahermosa, for turning in the rental van. He asked me if we were interested
in visiting a
couple of Maya ruin sites along the way, and if so, he would gladly come along
with us. He told me that he needed to go to Palenque anyway. Willy
first took us to the Maya ruin site of Chinikiha, where the Chilean
archaeologist; Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo was currently digging, with the help of
some Italian students. I never knew the site even existed, but of course Julio
knew about it. The site was nothing more than pasture land, but the students
showed us some of the artifacts they had uncovered while digging in the area.
We
left there and went onward to visit the Maya ruins of Pomona, which is located
in the state of Tabasco and is a very nice site to visit, even though it is
extremely small. While we were at the site, I did see a chocolate falcon behind
the pyramidal structure there, which I wasn't able to get a good photo of
while it was perched in a tree. The nicest thing about this particular
site, in my opinion, was the museum. It contained a large amount of
artifacts from the site and the building was very nice as well. Willy
drove us back to the city of Palenque and we decided to have lunch there at the
Maya Restaurant. The food was good and was reasonably priced as well. After
lunch, Willy departed for the bus station to go back to his ranch. Meanwhile, we
dropped Skip and Cleta off at their hotel, while the rest in our group drove
back to Villahermosa for turning in the rental van and checking into our rooms
as needed at the Hilton Hotel.
I
can't say enough good things about Willy Fonseca. While we were staying at
his ranch, there was hardly anything he would not provide for us, if he had the
ability to do so. Willy's son, Cesar, was very helpful as well and he can also
understand and speak a decent amount of English. The cabins were very clean and
nicely decorated. While we were there, the price for lodging per night was 1,350
MXN. Also, the buffet-style breakfast cost 80 MXN and dinner was 150 MXN per
person. One
other thing I would like to add is that Willy has wireless internet at his
ranch. Vallescondido is located at km. 61 on highway #307 in the village of 11
de Julio. Contact
info for Willy Fonseca -
email: busil_h@hotmail.com
& cell #
(011)
52
916
100 0399
