Campeche
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| Cathedral in Campeche |
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| Campeche |
Next stop was Campeche,
another UNESCO World Heritage site and capital of the eponymous state of
Campeche. This was initially intended as a stop-gap to break up our travel so
we only had a couple of days there. It was a very pretty city with another
fabulous church; Our
Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in the centre of town. The city
itself is surrounded by an ancient wall, forts and bastions built to defend the
town from pirates and invaders.
We saw 4 or 5 tourist trams in the centre but we didn’t take
one as the information was in Spanish only, although we were told that there
may be an English speaking guide in the afternoon but in the end we ran out of
time for it.
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| Baluarte de la Soledad |
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| Museo de Arquitectura Maya |
We took a cab up to the Fuerte
(fort) San Miguel, about 3km from the city centre, which is also home to a
small museum showcasing Mayan history.
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| San Miguel Fort |
As we left the fort to walk down to the
main road, the heavens opened and we ran for cover under a little playhouse in
a children’s playground. Perhaps not the best idea in the circumstances as we
were caught in a full-on thunder and lightning storm and took cover under a
metal structure.
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| Colourful Campeche |
About an hour later the rain had slowed enough for us to
move and we jogged down to the main road in search of the Bateria
San Luis. This rectangular building was constructed in the 18th
century along the coast of Campeche to protect the city and was surrounded by a
moat and 2 watch towers. Only 5 minutes’ walk from the fort, it was restored fairly
recently then left to ruin.
We grabbed a quick photo and jumped in a cab to a
nearby cemetery, Cemeterio
San Roman. I’ve got a morbid fascination with Mexican cemeteries (actually
cemeteries in general) so we paid a visit to this one. Baby D went one way and
I went the other. After 15 minutes of looking around, he called me over to see
something strange. We walked to the back of the cemetery and found a stereo
blaring out music, but not a soul in sight… we quickly left.
Palenque
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| Palenque ruins |
Palenque
is a funny little town; not overly touristy and a bit sketchy looking. We
stopped at a restaurant called Trottamundos (should have really known better)
and we were entertained by 4 blokes punching the crap out of another guy. He
was too drunk to be hurt, don’t worry.
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| Palenque ruins |
Palenque is becoming more and more popular with tourists because
it used to be one of the most important Mayan cities in Mexico and there is a
large site of Mayan ruins set amid a jungle. This Mayan city was the capital of
a powerful dynasty ruling through an extensive area - parts of which are today
found in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas. The oldest stone buildings were
constructed in 250AD although the site existed as a small village as early as
150BC. It was in existence until 900AD, after which the civilisation collapsed,
probably due to warfare or over-cultivation of the land which may have led to a
lack of food and subsequent starvation.
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| Palenque ruins |
On our first and only full day in Palenque, we set off on a 10
hour tour, which included the ruins and a couple of waterfalls
in the region Chiapas. I woke up feeling a bit rough but we decided to go on
the tour anyway. We spent a couple of hours walking round the ruins with a tour
guide, and then we were taken into the jungle to see some as yet unexcavated
ruins. And this is where I could no longer control myself and decided to
fertilise the foliage.
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| Misol-Ha waterfall |
I managed to hold it in for the rest of the day as we saw the
lovely Misol-Ha waterfall and then the Agua Azul waterfall, where we sat for 2
hours in a thunderstorm. As soon as we opened the door to our hotel, my mouth
also opened and I produced my own ‘waterfall’. Thanks a lot ‘Trottamundos’,
you’ll forever be remembered in my mind as ‘Throwupamundos’.
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| Agua Azul waterfall |
Thankfully I was fine the next day, as we had a 4 and a half
hour bus journey to San Cristóbal
de las Casas, also in the state of Chiapas. Only, 4 and a half hours was
actually 9 hours.
The bus took a roundabout route probably to bypass the local
rebels who frequently set up roadblocks and sometimes demand money from
vehicles to pass. They do this because they are protesting against the
government – sometimes because of the price of petrol, or because they aren’t
getting support from the government. I’ve read stories of buses being set on
fire and tourists being robbed, although this doesn’t appear to be a common
occurrence. So much for bypassing the roadblocks. We were almost first in line
when a group of local people – most of whom were women - decided to cause a bit of mayhem and put old
tyres and huge boulders in the road, stopping us in our tracks for 45 minutes.
San Cristóbal de las Casas
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| Cathedral in San Cristóbal de las casas |
San
Cristóbal de las Casas was not part of our original plan but we were
convinced to go there by our Tulum dive instructor, Jacob, who was from the
region of Chiapas. The town is set amidst mountains and has an altitude of 2,200m.
It is a beautifully preserved place with cobbled streets, interesting colonial
architecture, and is the heartland for the Zapatistas;
a left-wing revolutionary group which has been at war with the Mexican
government since 1994. They fight for equal rights, fair pay and education for
all.
That evening we took a stroll round town, visiting the baroque style cathedral,
built in 1721, and a local crafts market before finding a restaurant
specialising in stews – perfect for me after being sick the day before.
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| San Cristóbal de las casas |
In the morning, it was Baby D’s turn to suffer, although it
was the deadly man-flu that struck him down, so I left him in bed and went out
exploring. There is a number of museums in San Cristóbal and I started with the
Museo Mesoamericano del jade or the Jade
museum. This showcases the jade work of the Mayan people in the area, who
used it in a number of ways, for tools, ornaments, decoration, masks and
particularly for funeral rituals.
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| Jade museum |
Next, I headed to the chocolate
museum (every Mexican town seems to have one) but only the café part seemed
to be open so I gave it a miss. Next was the Museo
de San Cristóbal de las Casas which showcases the culture and history of
the town, its people and its buildings.
After the museums, I walked the kilometre or so from the
main plaza to the Guadalupe
Church which sits on a hill overlooking the town. This was up a big set of
steps so offered great views over the town and surrounding areas.
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| Guadalupe Church |
Continuing my walk, I went to the Na
Bolom Museum. This was the home of Gertrude Duby from Bern in Switzerland
and her husband Franz Blom. Gertrude was a journalist who went to Chiapas to
write a piece on the Lacandons,
a Mexican tribe of Mayan descent which led a traditional, rural life in the
jungles of Chiapas. There she met Franz, an archaeologist from Denmark, who
also had a passion for the Lacandons. Together they set up home in San
Cristóbal de las casas and dedicated their lives to campaigning to maintain
the Lacandons way of life and rich heritage. In their wills, they left their
home to the state, to be used as a museum and cultural centre. At the ticket
office opposite the museum I was shown a 15 minute video on the couple’s life
and work, to set the scene.
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| Na Bolom |
The museum was lovely, containing small rooms showcasing Lacandon
culture, other rooms showing Gertrude and Franz’s belongings, another
exhibiting art, and there was a library which was being used by 4 or 5 students
when I was there. Actually, one of the nicest parts for me was the garden which
contained native plants, particularly those used by the Lacandon people.
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| Inside Santo Domingo Church |
My next stop was the Church
of Santo Domingo and the textile market outside, which I had actually gone
to that morning, but the church was closed when I got there so I went back
after lunch (2pm). The church was beautifully intricate on its facade and
inside were gold panels throughout.
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| Textile market |
The textile market just outside of the
church sold locally produced blankets, scarves, jackets, and rugs, and my final stop for the day was the local food market where I
picked up some fruit and headed back to the patient.
On the following day, I dragged Baby D out of bed to go to El
Arcotete. This is an eco-tourism park only about 6km from the centre of
town. It cost 10 pesos each to get in, and in the park we could do some rock
climbing, go on a boat ride, walk up though the grottoes in the rocks overhanging the river or
have a go on the 2 ziplines (100 pesos each extra).
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| El Arcotete |
The boats weren’t running
that day, maybe due to the bad weather, which hit just as we left. After wandering
round the park for an hour and exploring the grottoes, we decided to go on the
ziplines. The highest was 150m and 300m in length. I was hurtling down the
first one and my brake didn’t want to work so I lifted my leg to avoid
colliding with the guy at the end of the line. Unfortunately my leg got
entangled with the zipline and I had an almighty bruise on my leg to show for
it. It was great fun though apart from that, and we were annoyed to have
forgotten the GoPro.
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| El Arcotete |
All too soon our time in gorgeous San Cristóbal de las Casas
was over and the next morning we were on a bus to the airport heading to
Oaxaca.
#mexico #campeche #palenque #jisokha #aguaazul #sancristobaldelascasas #arcotete #nabolom #chiapas
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