Confidence is waiting for their parts order. Sea Swift and Elizabeth Jean are on the hard getting their bottom painted. Meridian crew are looking for a break from the norm. So the decision was made to go on a 4 day road trip with Tours Discover.
Miguel Davilla and Antonio (Tony) Montoya own and operate the company. Tony was with us for the duration and Miguel for the last day. Fabio assisted on the first three days.
At 0530 on January 28th, Tony and Fabio showed up at the marina with a 10 person van and a 4-door Acura. We had 4 people in the Acura ( including the driver) and 7 in the van. The plan was to rotate seats on a regular basis in order to share company and levels of comfort.
We headed out on highway 200 and drove parallel to the coast. This area is called Soconusco (Pacific Coastal Plain). It is one of the state's most productive agricultural lands and the third largest producer of mangoes in the world along with bananas, tangerines, limes and various other fruits and vegetables.
We can see the two volcanoes rising out of the plains ( looks like that anyway) which are still active. You can just make them out on the horizon.
Tacana is the one on the left, nearly 4100 meters above the plain. Tacan means House of Fire in the local dialect. Sailors used to call it Lighthouse of the South in the days when the lava flow could be seen well out to sea. Tajumulco is the other and is actually in Guatemala and is higher at 4220 meters.
We were promised a breakfast stop around 0930. Stop we did but breakfast was not to be. The place looked nice but the restaurant had closed since the last time Tony was there. I thought Barry was going to cry when he discovered that coffee included a Tupperware container of instant coffee and a thermos of hot water! And here we are in one of the best coffee producing countries in the world! So we loaded up with juice and water and the Mexican equivalent of Twinkie's and carried on.
When we approached the Oaxaca border we began to head northward and upward to the central plateau or highlands (Los Altos) to San Cristobal. The vistas were incredible as we climbed the Sierra Madre's surrounded by pine (piña moctezuma) and oak forests. The pines are similar to the Canadian Ponderosa Pine.
We stopped for a Kodak moment and could not get over the freshness of the air. It was glorious!
After settling into our rooms in San Cristobal we all met for a walking tour of the city centre. It is a wonderful colonial city
and what makes it special is the indigenous presence that you feel with its' architecture, crafts and people. A lot of the locals wear their traditional garb and believe me they are not doing this for the tourists.
The market was interesting and some of us were itching to drop some serious coin but Tony suggested that we wait until we get to the towns where the people who make these things live. Not only would we get a better price but we would also get to meet the artisans themselves. Our tour took us to the zocalo (square),
La Catedral de San Cristobal
and the Tempo y Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo.
Our only complaint was that we did not have more time to tour the city.
We stopped for some wonderful hot chocolate as we were all starting to feel the cold. It was probably less than 10C and would have been okay but we were not dressed for it. When we stopped for dinner we asked the proprietor to light the fire for us. It was a good move on his part as in a very short time his restaurant was full!
Getting warm by the fire!
I won't get into the history of all these places as this entry in the blog will be long enough. I guess you will just have to go there sometime. I will use my pictures to entice you instead!
The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit and hand squeezed orange juice and wonderful coffee and omelette' we headed to Agua Azul ( blue water) in the National Park. The pictures speak for themselves.
Only four of us went swimming and you guessed it - I was the first one in. Refreshing it was. Cold it wasn't - not for a true Northerner! Check out the look on my face as I proceed to climb along the banks to the rope swing. Are we having fun yet?
This was just too much fun and if I had my way we would have stayed there all day!
The synchronized swim team and memories of Belize. Me and Armon!
But there were more places to see and everyone was getting hungry.
There were several small restaurants and lots of vendors. I understand that the area turns into a madhouse during the peak tourist season so we were happy to experience it on a slow day. Lunch included homemade empanadas.
Back in the vehicles and on our way to another water falls - Cascada De Misol-Ha. The falls are 30 meters in height. The highlight is following the slippery path along the base of the cliff to discover a cave behind the falls.
We continued on our windy road to Palenque. It was dark by the time we got to our hotel and seeing as we had eaten lunch so late we decided to retire early.
The ruins are just outside the city so we were given a later start time the following morning. After another nice breakfast we headed out to the Mayan Ruins. Again I will let the pictures speak for themselves. This area is considered the crown jewel of the entire Mayan world. Not too hard to see why. To say it was spectacular would be an understatement! I cannot imagine the emotion that earlier archaeologists would have felt when they discovered them in the 1800's.
I had to refrain myself - so many pictures that I had a difficult time choosing just a few!
We appreciated having Tony and Fabio to explain the significance of the structures and the area. It was something we missed out on when we visited the ruins at Monte Alban. We were almost at the end of our two hour walking tour when this strange substance began falling from the sky - rain! This was only the fourth time that we had seen rain since leaving Canada in August of 2013!. So this may be the dry season but we are still in the rain forest.
We stopped for a lovely lunch of a traditional soup - tomato based vegetable and chicken and avocado with a hint of smokiness from a chipotle pepper. It was heavenly and warmed everyone up from the chill of the rain.
Then we were back on that windy road to San Cristobal. A few comments about the roads - there are numerous military and police checkpoints as you travel along the highways in Chiapas. One must always remember that the border to Guatemala is very close by. And the authorities are always on the lookout for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants. We were always treated respectfully and simply waved through. We also experienced Zapatista checkpoints. This is a group belonging to local ejido's. They usually ask for a fee to pass through their lands. This group is not much different than the Canadian First Nation groups who are still trying to defend or claim ownership to their land. We just dealt with it as a user fee, paid it and carried on.
Another night in San Cristobal and then on the road to two surrounding villages. The first was San Juan Chamula, one of the largest indigenous towns in Chiapas. One might think that they were on a movie set. The first thing you notice is all the women dressed in their traditional huipiles - a simple white blouse with embroidered flowers along the neck line and thick black wool skirts cinched with embroidered belts.
This is a picture of Dominique from Meridian trying on the huipiles and learning to weave.
They also wear wool rebozos or shawls.
You might be asking how I got the pictures - well in the next town you can take their pictures if you ask them and pay them!
Remember that we are in the mountains and it does get cold here in the evenings, sometimes dropping close to freezing this time of year. The garments are all hand woven and hand embroidered on a waist loom. The wool comes from their own animals.
The men wear cowboy hats and cowboy boots and woolen tunics ( I wanted one). The black ones are warn by the police and elders and the white ones are reserved for the mayor and police chief.
We were warned about taking pictures of the people of this village. My sister Debbie will appreciate this as those of you who know her are well aware of the taboo about taking her picture. Well Debbie, there is an entire village who believe that taking their picture destroys their soul. See - you are not alone!
The most unique and fascinating church I have ever been to is in this village.
I am not sure if any words can honestly describe the ambiance of this church or the emotions that I felt as I entered it. All I know is that my hand went to my heart and tears flowed from my eyes. It is a Catholic Church but the only traditional Catholic ceremony to take place in the church is Baptism. There are no pews. The first thing you experience is the smell - pine needles, flowers, incense and candles. Then the light - thousands of candles burning and natural sunlight coming through the windows. Fresh pine needles are cut and placed on the floor every Saturday and donations of beautiful bouquets of flowers from local gardens adorn the statues of saints and the altar. The people pray more to individual saints than to God. The statues are now protected by glass as in the past if the requests to the saint was not granted than a churchgoers would come into the church and break a finger off the statue, or turn it around to face the wall or in really bad cases remove the statue and take it outside and bury its head in the dirt!
We were able to be witnesses of a funeral that took place in the nearby graveyard. You could see all the elders in their wool tunics. And you can take pictures from afar.
Notice the older graves and the mounds of dirt - not flat like we are used to.
After the ceremony the elders bring the flowers into the church to make an offering to one of the saints. The entire experience brought tears to my eyes and peace to my soul.
One of the people in our group did not take the No Pictures to heart and decided to sneak a picture of the inside of the church. He was immediately surrounded by the local police and escorted out of the church. He could have ended up in jail if not for the quick action of Miguel ( who is also a lawyer) and an immediate offer to pay a fine. When they say No Pictures they mean No Pictures!
After buying a few souvenirs we headed to another village - Zinacantan - known for its flowers and textiles. We were met by a lovely girl who took us to her Aunt's home to see how the weaving is done, in the old way.
Below is a picture of her Aunt with the waist loom weaving a runner.
You can see the runners in the background. First she weaves the runner and then she embroiders it. One runner takes her about 3 months and no two are exactly the same. We all dropped a few pesos here.
She also makes the traditional dress for weddings - men and women.
Yes, this is David and I getting married. Nothing official but the words I Do were spoken and 11 people witnessed it and a toast was made with the posh - a traditional cane sugar liquor. We were then treated to a small snack of traditional tortillas with various fillings of cheese, pumpkin seeds and tomatoes.
Back into the vehicles for one final stop before heading back to the boat. We took a panga into the Parcque Nacinal Canon del Sumidero through the canyon, up to the dam and back to the Capitol of Tuxtla Gutierrez. The canyon was 1000 meters at its highest point.
One spectacular part was the Christmas tree ( Arbil de Navidad) - a lush triangle of moss and vegetation clinging to the canyon wall. And yes it does look like a Christmas tree.
And crocodiles too! Not David. The guy on shore!
We finished off the tour with a lovely lunch by the river and then started the final 5 hour drive back to the marina.
All in all it was a wonderful four days. Miguel, Tony and Fabio were excellent guides, knowledgable and good drivers. At the end of the day we were no longer clients but friends and plans were already being made to go on a couple of smaller day tours in the coming days.
The gang!
And Tony
And Fabio
And Maguel
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