I've been back in the US for a little more than a week, and am slowly readjusting to life in the Midwest. It rained more in the first week I was in Chicago than the entire four months I was in Tuxtla. But, seeing my family and friends reminded me why I brave through the terrible winter/"spring" weather here. I've begun my Midwest travels (stopping once in Madison already, and leaving for Ohio Thursday), but I have a lot of catching up to do here about the last of my Mexican adventures.
I was lucky to spend a couple of my last weeks in Chiapas with visitors from home. Andrew came for the last week in March and my dad spent my last week in Chiapas with me during Semana Santa (Holy Week).
During Andrew's visit I still had to work, but it really is crazy to think of all we crammed in those hours I wasn't in the classroom. Andrew met me at my favorite coffee place after I got finished with my Saturday class. It was fun to be able to show him all of the places I pass every day, since a walk to BioMaya became a staple in my daily routine. Saturday night we went to one of my student's soccer games, where I introduced him to another student of mine who was sure he was a giant before they met. Carlos actually called him Titanic (as in Greek Titans, not the ship) after seeing a photo of us together at Sailor Maehler's wedding. To my student's credit, I am short, and so is nearly everyone in Mexico, so Andrew is quite "Titanic" in comparison. Anyway, back to soccer. I love the stadium he plays at, it's on the roof of the mall. Soccer led to drinks near Marimba Park. We found a place that had a Margarita Blue on the menu. It's as delicious as it sounds. Of all the colors, blue might be my favorite flavor.
Sunday we grabbed a taxi to Sumidero Canyon. The canyon is such an important feature of Chiapas that it is the backdrop of the state's crest. We started at the Amikuu boat launch, decked out in life jackets and admission bracelets. To get to Amikuu we embarked upon an hour and a half boat ride through the canyon. We saw the Chistmas Tree Cascade (which wasn't yet a waterfall since it wasn't rain season), the religious shrine in a grotto next to a rock sculpture that someone pointed out looked like the headless body of Jesus, wild crocodiles and spider monkeys, and my favorite yellow flowered trees that pop out among the greenery. I wish I could remember the exact words Andrew used to describe Amikuu Park when we were walking through, something like a wannabe zoo/halfway adventure park. I wouldn't say he was wrong. There are a lot of different things going on at Amikuu, all kind of thrown together. One of the first things you have the chance to do is have your photo taken with a tropical bird. After looking pretty in the picture, the Macaw on Andrew's shoulder decided he wanted to add some variety to his diet. He ripped a button from Andrew's shirt. And, not that I was so much worried about getting the button back, I was shocked at the handler's lack of action. He just let the bird chew on it, never making an attempt to get it from his beak. I was worried the Macaw would chock, but in the end, he was ok. But, anyone looking for a good present for Andrew should be on the look out for a Macaw shaped button to replace the one missing from his shirt. Nature wasn't all against us that day. Andrew PET A PUMA! He even made her purr and kick her leg like a giant house cat. And we got to see the canyon from up above on a zip line. A tip for all future Amikuu visitors: If you have to choose, zipline is far better than kayaking! Oh, and then, to make our boat ride home better, we made friends who insisted on calling Andrew loco and posing for pictures with him. This photo is brought to you by Modelo.
As the sun set on our canyon trip we jumped on a "bus" back to Tuxtla. The problem of going to places with locals is that when you try to do the trip on your own you may not be 100 percent accurate in terms of where to have the bus stop. We went a little out of our way, but hey, we got to see a new part of town, and made it back safe...
Monday was no school! YAY! We woke up before the sun rose, and headed toward some of the most incredible Mayan ruins. As a Mayan city, Palenque was a booming metropolis in the seventh century. Some of the ruins are from as far back as 100 BC, and go until the fall of the city around 800 AD. The buildings were all overrun by the jungle until more than a thousand years later. The most popular and most important buildings there were the Palace, the Temple of Inscriptions and the Temples of the Cross Group. If you ever go, opt for the tour. We were able to request an English guide, so rather than walk around aimlessly we knew exactly what we were looking at, or at least what our guide was fairly certain we were seeing. For example, here we climbed one of the cross group temples and had a fabulous view of the palace.
Monday was no school! YAY! We woke up before the sun rose, and headed toward some of the most incredible Mayan ruins. As a Mayan city, Palenque was a booming metropolis in the seventh century. Some of the ruins are from as far back as 100 BC, and go until the fall of the city around 800 AD. The buildings were all overrun by the jungle until more than a thousand years later. The most popular and most important buildings there were the Palace, the Temple of Inscriptions and the Temples of the Cross Group. If you ever go, opt for the tour. We were able to request an English guide, so rather than walk around aimlessly we knew exactly what we were looking at, or at least what our guide was fairly certain we were seeing. For example, here we climbed one of the cross group temples and had a fabulous view of the palace.
Many of the structures had seven levels/steps. According to our guide, the Mayans believe in three levels of the underworld, three levels of "heaven" and an in between (which I believe he said was Earth, if I'm remembering correctly). Seven was there number. Another fun tip, the Mayans somehow discovered magnetic north. Our guide seemed to think it was because the Universe wanted them to know. On my second trip to Palenque, our guide said that God himself came down and told them. The tomb of the most famous and powerful leader of Palenque (Pakal) was also found here. Too bad that building was closed. Palenque is massive and has a massively huge history. Palenque is one of the most written about Mayan sites, and you can start to learn more on simple sites like Palenque's Wiki site. The disappearance of the Mayans is a bit of a mystery, and everyone seems to have their own opinion. Some of the most common are: aliens, famine, meteor or war.
The road to Palenque is not a smooth one, but luckily there were stops. I'll tell you more about the stops along the path (to the waterfalls) and the next few days of Andrew's visit soon. Stay tuned!
