# Chiapas - Inside Alice´s Looking Glass



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

For those of you as yet unfamiliar with Southern Mexico which I will define for my purposes as the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Southern Veracruz State and Campeche and, culturally, at least, if not totally geographically, the states of Yucatán and Quintana Roo, I will attempt to acquaint you with this marvellous, if complex, región where we, as immigrants to Mexico live much of each year while residing as well at relatively affluent Lake Chapala in West Central Mexico.

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, a town in which we reside much of each year, is a colonial city of about 150,000 souls, perhaps 1/2 or more of whom are of indigenous, mostly Mayan, origin, sitting astride the broad Jovel Valley at about 7,000 feet (2,000 meters) in the Sierra Norte de Chiapas surrounded by mostly rural indigenous lands in mountainous terrain located at altitudes ranging from about 3,000 feet to above 12,000 feet. the state is Mexico´s poorest as measured in terms of economic wealth and distribution (followed by Oaxaca and Guerrero States in that order) and, as I can attest, has, among its approximatelty 4,000,000 inhabitants, countless people who live in abject and indescribable poverty. It is also a land of indescribable beauty for those fortunate enough to observe its charms yet not have to negotiate its often seemingly perpendicular terraine on foot carrying the essentials of life. 

Everything here is not necessarily as it seems. We have lived here in the highlands for some eight years and are still novices. I will, however, have some fun naively proving my ignorance by writing of my experiences here so bear with me while I describe a land puzzling to the rational mind.

However, I have currently run out of time so more later and soon.


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## TurtleToo (Aug 23, 2013)

> . . . so more later and soon.


Both, I hope!

.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Our good friend from Tlaquepaque (Metropolitan Guadalajara) who is quite familiar with Southern Mexico and Central America and who has many friends among artisans in those places in regions nominally untouched and then only peripherilly so by modern mehcanical conveniences such as electricity and plumbing accomodating unprocessed sh*t removal and consoiidation in convenient nearby rivers and ponds , was negotoitiating the autopista from Veracruz State to Tuxtla Gutiérrez at dusk on his way to our house in San Cristóbal when.on this primary highway from Veracruz to Chiapas,, he was pulled over some 30 miles out of Tuxtla by a gang of thugs armed with assault weapons who threatened to kill him and only let him pass upon his remmiitance of the sum of the equivalent of 100USD in return for his passage as well as the keeping of his life. The Mexican army was standing nearby for their cut.

Well, be that as it may since anyone with half a brain lives in Southern Mexico for the unending and palpable adventure, San Cristóbal has the best Thai resraurant we have found in Mexico in 15 years of living here in Mexico and often travelling about and it is located on the Andador in that city´s historic center adjacent to a bar where one can get liquored up on fine local rum before indulging in extra spicy pad thai and Thai tea before hailing a taxi home and for what more could one wish in life.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

On February 14, Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in San Cristobal for a one day visit and massive crowds of visitors are anticipated with estimates of between 200,000 and 500,000 souls in attendance for various scheduled ceremonies. We contemplated sticking around for this event but,upon reflection, decided that these crowds might very well overwhelm the city making us virtual prisoners in our home here with no real chance we could hope to get even close to any of the significant planned
events so we decided that this was an opportune time to get the hell out of here and drive to visit some of Chiapas' other atttractions such as the Montebello Lakes, the Lacandon Forest and Palenque - places ideally located for visits in February when the climate in that región is at its best. We'll report our experiences here for readers interested in this fascinating part of Southern México.


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## djohnsondjohnson (Mar 2, 2015)

I live in Chiapas too. 

Southeastern Mexico is the cream!


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## djohnsondjohnson (Mar 2, 2015)

I'm just now, in the last year or two, starting to run into more AMericans down in San Cris.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Yes We have met a few in the last few years but not that many. Do you live in San Cristobal ?


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## djohnsondjohnson (Mar 2, 2015)

yes, for most of the year.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

With the Pope's scheduled visit on February 15th to San Cristobal and anticipated massive crowds expected here to see him, it seemed an opportune time to take care of some unfinished business and embark on a road trip east of the city to the Lacandon Jungle, Palenque, Chol country and back to San Cristobal. We would start with a traditional indigenous wedding in Amantenango del Valle about an hour and a half from San Cristobal (an all day affair), proceed past Comitan, the Maya ruins at Chinkultik,, Lagos de Montebello National Park, then on into the Zona Lacandona to Las Nubes, Lacanja Chansayab, Na Ha and on to Palenque before returning to San Cristobal via Chol country at Tila and then Ocosingo. We stayed in some very nice ecolodges in the Lacandon , a fine hotel in Palenque which offers many fine hotels both in town and at the ruins, and a couple of dumpy but clean hotels in Teopisca and Tila. The drive took us seven days total which I would suggest is the minimum time the reader should allocate to get the most of a journey such as this and that really doesn't provide adequate time to visit in depth the many splendid attractions 
along the way including the famous ruins at Palenque, Bonampak and Yaxchilan and other natural and man made attractions too numerous to mention. If you are visiting here from other regions, perhaps you might wish to plan on a couple of weeks for this exploratory journey which would prove well worth the time allocated.

A few observations:

The highways in this region are generally quite good although in some areas when you venture off of main roads you may encounter some rough pavement, potholes and dirt roads but we have driven all around this area in ordinary two wheel drive vehicles, often on extensive dirt roads, and experienced no problems achieving our daily travel goals with little or no difficulty. You can feel comfortable taking this drive in your own personal vehicle or a standard rental car without any anxiety. There are numerous tour companies in th region which will transport you to most of the places I have mentioned if you find a personal or rental car impractical.

There can, at times, be significant distances between gasoline stations so it is best to top off your gas tank on occasion. Many private homes and businesses sell gas along the way if you find yourself in a bind but you really do not want to run out of gas on the back roads around this region.

Lodgings I highly recommend based upon this trip:
Ecolodge at Las Nunes. Great cabins overlooking the spectacular cascades and a very good open air restaurant
Campamento Top Che at Lacanja. Good restaurant.
Ecolodge at Na Ha. Great place in the middle of nowhere.

More later.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

In my post immediately preceding this post, I referred to the Ecolodge at Las Nunes. That should have read Las Nubes. A place one should not miss.


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