Panam Reports
Extracts from Panam Report 4, By James Walker
By
Feb 17, 2006, 09:29

(15 February): Mexico City -San Cristóbal de las Casas

We left the Sheraton Hotel on the morning of 2 February. Our first port of call was Amecameca, some 60 km away - a busy little town with a pretty park. The shops here make this a good opportunity to replenish food supplies.

Shortly after, we began to climb quickly on a twisty asphalt road through lush green forest towards the Paso de Cortés, which lies in the saddle between the great twin volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. After about 7 km, we came to the Army control that is responsible for the flow of traffic up to the volcanoes; thankfully, there was no alert that day. The soldier at the gate took our car details and waved us through quickly.

We had beautiful views of both peaks as we neared the pass. Popocatepetl was constantly and quite ominously omitting small clouds of ash. The temperature dropped rapidly to around 9 degrees. After about 23 km and 25 minutes, we reached the pass.

The asphalt road further up Popocatepetl was closed, so we first took a gravel road up the side of Iztaccihuatl, to a meteorological station. This gave us a great view of both volcanoes, and fine panoramas of the surrounding countryside.

Returning to the Paso de Cortez, we took the eastward road down - twisty, good quality gravel. On the descent, we found a pretty lakeside restaurant - a nice coffee stop.

After about 25 minutes, we came to San Nicholas, a rather run down little town. A small market was in full swing in the main plaza, selling a lot of locally grown produce. The church has a pretty ornamental façade.

We now took a tour of the cluster of superb colonial churches that are a special feature of this area. First of these was at Calpan, only about five km and five minutes away - a very beautiful example with a pretty pink façade, behind an old convent.

It was only at this point that we realised that 2 February, the day of our visit, was Candelaria Day, a feast of the virgin. The sound of fireworks filled the air as I jumped out of the car to take some pictures (I thought at first that they might have heard that an Englishman was coming and shots were being fired!) The path leading down to the church was decorated in colourful bunting and ornamental trees.

As I approached, a procession of people flooded out, the first few carrying a very ornamental coffin - I am not sure whether this was part of the celebration or whether it was a funeral that just happened to coincide. The sight of this, the beat of a drums played by members of the procession), the eerie rustle of the surrounding trees and the swaying bunting in the wind gave me a wonderful and quite strange feeling.

We next drove about 13 km and 15 minutes to Huejotzingo, the largest and most prosperous looking town we had visited so far that day, with a very pretty main square. The large church has a more traditional stone façade, as well as a museum, which we did not have time to visit

Cholula, about 17 km and 20 minutes away, is a clean and pretty colonial town with a hospitable feel. Numerous shops and restaurants border the attractive town square - we had an excellent meal at one. The church of Los Remedios, perched on top of Tlachihualtepeti, a man made hill, is the one depicted in front of a volcano on the back cover of the our brochure. It’s a stiff 5 minute climb to the top, giving spectacular views across the town and into the distance, against the backdrop of the two volcanoes. The façade of the church is pretty and colourful; the impressive the interior is rich in chandeliers and interesting artwork.

The drive from Cholula to the church of Santa Maria de Tonantzilla happened within the blink of an eye and without any real way of knowing that you have left one village and moved on to the next. The church was unfortunately closed when we arrived although we were able to appreciate its beautiful and extremely ornate façade, which had a distinct Hansel and Gretel feel to it.

The church at San Francisco (around 1.5 km and five minutes from Tonantzilla) was yet another wonderful example. Its ornate façade is entirely covered in different coloured ceramic tiles, but the interior was where the real magic lay. Never in my life have I seen such extravagant use of gold in a church; it seemed to be everywhere.

Unfortunately the church at Tlaxcalancingo was closed, although it still made a spectacular sight. In the fading light of early evening, the façade seemed to have elaborate wallpaper, of many different shades of red and gold. Simply wonderful!

The six kilometre run into to Puebla took just 10 minutes. This large, cosmopolitan and very beautiful historic city is where the participants will probably have their Sunday lunch, but we were running late and decided to spend the night. The colonial architecture is splendid; there is a fine town square overlooked by the very large and beautiful cathedral and surrounded by many shops and good-looking restaurants.

Next day, we continued our journey towards Oaxaca on a toll expressway through enjoyable and varied scenery - large cactus fields, rugged mountainous terrain and beautiful views of the volcanoes. About 137 km from Puebla (which took around 1 hour 15 minutes to complete), we turned off to visit some botanical gardens. This was great experience; I have never seen so many cacti in my life! Our participants will enjoy this excursion.

In just over two more hours, we easily covered the 209 km to the historic city of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ca). The beautiful Camino Real, just five minutes’ walk from the fine main square, is one of the most interesting and historic hotels of the trip, a wonderful example of colonial architecture converted from an old convent. Bedrooms look out on to three lovely gardens, one of which contains the old laundry where the nuns washed their clothes. Another garden has an ornamental fountain as its centrepiece - our dinner may be served here. The third has a fine swimming pool.

Oaxaca is a busy and interesting city which we unfortunately couldn’t explore properly, but I did see that it has superb architecture, good shops, many bars and restaurants, and a great atmosphere. In the evening, we just had time to walk around the beautiful town square, overlooked by the great cathedral. In a typical restaurant, I tried the local specialty of grasshopper, which I do not recommend - very salty!

The following morning we made our way to the great hilltop archaeological site of Monte Alban, a journey of 12 km that took around 20 minutes. The vast sprawling ruins, abandoned by about AD 800, are the greatest monument of the pre-Aztec Zapotec civilisation.

We next made our way to the small village of San Bartolo Coyotepec, famed for its unique black ceramic ware. We discovered the shop run by the nephew of Dona Rosa, who originated this fascinating pottery.

Next stop was the village of San Martin Tilcajete, renowned for hand carved and painted wooden animals, on sale in abundance. Only a short distance further on was of San Tomas Jalieza, famous for its textile goods, where we found a small market selling a wide range of clothing and accessories, and saw the goods being produced first hand.

Ocotlan de Morelos is a busy and thriving market town, in whose town hall we discovered some very interesting murals by a well-known local artist that depict the life of the local people at work. A large indoor market next to the square sells a wide variety of goods and locally grown produce. About 17 km along the main road, we discovered yet another very small and beautiful church. Unfortunately the gates where closed but this would make a pleasant photo pause.

The twisty road through the mountains to Hualtulco was one of the most enjoyable of the trip so far. After around 162 km (about 3 hours) we turned off on to an interesting road, first gravel then asphalt, which led towards Hualtulco through a coffee plantation in deep rain forest. Here we first experienced humid tropical heat.

Hualtulco’s nine bays are famed as one of the most scenic spots on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Our hotel, the Camino Real Zaashila, is situated in the Bay of Tangolunda. It is one of a number of luxury hotels within this area, where development has been very carefully planned and strictly controlled, both aesthetically and environmentally.

The Zaashila is a beautiful beach resort in tropical style, split into different blocks that house the bedrooms. The rooms are modern in style, and all have balconies that overlook the ocean. There is a large swimming pool and a superb private beach. The service is first class; we were offered a welcome cocktail before we had even entered the building. The management have suggested that our dinner should be on the beach with a Guelaaguetza (traditional dancing).

Next day we headed onwards to the modern city of Tuxtla Guiterrez, a journey of around 460 km that took us some 6 hours 15 minutes. A short distance from the town centre is the turn off to Cahuare, the place where our participants can board a boat and take an exciting trip through the Cañon de Sumidero.

There are plenty of boats. Each one begins its journey as soon as 10 people are on board. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a full load, and took this opportunity to grab a quick meal at the waterside restaurant, which was very good - an ideal lunch stop.

The trip through the gorge is fantastic. The boat was surprisingly quick and gave an exhilarating ride. We stopped at a number of points of interest, including a small cave that contained a shrine to the Virgin Mary, and a strange rock formation known locally as ‘the Christmas tree.’ We even managed to spot a couple of alligators basking in the morning sun - Arne was convinced that they were made of rubber!

The overall round trip to the dam at the end of the canyon and back took around 1 hour 40 minutes to complete - highly recommended if you have the time. If not, a half-hour drive will take you along the rim of the canyon, with some good views.

From Cahuare, we continued our journey towards Chiapa de Corzo, a distance of
5.5 km that took around 10 minutes to complete. Chiapa is a fairly small, busy and thriving old market town with many shops and traders along the street. The town square has a famous fountain.

Around 56 km along the toll road, we took a turnoff towards Zinacantlan, and 10 minutes (6.5 km) later we reached this small village, which has a number of craft shops along the main street.

We pushed on, and in around 15 minutes, a distance of approximately 9 km, we reached Chamula, a much more interesting place. When we arrived at around 14:00, a fairly large market was taking place in the town square. Arne and I decided to investigate the local
church which certainly sounded very interesting in the guidebook. We bought our tickets from the tourism office, then headed across the main plaza to the church. What we found inside was certainly not what I was expecting!

The worship is a combination of Christian and traditional pagan rituals. The floor was covered in needles from the trees that surrounded the town square (which I kept slipping on). People were kneeling (and in some cases lying) on the floor in front of saints’ effigies in glass cases. Some of the worshippers were holding live chickens that I was convinced were about to be sacrificed. The air was filled with the sound of what I can only really describe as being like the electronic chimes from tawdry Christmas decorations. The combination of chanting, the smell, thousands of candles, cheap chimes, a
slippy floor and sacrificial chickens (we saw one sitting happily in a carrier bag underneath a chair) made me feel like I had just walked onto the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

The drive from Chamula to San Cristóbal de las Casas was only around 12.5 km and took just 20 minutes to complete. San Cristóbal is simply beautiful. It is colourful, vibrant and has some of the most interesting examples of colonial architecture that I have seen so far this trip. It reminded me of a mini Guanajuato.

All the hotels are close to the main square. We stayed at the Casa Mexicana, a beautiful hacienda-style property with charming courtyard gardens.

San Cristóbal’s narrow and cobbled streets are a pleasure to walk through. They are lined with a wide range of shops and many attractive little coffee shops, restaurants and bars. From the town square, dominated by the great cathedral, there are wonderful views to the surrounding mountains, which were beautiful in the setting sun.


© Copyright by 4x4xplore.com