Travel Journal: Maya Bio-reserve in Chiapas State

Reed received a terrific message from a friend in Connecticut asking for more information about Chiapas. Reed's reply is the jumping off point for this post.

As for your question about Chiapas being a 'hotbed of revolt', where we were appears quite safe and full of European tourists. One tour driver told us that since their uprising in 1994, the Zapatistas have become an established political force in the Maya areas. As a result of their activism, each pueblo now has its own health clinic and schools (we saw and commented on them), which they didn't have before.

I think the federal government now pretty much leaves them to themselves, while nonetheless providing funds for community services. Sounds like good politics on the part of the Zapatistas. In fact, our waiter at our hotel in Palenque complained that the Maya pueblos get all the government money while his pueblo, on the edge of the city, gets none.

Mayan children in a 'remote' pueblo 

Much of the eastern 'wedge' of Chiapas that juts into Guatemala, which seems 'remote and so far removed from contemporary society', is included in the Reserva de las Montes Azules (Blue Mountains Reserve) and other, smaller reserves.

At first glance, these Maya preserves do seem 'remote', but the global world has arrived. 'Ecotourism' is a major business. Tour buses run daily from Palenque—which is full of international tourists—to a number of organized ecotourism sites run by local Maya communities.

Jane and I went on a half-day trip from Palenque to Agua Azul (Blue Water), so called because the minerals make the water appear turquoise.

Agua Azul 

We ate lunch at an open-air restaurant by the river, operated by the local Maya community. It certainly looked 'remote', but we laughed to see the outdoor dining area dominated by the ubiquitous large-screen TV providing live CNN International coverage of the rebellion in Egypt. 

When I went to Yaxchilán, the boatman piloting our launch—the only way to get to this 'remote' site—pulled out his cell phone to chat, in Maya, with his buddies up the river. In my photo of the launches on the beach, check out the red and white radio or cell tower in the center of the background in the jungle on the Guatemala side of the river. 

So much for 'remote'. 

We generally don't enjoy being around large numbers of tourists. San Cristóbal was full of Europeans and we felt like we were at an international mall or Disneyland instead of in Mexico.

But during the group tours from Palenque, I decided to make use of the opportunity to learn about the points of view of some of these Europeans. On the tours, we were surprised to meet many eastern Europeans—Russians, Romanians, Latvians, Czechs, Slovakians, Ukranians—as well as many western Europeans—Italians, French, British, Belgians, Germans, Swedes. And virtually all spoke fair to excellent English. 

My Polish seat mates on the trip to Yaxchilán—an opthomologist and his psychiatrist wife—told me (in fluent English) about their travels in southeast Asia and North Africa, places I haven't visited. Their ability to travel— and live—freely conveyed a very different Eastern Europe from my memories when Jane and I traveled behind the Iron Curtain a couple of times in the late '60s and early '70s! And they told me that English—and cell phones—are essential in the global world of the Internet!

By the way, the eco-lodge near Bonampak, Escudo Jaguar ("Shield Jaguar," which is the translation of the Maya name of the Palenque king, K'inich Pakal ) has wooden cabins, considerably more secure than the tents you stayed in by the Caribbean at Sian K'an on the Yucatán Peninsula.

A number of the Europeans on my bus got off there to spend the night and take a five-hour hike in the jungle the next day. Some were then going on to Guatemala to see the Maya city of Tikal. My Polish companions commented that it was all very 'exotic'!

What a contrast of cultures to be in these ancient Maya sites, in the 'remote' jungle of Chiapas, and in such a global community at the same time!