Vagabond and Beyond: Zapatista guerillas, sinkholes, landslides, illegal tolls; our journey to San Cristobal

Another town, another set of ruins. I thought we'd be sick of them by now (anyone reading this blog surely is!) but no, they continue to impress. And the ruins of Palenque were the best we've seen so far, a lost city built on the hills of a rainforest. It wasn't until 1840 that the ruins were discovered, well, rediscovered in modern times. I'll keep the desripction short this time as your patience for ruins diminishes more and more as I continue to post more and more ruins. Below are a few pictures of us climbing most of the temples and exploring inside a few. Deep within the main temple is a vaulted chamber containing the crypt of the ruler Pakal. In the onsite museum we saw the tomb of Pakal, the first king’s tomb to be discovered in the Mayan world. We also saw his death mask that was only pieced together in the last couple of years. All in all, a very impressive city with class artefacts from the temples.We met the English couple we have seen in about 4 places so far and we'll be seeing them again in San Cristobal before they head on to Guatemala and we head back up north towards Mexico City.

Next up, a bus trip to San Cristobal De Las Casas. The road from Palenque to San Cristobal runs close to the border with Guatemala which has had problems with Zapatista guerillas. You can read up more about the Zapatista movement on the following link http://www.zapatistarevolution.com/ but in a nutshell they were an unknown group that seized several towns in the state of Chiapas (including Ocosingo (which we stopped off in) and San Cristobal (where we were staying next)) in 1994 as they were opposed to the Mexican government and globalisation amongst other things. Their main ideology is to support the indigenous populations of Mexico along with other Marxist ideals. There has been a rise in attacks over the last few years as the government continues to bring in new roads and changes which is the primary reason behind the heavy security.

It didn't take long to realise the extent of the heavy security along this route when the first 2 hours of our journey we had an army truck with about 30 soldiers ahead of us. You would think militant guerillas who oppose tourism and are willing to kill would be our biggest concern but they were the least of our problems. Most of the route is a bendy up or downhill journey and at certain points half the road has collapsed like a sinkhole. For example we took a turn and the road just disappeared ahead of us, as in a 100 foot drop! This is not a road for speeding, so obviously not a road for the speed loving Mexicans. Sitting on the front of the bus we got the full uncensored view. Not that long in we had to stop as a digger was working on clearing what looked like a very recent landslide of some sort (picture below). Soon after this we arrived in a town where the local children would pull a rope across the road which had a banner hanging from it in order to stop traffic, when your car slows down they come out and ask for money to pass. Makes a difference from the e-flow toll at home but no less effective. We saw this in a few towns along the way, so a trip down highway 199 can get pricey. Apparently if you try to get by with a rental car, the adults come out and rob you, that's nice! The bus driver stopped about half way to buy some fruit off the local kids, probably pays to keep up the good relations along this stretch of road as most towns are Zapatista supporters. Even a few murals of militants in balaclavas similar to the murals in Belfast along the road. Despite all these hazards, safe and sound we arrived in the beautiful town of San Cristobal De Las Casas....some good stories to follow.

PS. At the end of the blog is an interactive map of where we have travelled to so far that you can have a look at if your interested.