Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

            On 10 February, we awoke to our alarm at 7:30 AM.  At breakfast, we conversed with a couple at the next table from Colorado, and then with a man from England.

At 10:00, we proceeded to our tour meeting point on the pier, and our bus departed about 10:15.  Our tour guide, Ernesto, described the sights and gave us a brief history of Chiapas region of Mexico, which is Mexico’s southernmost point on the Pacific Ocean.  Guatemala is not very far away.  Chiapas’ produce includes mangos, bananas, and cocoa beans.  According to the 2005 census, there were 957,255 inhabitants, out of the total population of about 3.5 million in the state of Chiapas, who spoke an indigenous language.

Ernesto told how they celebrate Christmas and also their holidays on 01 and 02 November, when they honor the dead.  The first day in November is to honor dead children; the second day, for dead adults.  People take food and drink to the cemetery and party all day; before leaving, food is left there on plates for their dead relatives.

Izapa Mayan Ruins

After a 45-minute ride, we arrived at the Izapa Mayan ruins.   As we walked through the ruins, Ernesto shared information about the Mayan culture.  Since it was extremely hot (95 degrees) and humid, Ernesto tried to walk us to shaded areas for his talks, when shade was available.  (Sally was soon looking for big rocks to sit on, which weren’t always handy, either.)  The Mayans considered crocodiles gods, because they had never seen one die.  (Crocodiles live for about 100 years and never stop growing.)  Also, the Mayans practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism.  Since they considered the hands and feet dirty, they amputated them and fed them to the crocodiles.  The heart, which they considered the most precious part of the body, was removed and burned in special containers so that the smoke would be carried into the sky where their gods resided.  The head was wrapped in rubber, and they played ball games with it; the losing team would be sacrificed.  The remainder of the bodies were cooked in special containers and eaten by the surviving Mayans.  How’s that for gruesome!

This Izapa site is the oldest and most primitive of the three Mayan sites we have visited.   Although there were some cobbled terraces visible, mostly we saw what seemed to be only stone walls remaining. 

In 2004, we visited the Tulum site on the east side of the Yucatan peninsula.  Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Mayans.  And in 2012, we visited the ruins at Kukulcan, which was the most impressive of all three.  At Kukulcan, also on the Yucatan peninsula, the Temple of Chichen Itza is a rectangular structure perched atop a step pyramid with wide stairs that go up the front to the top structure.  A photograph of that temple is often shown in any discussion of the Mayan culture.

After leaving the Tulum site, we drove to the city of Tapachula, Ernesto’s home town.  Since Ernesto spent 10 years in the USA, he speaks very good English, by far the best of any of our guides for excursions from this ship.

Rather than participate in the walking and shopping tour, we decided to remain on the air-conditioned bus.  Neither of us felt like enduring any more of the heat and humidity.  After the rest of the group returned to the bus, we were disappointed that we had missed visiting the very close Archaeological Museum, which houses Mayan artifacts found in the region.  Others told us that the museum is not air-conditioned; since we could see that the front door was open as the bus drove by it, our conclusion is that we probably didn’t miss very much.  (Perhaps we can tour the museum through the Internet when we get back to the USA.) 

By 3:30 we were back onboard the ship.  Right away, we went to the Horizon Court for a very light lunch.  Although Jesse kept reminding Sally that we would be eating again in two hours, she noticed that he couldn’t resist taking three desserts!

We shared our dinner table with all familiar couples tonight:  Don and Barbara, from near San Francisco; Mike and Ellen, from near St Paul, Minnesota; Desmond and Gail, from Vancouver, Washington; and Bill and Diane, from the San Francisco area.  We also found out tonight that Mike is an accountant and Gail is a retired computer consultant.  (This time, we talked most with Gail (who sat by Jesse) and Desmond.  After dinner, we went to the Universal Lounge for big band ballroom music by the Princess Orchestra.  Although the music contained too much jazz for our taste, we danced only a few dances anyway before they finished for the time being.  We were tired anyway and retired to our cabin.

Today will be followed by four “at sea” days before we disembark in California in the Los Angeles area.