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Saturday, January 1, 2011
Karen and I traveled to Chiapas for a 6-day trip to finish off the semester.
Chiapas is one of the 31 states an is in the south of Mexico, bordering Guatemala. There's a lot of poverty in Chiapas, but also lots of incredible nature sites throughout the state. A high percentage of the population is of Maya descent and speak indigenous languages, such as Tzotzil.
According to Wikipedia:
As of the mid 1990s, most people in Chiapas were poor, rural small farmers. About one quarter of the population were of full or predominant Maya descent, and in rural areas many did not speak Spanish. The state suffers from the highest rate of malnutrition in Mexico, estimated to affect more than 40% of the population.
We decided to save on travel time and flew into the capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, instead of a 12-14 hour bus ride. Though it's the capital of the state, there's not much in Tuxtla -- at least from a tourist's perspective. So, even though we arrived in Tuxtla in the late afternoon, we felt we experienced all Tuxtla had to offer that evening.
We wandered around downtown for a bit.
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| monument, though I can't remember of who |
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| church |
We went to Marimba Park, where there's live music every evening. Marimba music is popular throughout Chiapas. Apparently Wednesdays are a popular night and there were lots of couples out dancing. As the guy at our hotel correctly pointed out, it's mostly attended by senior citizens or people who really like marimba music. While we felt a bit young, we enjoyed the live music.
From there, we went to a Restaurant called Las Pichanchas, which has live marimba music and a show of traditional dances from the region. The show was great and the restaurant had a fun atmosphere.
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