For cruisers who don't have enough time for DIY tourism all over the state of Chiapas, consider hiring Tony Alfaro as your guide. He can manage groups of any size, and if you already have something specific in mind to see, Tony will take you there. Marina Chiapas has all Tony's 411 for the discerning traveler.
[Since we're discussing a road trip, I include here a pic of an Average Mexican Road Dog. The Road Dog spends most of its time hanging out juuust outside the lane of traffic of whatever road goes through town. These dogs are very relaxed about lounging extremely close to passing traffic, whether it be trucks, buses, or bicycles. When they must move, they heave a sigh and mosey out of the way as slowly as they can. Apparently they're immune to exhaust fumes too.]
Anyway, we asked Tony for an all-day trip that began at 8AM and continued to almost 6PM. We paid US $60 per person and his tour was worth every Lincoln-head penny. We began with a few of downtown Tapachula's historic buildings; then in no particular order we visited coffee plantations; watched an international-award-winning artisanal chocolatier do her delicious magic in her own home; and walked around the early Mayan ruins of Izapa. Here's how it all went down:
Tony guided us through downtown Tapachula to see its main church, the Iglesia San Antonio; and to visit City Hall to see its historic murals and stained glass. We learned that the state of Chiapas is "Mexico's bread basket," an agricultural region that is the country's largest producer of food from its extensive grazing lands, fields, and groves of all kinds of fruit trees. In the 19th Century, Mexico's president Porfirio Diaz invited farmers and agricultural workers from all over the world to Chiapas to work the fields and help build Mexico's economy. Many of not most of these immigrants remained in Mexico, became citizens, and raised families for generations. Today, a glance at Tapachula's telephone book will give the tourist a good idea of the melting pot of Chiapas: page after page of Mexicans' names revealing Japanese, Korean, German, French, and Italian origins and more.
Tony drove us into the highlands along the scenic Ruta del Cafe (Coffee Route) to visit the coffee haciendas (plantations) that were first developed by German and Swiss immigrants in the 20th Century during – and after – WWII. It may be just me, but I find that the timing of their arrival to a place in Mexico that happens to be within walking distance of an international border (Guatemala) is, ahem, interesting.
Chiapas coffee is still harvested, dried, and roasted right here. A large operation like the one <— here on the left – Ex-Hacienda Santo Domingo – uses tall platforms on which to dry the coffee beans; smaller entrepreneurs like the families in Chiapas's many Mayan villages use their own rooftops and yards for drying, such as in the 2 pics here on the right.
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Next post, you'll get to meet Dona Josefina, who makes chocolate the Old Skool way. Get your manos and metates ready!
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