Visit ancient stones of a Mayan jungle city, a highland colonial town surrounded by villages of traditional weavers and Day of the Dead festivals in Mayan cemeteries.
Gallery:
Details:
Price
Description
Price
Base Price
USD
2145
Single Supplement
USD
330
* Foreign exchange rates are provided as a convinience only. The actual rate you pay may vary.
Description:
October 26 - November 4, 2011
10D/9N
Our travels begin in the land of Mexico’s first civilization, the Olmec, and we will see many of the legendary gigantic stone heads that the Olmec were famous for. Then we travel to the edge of the Yucatan and the spectacular Maya Archeological site of Palenque.
From the jungle, our road twists through the limestone mountains into the pine-clad highlands where Maya culture and life ways are alive and well. We’ll be based in the beautiful colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas and will pass our highland days visiting artisans, exploring San Cristobal and traveling to surrounding villages. With Chip Morris, Maya expert and author of Living Maya as our highland guide we’ll meet weavers, master sisal bag twiners and other artisans. We’ll visit the very unusual Maya churches and see how Catholicism and Classic period Maya rites have fused. And on two special days we visit the graveyards of Zinacantan and Chamula. more... These two traditional Mayan cemeteries are worlds apart. The Zinacantan graveyard is on a jagged hilltop and each grave is as flower adorned as the colorfully embroidered clothing of the Zinacatecos. The setting is somber as families stand around the tombs, talking quietly on the often mist shrouded mountain top. One nation away in the land of the Chamula Maya, the graveyard is topped with enormous green crosses as tall as pine trees and Day of the Dead is a raucous fiesta with live bands, booths selling all sorts of foods, ice cream carts and hundreds and hundreds of highland Chamulas dressed to the nines in their best homespun festival garb.
This is an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the life of the Maya, both ancient and contemporary, an opportunity to marvel at the ancient cities in the jungle and realize that the people and cultures who created those places have not disappeared, but continue to thrive in a far corner of an exotic land.
Conditions:
Trip cost of $2,145 includes all lodging (double occupancy), most meals, entry fees, guides, and all local transport.
Responsible Action:
We support the local communities we visit by introducing our guests to the local artisans and encouraging them to not only learn about their craft and interact with them but to support them by purchasing some of their work, which has taken much time and care to create.
