Villahermosa, Land of the Giant Heads

This morning Eric and I got up bright an early to catch a flight to Villahermosa.  We have a whirlwind tour of northern Chiapas planned for this long weekend, so we had to leave very early.

On our way down we saw this beautiful volcano from the plane.  I know that there was a lot of confusion about the white stuff on top, but I assure you it is a naturally occurring phenomenon called "snow".  There is nothing to worry about, fellow passengers, as this will never touch the ground in the parts of Mexico where you live.

 On our final approach into Villahermosa, I snuck out my banned electronic device (the camera) to take this quick picture of our landing in the steamy jungle. And steamy it was!  When we touched down at approximately 8:15 and it was well over 90 degrees with roughly 88% humidity.

When we arrived at the airport, our first order of business was to obtain our rental car.  I had reserved an "economy" car from an American-brand rental car establishment without much thought.  Well, in Mexico the safety standards are not what they are back home.  This car was bout 2 steps down from the cheapest, most basic model sold in the US.  After we took custody of this beast, we got in and prepared for our adventure.  We immediately encountered a problem:  The car would not go into reverse.  Eric tried, and tried but we would not go backwards.  Beings that this is Mexico, the car's manual was, of course, long gone.  Eric had to go back in the airport and seek assistance from the clerk at the booth.  Come to find out, there's a top secret trick involving a lever that is needed to go backwards.  With that mystery solved, we were finally on our way!  Lesson learned: Do not order the "economy" car in Mexico.  Cough up the extra pesos for the next step up.  Anyway....

 The original plan was to get the car and head west to the town of La Venta near the Gulf coast.  La Venta was the center of the Olmec civilization, which flourished in the Mexican Gulf Coast Lowlands from 1400-400 BCE, and is often thought of as the Mesoamerican mother culture.  Now, I love ruins, as everyone knows, but I especially love Olmec stuff.  Those giant stone heads are so cool, and the culture is still very mysterious.  How did they move all of that basalt for those heads?  What was their language?  Did they have tortillas??  While planning this trip, we discovered that the vast majority of the artifacts in LaVenta are replicas (gasp!).  It turns out that in the 1950s, La Venta was under threat of being lost forever due to Pemex oil exploration in the region, so an enterprising archaeologist had all the originals packed up and carted to Villahermosa.  He had them installed in this park (Parque Museo de La Venta) where they could be cared for and safe for the enjoyment of future generations.  That is how we found ourselves here, in 100 degree heat and off the charts humidity, for a leisurely stroll through Olmec history...or at least what we know of it so far.

 Upon entering, we found out that this park is also a zoo.  Kind of weird.  We met this monkey who had a message for his friend...

 Then we saw this deer with its tongue hanging out.  Apparently this is an exotic animal.

 Finally!  On to the Olmec stuff!!  First, a word of warning not to touch the heads.  According to the park ranger outside, one touch of a human hand will make the Olmec head shatter into a thousand pieces.  I do not believe this man, but I agree that we probably shouldn't be fondling 3000 year old artifacts for the same reason we shouldn't walk up and touch a painting.  Just not good for it in the long run.  Anyway, back to the trip...

 Here is the first head we saw.  This is the only sculpture we saw of anyone smiling.  He does appear to have crazy eyes though.

 Here we have a giant Olmec guy leaning over.  More than just heads!

 On the path through the sculpture park, we met this parrot enjoying a peanut snack.

 This one was called the Little Grandmother, and was one of only 2 depictions of women in the park.  Notice her stylish mohawk.

 This guy is totally decked out in a fancy headdress, and fabulous accessories.

 This sculpture was simply called "Cetacean", and the experts think it might be a manatee.  Eric, of course, thinks it is an elusive Olmec whale.  The world may never know!

 Half way through the park, there was an air conditioned, high-class "craparia".  I have dubbed all shops (shop is a loosely defined term in Mexico, and can be used to describe anything from a shop with a roof, four walls and electricity, to a guy with a blanket on the sidewalk selling things) that sell little tourist junks as "craparias", a play on the Spanish suffix for shop, -aria.  You can have a tortillaria, a panderia, a papelaria...or a craparia.  I cannot pass a craparia without having a look.  I picked up this lovely (and cheap) personal air conditioning unit, and set out to continue enjoying the park.

 The second half of the park was filled with these Mexican Aardvarks, who seemed to have lost all fear of humans.  We thought about sneaking one home to eat the bugs on our porch, but decided that would definitely end badly.

 I cannot figure out what is going on here.  It says we cannot walk up to that piece in the background because there is danger.  Judging from the drawing, I am guessing killer bees?

 The high god of the Olmecs was the Jaguar.  This is a jaguar mosaic, and I think it is wearing a crown.  It's kind of like a Magic Eye...

 This head was the crown jewel of the park.  Perfectly preserved, enormous Olmec head.

 The way out of the park was over this rickety suspension bridge...the first of multiple suspension bridges we would cross on this trip.

After the park, with temperatures soaring well above 110 degrees, we hopped into our air conditioned car that stunk of gas fumes (again, do not get the Mexican "economy" rental car!!), and set off for the 1.5 hour drive to Chiapas.

 Entering Chiapas, land of natural wonders.

 Chiapas was filled with topes (speedbumps).  This is a tope warning sign.  I think someone should have put a little more thought into this sign...it elicits a lot of giggles.

 Finally, after our long drive deep into the jungle, we arrived at our hotel.  The trip taught us some terrifying new Mexican driving techniques, such as the 2 lane highway really is a 4 lane highway, if you count the shoulder move.  The hotel was small, and in the middle of nowhere.  At first, we thought it was creepy, but we warmed up quickly.  This is the stagnant lagoon whose trees are home to enormous lizards.

 And this is the pool, where we read magazines and swam the afternoon away, finally bringing our body temperatures back to normal human levels.  We had the place almost entirely to ourselves.  Who knew beach sitting could occur in the middle of a jungle?

This is our room.  It was really nice, aside from the lizard in the bathroom, and the "air conditioning" (I use quotes, because the temperature never fell below 85 degrees in there, even with that contraption going) turning off in the night.  The restaurant was good, there was TV and it was very private.  All-in-all a great place to set off on the next day's adventure...Palenque!