Mexico: Chiapas - the world of the Mayas II Chiapas belongs to the poorest provinces of Mexico with a high portion of Indian population. In our daily news-papers only messages over separatist movements of the mysterious general Marcos reached us from this part of Mexico in the last years. From Guatemala coming we reach San Cristobal, from where we visit the Canon del Sumidero near Tuxtla Guieterez, a canon with cliffs high up to 1700 meters. We fly over Agua Azul, blue by its minerals, and arrive at Palenque - the most religiously important city of the Mayas. Over Bonampak and Bethel we return on adventurous ways to Guatemala. There was not a border post for the departure from Mexico (1996). The Mayas had more cities than antiquity Egypt. They were architectural experts like the Greeks and developed a calendar system more exactly than our own. They discovered the mathematical zero before the Europeans. They forecasted sun and lunar eclipses as well as sun turns, but we do not know until today why this culture disappeared or why they left their cities. The origin of this culture is dated on the 3 century before Jesus Christ. Between the 4 and 9 century after Jesus Christ was the high point of the development with approximately 50 cities, from which the largest had between 20.000 and 60.000 inhabitants. In the 9 century suddenly each further building activity stopped. The cities were back-conquered by nature.   >> regard photos          >> info main-page