Villahermosa

After departing Campeche, we traveled to the busy city of Villahermosa and arrived 6 1/2 hours later.  Villahermosa is the capital of the state of Tobasco and is located along the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers.  It is the center of Mexico's vast new oil fields and has recently been rediscovered.  Since 1980 a village of 13,000 has grown to a metropolis of 500,000-- a mini-Mexico City smack in the middle of the jungle!  We didn't expect so much traffic and hustle-bustle there.  We spent the night and got up the next day to visit an outdoor museum park, Parque La Venta.  

Inside this mini-jungle--part zoo, part open air museum, part park, pathways wind past nature exhibits, carvings, and the major attraction, the famous heads.  The 20-ton heads, full-lipped, round-cheeked and sensual, were found in the coastal swamps by oilmen and later moved to Villahermosa by the park's founder, Dr. Carlos Pellicer, from the original Olmec site of La Venta.  The park was created in 1958.

The Olmec People

More than 1500 years before the Maya flourished in Central America, 25oo years before the Aztecs conquered Mexico, the mysterious Olmec people were building the first great culture of Mesoamerica.  Starting in 1200 BC in the steamy jungles of Mexico's southern Gulf Coast, the Olmec's influence spread as far as modern Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica and El Salvador.  They built large settlements, established elaborate trade routes and developed religious iconography and rituals, including ceremonial ball games, blood-letting and human sacrifice, that were adapted by all Mesoamerican civilizations to follow.

The Zoo

 The zoo is devoted to animals from Tabasco and nearby regions.  There are cats including jaguars and ocelots as well as white-tailed deer, spider monkeys, crocodiles and more.

Above:  Next to this display was a sign that read "Look behind the bars to see the world's greatest predator".  Who is it?? It's YOU.  Makes you think, doesn't it??!

The Archaeology Exhibit

More than any other Mesoamerican culture, the Olmecs produced sculptures in the round--seated figures of kings and chieftains, entire jaguars, and supernatural beings wearing jaguar masks.

The Sculpture Trail

The sculpture trail is a one-half mile walk lined with archaeological finds from La Venta.  The famous colossal heads, which date from the early Olmec period (1200-1000 BC) stand up to 8 feet high.  They are thought to be representations of severed heads of enemies defeated on the ball courts, rather than portraits of reigning kings or ancestors, as was traditionally believed.  They are wearing helmets and the "jewels" in their ears are false, made from wood or paper, and are not the jade ornaments worn by people of rank.

Monument No 1, the colossal head of a helmet-wearing warrior

Monolithic altars were crafted soon after the colossal heads and represent an apparition--the king emerging from a niche hollowed out of the front of the surface to represent the gaping jaws of a jaguar, symbol of the terrestrial monster.  This image compares the birth of the king to the rising sun emerging from the earth.  The solar metaphor applied to the Olmec kings was echoed in later Mayan iconography.

Above:  Stele No. 3, which depicts a bearded man with a headdress

Above:  Altar No. 5 depicting a figure carrying a child;

Above:  Monument 77, El Gobernate, a very sour-looking seated ruler

Above:  The monkey-faced Monument 56

Get down and do the "Olmec". 

Our little Mexican hotel, the San Pedro. Very clean, air-conditioned, and hot water (our three must-haves when traveling!) $40/night.  Great bargain.

After spending the morning touring the park, we left Villahermosa and headed to the mountain city of San Cristobal.

Go to next Story (Road to San Cristobal)

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