Totolapa, San Lucas and the Pinola spring are three destinations that exemplify the richness of this hot zone
A quick journey of 70 km by paved road takes us to the old municipality of El Zapotal, today known as San Lucas, located 700 meters above sea level, between the Grijalva valleys and the mountains of the Chiapas highlands.
With a pleasant and picturesque climate, the town of San Lucas was since pre-Hispanic times one of the largest fruit orchards in the region, whose cultivation was disputed to the death by the indigenous Chiapas and Zinacantecos. Part of this garden still exists and its production is to date a considerable source of income for the town, also baptized as El Zapotal because of the great variety of centennial sapote trees that are preserved there.
Saint Luke appears in history in 1744, in the relationship of Bishop Fray Manuel de Vargas y Ribera. On April 19 of that year it suffered a terrible fire, which according to legend was caused by the natives themselves to protest the exploitation to which the clerics and landowners had subjected them.
Today San Lucas is a small town of mud and stone with no more than 5,000 inhabitants. Its women, descendants of Tzotziles and Chiapas, are identified by their white mantillas, two-piece aprons and brightly colored dresses; It is common to see them carry large items on their heads and carry babies - pichisles lovingly call them - wrapped in batters on their backs or on their waists, without losing grace and balance.
Towards the west of the town, passing what remains of the famous pre-Hispanic garden, one of the main attractions of the municipality is located: the San Lucas waterfall, which some farmers know as El Chorro. To get to the waterfall, you have to cross the river, to the west of the town, and walk through narrow canyons where the water falls. Walking around is a cool and pleasant walk. Children and women go up to the village loaded with buckets of fruit and river snails called shutis. The San Lucas waterfall slides from about twenty meters, forming small pools in the bed. To reach its base you have to advance into the stream, between walls where the vegetation hangs down.
Wandering along the banks of the river furrowed by leafy junipers, penetrating the intricacies of the dark orchard and resting in the lap of El Chorro, are the best excuses to visit San Lucas and say goodbye to this place with a good load of authentic Mexican fruit. If you want to come to the old Zapotal, leave Tuxtla Gutiérrez by the international highway and in front of Chiapa de Corzo is the deviation that, passing through Acala and Chiapilla, takes us in less than an hour to this town forgotten by time.
And to continue in the region we are now going to the municipality of Totolapa.
We leave San Lucas behind and return to the junction of the Acala-Flores Magón highway. A couple of kilometers to the east is the road that leads us to one of the oldest towns in the area, Totolapa, or Río de los Pájaros.
The aurora of Totolapa dates back to pre-Hispanic times. There are several archaeological sites in the area, of which two unexplored shrines stand out, that of Tzementón, “stone tapir”, and Santo Ton, “stone saint”, in Tzotzil. According to master Thomas Lee, their lands came from amber not only to nearby towns but also to Zapotec and Mexican merchants.
Totolapa extends to the top of a hill surrounded by ravines, like an inaccessible watchtower, protected by stone walls. Its old access paths are alleys sunk between walls of earth and rock that seem made by the hand of man and where only one person passes at a time. It is clear that the founders chose this place of difficult access to protect themselves from the numerous tribes that passed through the region, stealing the products, in this case the amber, and enslaving its inhabitants, as the fearsome Chiapas used to.
Totolapa is a small town with a little more than 4 thousand inhabitants, mostly peasants. The water and the plots are down on the banks that surround the hill. Above is the hamlet of humble straw houses, some made of mud and stick or adobe, through whose windows faces, many children's faces, appear. In reality, it is one of the poorest towns in the area, lacking almost entirely of piped water and drainage, which has suffered several times from the attacks of cholera and the neglect of official development plans.
Part of the history of Totolapa can be seen in the walls of the San Dionisio temple, in its images carved in wood and in the carved stones of the ruins of the Coral house.
The best of the traditions of the Totolapanecos are expressed in the August and October festivities, when they receive visits from the religious and communal authorities of Nicolás Ruiz: men and women who, walking eight leagues, come with the cross of their parish to celebrate the Virgin of the Assumption and San Dionisio. The celebration boards entertain them with unique rituals of courtesies and feasts that last practically three days.
When we visited Totolapa we would go in order to see the pools of Los Chorritos, located 2 km east of the town. In a vehicle we crossed the entire town, following the only path that leads to the end of the long, narrow plain that crowns the top of the hill. Then the route is on foot, going down one of those unique paths that resemble dark alleys sunk in the earth. The herds file up because there is no room for more between the high walls of the narrow passageway. When two groups meet, one has to wait or return for the other to pass. Nowhere have we seen such trails.
Down we enter the banks of the Pachén River. We walk along one of the banks in another of the streams, and a short distance away are the ponds that fill the waters of Los Chorritos. A half dozen crystalline jets of different sizes sprout from a wall covered with cañabrava, which fall into a pool whose limestone bed reflects green or blue tones, depending on the brightness of the day. The pool is deep and the locals suggest that bathers take their precautions, as it is believed that there is a sink inside.
Before continuing our trip it is necessary to inform that Totolapa and San Lucas do not have restaurants, lodgings or gas stations. These services are found in Villa de Acala, in Chiapa de Corzo or in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. If you go to the San Lucas waterfall or Los Chorritos de Totolapa, we recommend getting a guide from the municipal presidencies of the towns, for your safety and comfort.
The Pinola spring will be the final part of our tour. From Tuxtla Gutiérrez we set out on the road to Venustiano Carranza-Pujiltic, which takes us along the Grijalva river basin and its tributaries, passing through the curtain of the La Angostura hydroelectric dam, among other places.
100 km from Tuxtla is the Pujiltic sugar mill, whose sugar production is one of the most important in Mexico. From here the highway to Villa Las Rosas, Teopisca, San Cristóbal and Comitán, which connects the hot land with the cold mountains of the Altos de Chiapas. We take this route and half a dozen kilometers from Soyatitán, on the left hand side, we find the Ixtapilla dirt detour that, a few hundred meters ahead, leads us to the goal of our route.
The Pinola spillway rests at the bottom of a forest. It is a wooded oasis in the mountainous walls that limit the plain of reed beds. An irrigation canal runs along the road to Ixtapilla and that is the best guide to get to the dam that controls the flow of the spring.
Enclosed among the vegetation, like a secret, the body of water attracts by its transparency, which allows you to observe the bottom with an unusual sharpness. The bed appears to be within easy reach, but a quick dive reveals that it is more than four meters deep.
Dragonflies and colorful butterflies fly outside. In handfuls they descend to the mirror of the pond to play on the leaves that swirl on the banks. There are orange, yellow, striped like tigers; Some whose wings combine black and red, others green that are tinged with the leaves and blues the color of water. Crazy for any collector.
The brightness of the pond exceeds the environment that surrounds it. Therefore getting into its waters is a true fantasy baptism in full reality. If you visit the Pinola spillway, don't forget the visor, which will make your diving routine an unforgettable experience.
To end this trip we want to say that the town closest to the spring is Villa Las Rosas -8 km away- whose old name was Pinola, named after a fermented corn drink that the locals are used to.
The territory of Villa Las Rosas is rich in peaks and caves, with many galleries where "you enter one day and leave another", or like the Nachauk cave, terribly enchanted, in the words of Nazario Jiménez, a Tzeltal indigenous who guided us in these directions.
Above Villa Las Rosas, in the Sierra del Barreno, there are unexplored vestiges of pre-Hispanic shrines and fortresses. One of them is the citadel of Mukul Akil, an hour and a half up a steep path. In addition, on the road to Pujiltic you can see the ruin of the colonial temple of Soyatitán, whose baroque façade stands on the extensive carpet of reed beds.
Villa Las Rosas has lodging services, restaurant and gas station. The population communicates to the northwest with Teopisca and San Cristóbal de las Casas, and to the east with Comitán, by paved roads.
Territory of the inexhaustible, Chiapas will always have new offers for seekers of unknown Mexico. San Lucas, Totolapa and the Pinola spillway are three examples of how much the traveler can find if he enters its many paths and banks.
Source: Unknown Mexico No. 265
