As soon as we arrived in todos santos, we got invited to a free meal in due to an inauguration of a new church (exactly opposite an older one). For this fiesta, 4 bulls got slaughtered which then were cooked in huge kettels.
The pitoresque village of todos santos cuchumatán, located in 8000feet elevation in the sierra de los cuchumatanes, is known for its exclusive fashion: all men wear the traditional red white striped trousers.
Some limp-dicks believe that turtle eggs would be an aphrodisiaca. This is, of course, equally stupid and as fatal for the turtle population, so the playa escobilla is strictly guarded by the military.
The local eco-tourism program “santuario la escobilla” organizes the visit of the 15km long beach section, and after the papers were inspected by the military, the freshly hatched olivian bastard turtles are taken from a breading station to the beach by tourists. An awesome experience! More than a million of these sea-creatures come each year to this beach and not all make their way back in the ocean.
A nice article about our journey through both parts of the amarican continent has been published in the german magazine spectrum / deutsche leasing.
Close by papantla lies the probable capital of the totonakes. Ah, that was completely unknown to us. We were very impressed when we entered the ruin site early in the morning. There were numerous pyramids standing close to each other, some had been cleared and others still hidden in the jungle. Wow, what an impression. In 2nd century b.c. the totonakes began to construct the site and in the year 1000 a.c. they left the city and the reason remains unknown.
Apart from the numerous pyramids, there are lots of ball game places and at of these game areas you can find a relief, showing the sacrifice of one of the players. Game over. Although it is not even known whether the victor or the loser got killed, but it is proofed that ritual sacrifice was considered a great honor.
