Tabasco

Villahermosa, the state capital, is a virtually unavoidable road junction: sooner or later you’re almost bound to pass through here on the way from central Mexico to the Yucatán or back, especially if you hope to see Palenque. It’s a large and prosperous city, and at first glance it can seem to be subject to as bad a case of urban blight as any in Mexico. The longer you stay, though, the more compensations you discover. Quite apart from the Parque La Venta and sudden vistas of the broad sweep of the Río Grijalva, there are attractive plazas, quiet old streets, impressive ultramodern buildings and several art galleries and museums. In the evening, as the traffic disperses and the city cools, its appeal is heightened, and strolling the pedestrianized streets around the Zona Luz, as the historic downtown core is known, or the lively malecón, where everything stays open late, becomes a genuine pleasure. Villahermosa’s modern commercial centre, Tabasco 2000, 2km northwest of the Zona Luz, is a smart area of government buildings, a conference centre and high-end hotels, where oil-industry business travellers hang out.

Most visitors to Villahermosa head straight out to Parque La Venta, the obvious highlight of the city, but the Zona Luz in the old centre also warrants some exploration. The narrow streets contain several absorbing museums and galleries, particularly the Museo de Historia de Tabasco, housed in one of the state’s most ornate buildings. If you have more time, it’s worth heading out to Yumká, an enjoyable safari park and ecological research centre.

Some 100km southwest of Villahermosa, between the borders of Veracruz and Chiapas, a narrow triangle of Tabasco thrusts into mountains known as the Sierra Huimanguillo. These rugged peaks are not that high, only up to 1000m, but in order to fully appreciate them, you’ll need to do some hiking: not only to canyons and waterfalls, but also to the ruins of Malpasito, with their astonishing petroglyphs. A car, however, is necessary. Although you can get to the ruins by bus, it arrives too late to visit the ruins, and there is no reliable overnight accommodation in the village (a small guest cabin was under repair in 2009; in a pinch, ask in the village for Guillermo Pérez, who rents rooms).

The site and waterfalls

The post-Classic Zoque ruins are overshadowed by jagged, jungle-covered mountains, the highest point in Tabasco. Though the ruins bear a certain resemblance to Palenque, the Zoque were not a Maya group – one of the few things known about them. On the way into the site you pass terraces and grass-covered mounds, eventually arriving at the unique ball-court. At the top of the stone terraces forming the south side of the court, a flight of steps leads down to a narrow room, with stone benches lining either side. Beyond this, and separate from the chamber, is a square pit more than two metres deep and 1.5m wide. This room may have been used by the ball-players to make a spectacular entrance as they emerged onto the top of the ball-court.

But the most amazing features of this site are its petroglyphs. More than three hundred have been discovered so far: animals, birds, houses and more, etched into the rock. One large boulder is covered in enigmatic flat-topped triangles surmounted by a square or rectangle, and shown above what look like ladders or steps – stylized houses or launching platforms for the chariots of the gods, depending on your viewpoint.

While in the area, you can cool off at the nearby Cascadas Las Pavas, a beautiful set of waterfalls, set in a tranquil spot down a path through dense flowering trees, and often surrounded by butterflies. To get here, backtrack along the road to town, and bear left at the fork.

A visit to Villahermosa’s Parque La Venta could easily fill half a day. The most important artefacts from the Olmec site of La Venta, some 120km west of Villahermosa, were transferred here in the late 1950s, when they were threatened by Pemex oil explorations. Little is known about the Olmec culture, referred to by many archeologists as the mother culture of Mesoamerica.

Just inside the entrance, a display familiarizes you with what little is known about the Olmecs, as well as the history of the discovery of La Venta. The most significant and famous items in the park are the four gigantic basalt heads, notable for their African-looking features. Additionally, there’s a whole series of other Olmec stone sculptures. To conjure a jungle setting, monkeys, agoutis (large rodents) and coatis (members of the racoon family) wander around freely, while crocodiles, jaguars and other animals from the region are displayed in sizeable enclosures. At night, there’s a rather good sound-and-light show that involves strolling from monument to monument, dramatically illuminated amidst the shadowy trees – buy tickets and enter at a second gate, about 250m southwest along Paseo Tabasco.

Parque La Venta is set inside the much larger Parque Tomás Garrido Canabal, which stretches along the shore of an extensive lake, the Laguna de Ilusiones. There are walking trails here and boats for hire, or you can climb the Mirador de los Águilas, a tower in the middle of the lake. Also in the park, opposite the La Venta entrance, the small Museo de Historia Natural features displays on the geography, geology, animals and plants of Tabasco, focusing on the interaction between humans and the environment.