The bus arrived early evening and we checked in to La Venta, a pretty basic business style hotel chosen for its location …
… rather than its view!
After a good lunch, we weren’t feeling that hungry but wanted to stretch our legs, so ventured out, with care as the hotel is on a busy road. We ended up at a food court and beer garden Mexican style, and had a couple of beers each and some guacamole before calling it a night.
Villahermosa is the state capital of Tabasco and also the easiest airport to fly back to Mexico City, and we could have just stayed the night and flown out, but there is something we wanted to see.
Just across the road from our hotel is the Parque Museo La Venta, an open-air museum in a jungle setting featuring major Olmec sculptures, including massive colossal heads and altars rescued from the nearby La Venta Archaelogical site.
The Olmecs were the first major, complex civilization in Mesoamerica, earlier than everything else we’ve seen. La Venta was their most important centre, began in 1750BC and at its zenith 900BC to 400BC with a population of some 18,000 people. It was built with a planned architectural outline centred around an impressive clay pyramid around 130m across and 31m high and was discovered by Frans Blom in 1925 and excavated through the 1940s. In the 1950s Mexico prioritised oil development and state owned Pemex built a petrochemical complex very close to the centre of the site destroying much of the remains and the most significant pieces were moved here.
Despite being by a main road, it was like an oasis, with few visitors and green and shady which was lucky as it reached 32° today. Since it opened, the first part has been a zoo showcasing animals from Tabasco, and the monkeys seemed free to roam as did these cute creatures called coatis.
The smaller creatures were ok …
… but I would prefer them not to have jaguars or ocelots as they haven’t enough space.
Moving on, we reached the reason for the visit, a collection of huge heads and altars, carved from basalt, which would have been sourced some 150kms away which is a feat in itself. The colossal heads of La Venta were originally positioned around the great pyramid as if protecting the sacred part of the city and here are three of them, all with similar features, slightly surly expressions and earspools.
This stela was found close by and has been called the King’s Stela due to the importance of the figure.
There were also several altars, with a sculpted figure inside …
… and this one with an additional relief on the side …
… as well as sculptures referred to as the Grandmother …
… and the Governor.
We were in no hurry and spent the morning happily wandering around …
… enchanted with the antics of the coatis …
… and just enjoying being outside surrounded by green.
When we were done, we walked along the lakeside …
… until we found refreshments.
Villahermosa translates as beautiful town and certainly the park and lake were just that.
As for dinner, it was back to Barrahermosa, not necessarily beautiful but certainly popular and my tlayuda hit the spot while Chris played it safe with pizza … although he did add a drop of sauce … Tabasco of course!
Up early tomorrow and we are flying back to México City for the last stop on our taco trail …
Off Travelling Together 