Exploring Southern Veracruz State (part 4) - Veracruz-smile.com

SANTIAGO TUXTLA continues
another option or the Gran Santiago Plaza.
Santiago Tuxtla serves as a good base for exploring
the town and archaeological site at Tres Zapotes (23
km/14.2 miles to the west). Despite its former status
as a stronghold of the Olmec culture, today the
archaeological site is just mounds and cornfields
(most of the site’s Olmec relics
have been transplanted to either
Xalapa or Mexico City). The site
dates back to the early Olmec
period (1,200 B.C.) and flourished
from around 500 BC until 100 BC.
The smiling stat
The city once controlled a vast area of
southern Mexico.
The archaeological site is famed for its
“Stela C.” A stela is an obelisk or upright
stone pillar, thought to be a primitive
commemoration or gravestone.
In 1939, archeologist Matthew Stirling
discovered the bottom half of Stela C.
This stela was carved from basalt, with
one side showing Olmec-style engraving
and on the other was the oldest
Mesoamerican long count calendar
ever unearthed (use of bars and
dots numbering system later adopted
by the Mayan and Zapotec). It is said
this finding gives the earliest positive
proof of the Olmec “discovery” of the concept of
zero. The small museum at the site also displays some
of the most relevant finds of Olmec civilization. The
Tres Zapotes Olmec head is here (dating to about 100
B.C.) – the first head found in modern times (1862).
Exploring South: Santiago Tuxtla, Tlacotalpan
TLACOTALPAN
98 km from Lake Catemaco; pop. 9,000; elevation 30 feet
This color splashed colonial town lies 98 kms (61
miles) from Catemaco and 97 kms (60 miles) south
of Veracruz City. The name “Tlacotalpan” is Nahuatl
meaning “place between the rivers.” In keeping with
its namesake, this is a riverside city of colonial streets
lined with porticos and striking buildings fronted by
colonnades. It is known for its classic architecture and
buildings painted in bright, contrasting pastel colors
and red tiled roofs.
Tlacotalpan was chosen as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1998. The designation reads the
“urban layout and architecture of Tlacotalpan represent
a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean traditions of
exceptional importance and quality... Its outstanding
character lies in its townscape of wide streets,
modest houses in an exuberant variety of styles and
colors, and many mature trees in public and private
open spaces.” (UNESCO, 1998.) The city is a delight to
explore and when visiting during the hot summer
months you’ll have the place to yourself.
The area had been inhabited since pre-Columbian
times by the Totonaco and Toltec peoples, however
little remains of these cultures. Spanish conquistador
Pedro de Alvarado first visited the area in 1518.
In the late 1520’s, Hernán Cortés formed Mexico’s
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