In the company of AMAV Chiapas on Sunday 27th March we met at the City Express hotel to begin our tour from cocoa to chocolate, first we passed through the Nacajuca highway so that the travel agents of the state of Chiapas could see how the pejelagarto was being roasted, from there we continued on our way to the municipality of Jalpa Méndez, The guide explained to us that the name "Jalpa" comes from the Nahuatl words "Xalli-pan", which means "On the sand", the addition "de Méndez" is in honour of the colonel Gregorio Méndez Magaña, native of the place and maximum republican hero over the franc traitor interventionists in Tabasco. We went to the Temple of San Francisco de Asis to see its structure from the outside, which has spectacular stained glass windows. From there we were able to taste the typical butifarra sausage of the municipality of Jalpa de Méndez, something unique and exquisite of the region.
We arrived at our next destination, the town of Culpilco, where we found the most colourful church in the entire state of Tabasco, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and celebrated in the month of August. From there we went on to the Archaeological Zone of Comalcalco, one of the most important Mayan cultural sites in the state; there, we toured the 25-metre high pyramid with the members of AMAV Chiapas. At the end of the tour of the Archaeological Zone we were taken to the Hacienda Jesús María, located in the southern part of Comalcalco, where we had a guided tour in which the process of making chocolate and the sowing of cocoa was explained to us.
Then near the Archaeological Zone we went to eat at the "Cocina Chontal de Doña Nelly Córdoba", listed as one of the 20 best restaurants in the world. And finally we toured the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco on a very fun ride in the choco bus.
Written by M. Fernanda Aquino
Sales Executive at Grace Viajes y Eventos®.