EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

CHIAPA DE CORZO is an elegant little town overlooking the river, barely twenty minutes by bus east from Tuxtla. An important centre in Preclassic times, this is the place where the oldest Long Count date , corresponding to December 7, 36 BC, has been found on a stela. The remaining ruins are on private land behind the Nestlé plant, beyond the far end of 21 de Octubre. There are at least a dozen places to eat on the riverside here, and plenty to see: the most striking feature is an amazingly elaborate sixteenth-century fountain, which dominates the plaza. Built of brick in the Mudéjar style, in the shape of the Spanish crown, the fountain is one of the most spectacular surviving early colonial monuments in Mexico - a tribute to the painstaking restoration. The small museum of regional handicrafts next to the cathedral, in a cobbled courtyard surrounded by the ancient brick arches of the Convento de Santo Domingo (Tues-Sun 10am-4pm; US$0.50), features the local painted and lacquered gourds.

There are two hotels in town: the basic Los Angeles (no phone; US$10-15), on the southeast corner of the zócalo; and the newer, more upmarket Hotel La Ceiba , Domingo Ruíz 300 (tel & fax 9/616-0389, laceiba5@prodigy.net.mx ; US$25-40), three blocks west from the plaza, which is very quiet and comfortable, with a/c rooms and a small pool.