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In this day and age, the state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancún,
is synonymous with tourism and hi-rise hotels dedicated to gods
of commerce, not gods of rain. It is impossible to believe that
just 40 years ago Quintana Roo was "the most savage and wild
coast of the American continent." It was a territory with no
local government and no roads, accessible only by sea or on
foot.
But this was how Michel Peissel, a 21-year old Frenchman and
author of the now out-of-print book, "The Lost World of Quintana
Roo" found it to be. The year was 1958. And through a strange
set of circumstances, Peissel's fate would be to walk solo through
dense jungles and thick mangroves from Tulum to Belize.
Peissel had fully intended to spend six lazy months in Mexico
after finishing up as a bank trainee on Wall Street before beginning
graduate school at Harvard. But this laid back sabbatical was
soon to change once he met German writer Gustav Regler who was
living in Tepoztlan, 80 miles south of Mexico City. Regler introduced
him to another part-time writer and full-time drinker named
Alan Ball. Ball showed Peissel a map of Mexico one night and
they both became fascinated with a little known territory called
Quintana Roo in the YUCATAN.
Enamored by its name and seeking adventure, the two plan an
expedition by sea to this far away coast. However only 50 percent
of the participants are serious, and Ball sends Peissel off
to Merida to "begin preparations" for their jungle adventure.
NO ROADS
In April l958 there were no roads that connected the Yucatán
with Central Mexico and apart from planes the only transportation
available was by a small prehistoric railroad line, Ferrocarriles
del Sur Este, that wound its way through dense jungle to the
state of Campeche. When unexpected changes occur in his travel
plans, Peissel's journey begins with a side trip to Palenque.
This twist of fate would be "the beginning of a long lasting
passion" of the Maya culture for Peissel.
To imagine Palenque minus tourists is one thing. But when
Peissel's taxi drives him directly into the site and drops him
in front of the Temple of Inscriptions, it boggles the mind
to think that 40 years ago, this was Palenque. One of the book's
main attractions is its ability to create in the mind's eye
a time out of the past, as Peissel first saw it. It is also
a rare recording of an oral history of Quintana Roo, as told
to Peissel by those who had lived there for generations.
He progresses onward to Merida. In l958 Merida has hundreds
of calechas (horse drawn carriages) and a mere handful of taxis.
Although it was a city of 200,000 people, he describes it as
"a world of lazy schedules." It is like stepping back in time.
His encounters in Merida with a professor of archeology and
the director of the French Alliance are humorous as they try
to fathom why this "mildly mad" Frenchman would plan a trip
to the wild and woolly outback of Quintana Roo. Why, they tell
him, even the police will not set foot in that territory.
It is a land filled with indios sublevados (rebellious indians)
, marauding chicleros (read bandits), malaria, jaguars, snakes
and danger, they warn. But Peissel is undeterred. Even after
learning that his expedition partner Alan Ball has backed out,
and that one year earlier a German archeologist's body was found
just three weeks after he began a foot journey to Tulum - killed
by his own guide - Peissel decides to press on.
He is just young enough and stubborn enough to believe he
should not back out, with or without a companion. He charters
a boat to Cozumel and plans to sail down the Quintana Roo coast.
At that time, the coast was entirely uninhabited except for
three places: Puerto Morelos, Tankah and Xcalak. These places
then consisted of a few palapas and a cocal, or coconut grove.
He arrives on Cozumel and his adventure then continues in
an 11-foot vessel, the Lydia, manned by two young Mayans. The
boat has a bamboo mast and a rag as a sail. Six people set out
in it and amazingly they arrive eight hours later to a place
on the mainland called Puha, a small cocal. Peissel's fortunes
shift and he misses the second leg of the journey begun by the
Lydia. From then on he is forced to continue his journey on
foot. He is more than 200 miles from Belize, his destination,
and he is left with only sandals to wear. Sometimes with a Mayan
guide, and sometimes solo, he weaves his way through the dense
and lonely jungle and on the way discovers Mayan temples, meets
the Chan Santa Cruz indians who until l935 killed any foreigner
who set foot on their soil, takes part in religious ceremonies
in some of the small cocals, evades bandits. In general, he
has the adventure of a lifetime, and becomes the first known
person to walk the wild, unruly coast of Quintana Roo ending
up in Belize after 40 days.
It would be three years before Peissel would make a return
trip and in that time he found that "many things had changed
along the Quintana Roo coast." Mexico's new president had declared
the territory "the land of promise" and a road for trucks had
been built from Merida to Chetumal. At Puerto Morelos the army
was considering building a road alongside the small mule-drawn
railroad. Cozumel had been "discovered" after the shutdown of
Cuba to Americans. The airfield at Tulum showed "increased activity"
along with a guest house being erected there. And Boca Paila
had opened a fishing camp.
Who knows if Peissel has been back since l962? If so, que
sorpresa! In l974 Quintana Roo became a state of Mexico, and
shortly thereafter the tourism council came up with the plan
for Cancún, a planned resort com- munity. Needless to
say, the place he described in his book IS now the lost world
of Quintana Roo. But through his book, this world yet unexplored
lives on and on. |
