Orchídeas Moxviquil, Botanic Garden in San Cristóbal

 

For the second day in San Cristóbal we were looking for a hike we could do independently and without too much travel. I found a nice-looking hike online, about two and a half hours through the cloud forest to Cerro Huitepec. We figured out where the colectivos left for the five-kilometre drive to the entrance of the Nature Reserve to which it belongs, on the way to the village of San Juan Chamula and were pretty much set to leave at eleven. Just to make sure about the trail itself I read up on it once more and found a post from someone the day before who said she had been denied entry because she didn't have a guide. There was no mention of the need of a guide in previous posts, but we certainly didn't want to encounter that situation after being dropped off by a colectivo. San Juan Chamula would have been an interesting place to visit, too: a very old village where Maya and Spanish culture and especially religion have melded in a unique way.

I also found another alternative, the Botanic Garden 'Orchídeas Moxviquil' at the northern edge of town. It sounded like a good option: we'd not only be able to see the orchids in their greenhouses, but a 2 km hiking trail is also part of it. Together with the 40 minutes it would take to walk there from our hotel we would get our exercise in for the day.

Following the instructions from Google Maps, helped by inquiring to make sure we were still on the right way, we found the entrance to Orchídeas Moxquivil. It started as a private initiative to rescue orchids from areas of Chiapas where they are in danger of extinction through human intervention of one kind or other. Chiapas has about 400 species of orchids, and nearly 60% of them are represented here in two large greenhouses, about 25,000 plants in total. The hope of Orchídeas Moxviquil is to be a not only a botanic garden but also to educate people from towns and villages around Chiapas to learn and then help with the preservation efforts where they live.

We paid the entrance fee – 90 pesos per person if you want to do both the hike and wander through the orchid greenhouses and the gardens – and decided to do the hike first: there was a chance of thundershowers in the afternoon, and we didn't want to miss out on the hike. The trail, well marked and easy to follow but not highly used, led up steeply in switchbacks through the forest. The many beautiful bromeliads provided a welcome excuse to stop often and catch my breath. 

Especially on the sun side of the mountain it was hot even under the canopy of the trees that we didn't leave once on the hike. Later, after the trail took a turn, the forest floor became more slippery and we saw more ferns – an amazing variety of them.

Close to the highest part of the trail we passed a deep hole in the ground. Mossy stone steps led down to its edge, but Johann, as usual not scared to go as far as he could, didn't see any water at the bottom. We were on our way downhill shortly after that and reached the garden area after a good hour of walking.

Now it was time to explore the orchid area of the nature reserve. Two greenhouses, one with plants from the low-lying areas and very warm and humid, the other housing orchids from the cloud forest further up, are home to an amazing array of orchids of all sizes. It is hard to take it all in; there are so many. I walked through slowly, and the longer I was there the more I paid attention to the smaller plants, their varying colour, texture, shape of leaf and, in some cases, flowers. It is difficult to write about this, and I think the photos will speak for themselves. 

 

I am glad we came here!