TONINA

I was unprepared for my trip to Tonina - a site constructed on a huge mountain that offers a great view of the four corners of the world. Not much has been published on Tonina, and I had no idea how much the ruins had to offer. I wasted a lot of time on the ground examining the stelae and other freestanding carved stone objects scattered in the courtyard. Subject to degradation by the elements over time, these fascinating-at-first-encounter objects proved in retrospect to be pointless-lumps-of-rock after reviewing half a roll of jumbo double prints. This structure at the base of the mountain (in the first photo) exhibits the tablud/tablero style of architecture, thought by some to reflect a Central Mexican hegemonic cultural influence. There are entrances to the rooms at the lower levels cut into the base of the mountain here, and I shot plenty of photos of my tour group walking around in the dark. As I'd discovered about halfway up the mountain, archeologists have uncovered this incredible wall sculpture. It had been buried by the collapsed ruins from above centuries ago, and is in pristine condition. The surrounding altars and other structures make it VERY difficult to photograph, however. I had this fantasy that I could take these photos of the thing and somehow restore them to a flat perspective using some kind of sophisticated graphics software. (It must have been the heat, or perhaps the altitude change.) Fortunately, I ran out of film before I could follow through on this lame-brained idea. The place just kept going up and up and UP, and while there really wasn't much else to photograph way up there (especially after encountering the show-stopping frieze documented here), the view was fantastic. I'd heard that the rebels in the recent Chiapas uprisings had captured this site and used it as a central logistics command post - as it has undoubtably been used for centuries, if not millenia. FROM THEGBonline MAILBOX Subject: Tonina Date: Fri, 04 Oct 1996 20:49:40 -0500 From: claire alt To: gbonline@ix.netcom.com ...saw (Tonina) for the first time this summer. didn't expect much from the paltry descriptions in guidebooks, so was an extremely nice surprise. spent several hours climbing up and down and in and out of the "maze". getting there was not so fun. the military has a base now along the road to the ruins and the checkpoint you must pass is incredibly thorough and quite intimidating. i hadn't realized the rebels had held the ruins - explains the military attitude. the rebels were still very active this summer and the military has bases going in everywhere. i don't know if i would want to be there by next year when the military should be completely dug in and ready for action. Thanks for the update. I'm afraid this news is certainly distressing, if not perhaps inevitable. If you've got any information you'd like to share regarding Tonina, send me an email.

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