Tapachula

Tapachula, officially Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez, is the second-largest city in Chiapas and the capital of the Soconusco, the narrow, fertile strip of the state's far south. It sits on the coastal plain at the foot of the Sierra Madre, about 120 meters above sea level, with the cone of the Tacaná volcano on the skyline and the Guatemalan border a short drive away. The name comes from the Nahuatl Tapachollan, usually read as a place that floods, which fits a city crossed by rivers in one of the rainiest corners of Mexico.

The Aztecs founded a tribute town here in 1486 under the ruler Ahuízotl, and the area had already produced cacao for thousands of years. Tapachula replaced Escuintla as capital of the Soconusco in 1794, became a city in 1842, and spent much of the 19th century in a region disputed between Mexico and Guatemala. In 1924 it was briefly the provisional capital of Chiapas, and in 1997 the city took its full name in honor of Fray Matías de Córdova y Ordóñez. Its real boom came with the coffee plantations of the late 19th century, which drew German planters and Chinese workers; Chinese restaurants, a Chinese community house and a cemetery with German names and Chinese characters still show that mix.

Today Tapachula is a working border city rather than a resort: trade with Central America, migration and a strong police presence are part of daily life. The center is the shady Parque Miguel Hidalgo, with its iron kiosk and marimba concerts at the open-air theater. On one side stands the old city hall, built in 1929 in Art Deco style with pre-Hispanic motifs, which now houses the Casa de Cultura and the Museo Arqueológico del Soconusco, with finds from Izapa and the coast. Most visitors use the city as a base for Izapa, the coffee farms of the mountains, the Tacaná volcano and the beaches of Puerto Chiapas.