Chiapas Amber

Chiapas amber began as the sap of ancient Hymenaea trees some 25 million years ago, hardening in what became the sandstone hills around Simojovel - the state's amber capital, where mining families still work hand-dug tunnels by candle and headlamp for the seams. The material rewards the labor: Mexican amber runs famously hard and clear, in honeys, cognacs, reds and the coveted rare tones - green glints and the near-mythic blue fluorescence - with insect and plant inclusions that seal Oligocene mornings in pendant form. San Cristobal is the shopping and learning floor: the Museo del Ambar, housed in the ex-convent of La Merced, displays raw chunks, masterpiece carvings and inclusion pieces while teaching the crucial skill - real amber floats in salt water, warms in the hand, smells of pine under friction, and never melts like the plastic sold by street hustlers. Certified galleries carve and set on premises; a second museum pairs amber with jade. Buy where they let you test, and the piece carries deep time honestly.

The main sights

• The Museo del Ambar - raw seams to masterwork carvings.
• The inclusions - insects and flowers sealed in resin.
• The workshops - carving and setting on the premises.
• Simojovel itself - the mining town for the dedicated.

When to go

Year-round; museum mornings beat tour groups. Simojovel's market days reward the long, winding drive with rough stones at source prices.

Good to know

Fakes flood the street trade - buy from certified galleries and ask for the tests; bargains too good are plastic. Fine pieces are investments. The Simojovel road is beautiful, slow and not for queasy passengers.

Nearby

San Cristobal's textile museum, markets and cafes surround the amber quarter; Chamula and Zinacantan fill the same highland days.