The red sun sank westward, reflecting the sunset in the sea and staining the coastal jungle crimson. Between jungle and shore, the broad Tonala River mirrored the deep green forests along its course, its quiet golden ripples drifting. The long river threaded through the dense jungle, flowed past a hidden yet bustling tribal village, then continued north into the boundless Gulf of Mexico.
In the Nahua Language, "Tonala" meant "the place where the sun rises." Thus, the "Tonala River" could also be called the "Sunrise River." And "Tonala Village" at the river's mouth, eighty li east of Hidden Snake City, could also be called "Sunrise Village." The Tonala Sunrise River wound from south to north for more than six hundred li, serving not only as the natural boundary between the later Veracruz and Tabasco states, but also as one of the first half of the waterways connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific coast.
From the northern Gulf of Mexico, heading upstream from the mouth of the Sunrise River for sixty or seventy li brought one to the ruins of La Venta, the Second Ancient City of the Olmec era more than two thousand years ago. Another two or three hundred li upstream to the south lay Malpasito, the ancient sacrificial city-state of the Zoque Tribes of the mountains and forests, with a legacy of more than seven hundred years. And from Malpasito, heading farther south past the vast Great Lake, then another two or three hundred li, one reached the sacred source of the Sunrise River: Chiapa de Corzo, a flourishing mountain ancient city of the Classic Maya era, with a legacy of more than a thousand years!
Therefore, this Sunrise River of more than six hundred li linked on one end to an ancient city of the