Posted by Yucatan & Chiapas Road Trip Extended
Travelling through the Yucatan Peninsula, to Chiapas is an amazing Mexico Road Trip !
Before arriving into San Cristobel De Las Casas we made a detour to another tourist landmark, Cascades Agua Azul (Blue Water Waterfalls).
Due to the heavy rainfalls over the rainy season our views where far from blue. In fact they were a nice shade of sandy brown, but the ferocity of the waterfalls made you realize just how powerful these cascades really are.
All the same, the visit gave us an opportunity to tick it off our list, as well has grabbing a nice lunch before our onward journey to our destination.
The state of Chiapas is steeped in history, culture, and adorned with natural beauty, with Tuxtla Gutierrez has the capital city. The city is also serviceable with its own International Airport.
Just to the East is the more famously known “San Cristobal De Las Casa’s”, which is probably the most visited city in Chiapas apart from Palenque!
Many visitors to San Cristobal fall in love with this town, the people, most of all its beauty; and the slow pace of life makes this a dream place to live.
You will understand why, when you take a tour through the narrow streets of the town, and take in the charm of the colonial construction and architecture.
Once we got checked into our hotel, we ventured into the Zocalo (Main Square) with it´s fantastic ancient Cathedral and market stalls dotted in every direction.
Just being among the locals whilst they go about their daily routine really makes you want to be a part of that lifestyle.
San Cristobal is a very colourful city, with vibrant coloured buildings located all over the town.
After a very enjoyable first night, we took our time to enjoy a good breakfast and decided to venture to the local market.
It was amazing to see the amount of produce available, from every colour of beans & chilli’s imaginable, to the array of fabrics and linens hand made by the local villagers.
It was like a rainbow carpet has far as the eye could see, breathtaking to realize how much time they take to prepare their stalls so very early in the morning. Everything fresh from the fields!
In terms of poverty and standard of living, Chiapas is considered the poorest state in Mexico, with over 60% of inhabitants not even having basic electricity & running water.
Many families choose to seek work away from their families, mainly in the construction industry in Cancun & Riviera Maya, where new hotels and residential areas are being built at an alarming rate!
Chiapas maintains an amazing history of civil wars with the Zapatista’s, and the right for independence, but before that the local Maya’s have fought their own wars through the centuries.
They have also created some fantastic Mayan sites all over Chiapas, and Palenque & Bonampak are two of the most outstanding.
Tonina is also another amazing site built into the hillside, and was known to have overthrown the rulers of Palenque at some time in history!
We knew Tonina Archaeological Site would have to be for another trip, because we are limited for time and where we want to visit! However, just an insight of the site from these photographs taken during our stop!
Exploring Natural Beauty in Chiapas!
Our next day was spent in the amazing “Sumidero Canyon”. The canyon actually feeds into an artificial lake that has been created by the Hydro-Electric dam company close to the neighbouring country of Guatemala. The sides of the canyon reach a height of 1000 meters.
The sides are covered in tropical vegetation and provide an amazing rainbow effect when the sunlight and waterfalls cascade over the sides. Crocodiles adorn the banks of the river, and scarcity’s of Condors cool down in the daytime sun with wings spread wide.
We stopped at Sumidero Canyon overnight after our trip down the river and enjoyed another great night. The hotel was clean, basic, and provided a great restaurant to have our evening meal.
We enjoyed the tranquility of this little town because we where at the end of the tourist season. So just finding a hotel for the night was never going to be a struggle.
We spent a couple more nights back in San Cristobal, because we knew it would be some time before we managed to venture here again. It is a shame I lost all my photographs of this trip due to a laptop hard-drive crash. The memories are still fresh in my mind!
Overall, of all the places I have visited in Mexico, this for me is right there at the top. It was not our only visit, and I will share that in another post soon!
