Into the Clouds

We had heard about the huge climb to San Cristobal de Las Casas, so positioned ourselves at the base of the climb in Chiapa de Corozo, and set off up the 190 Libre the next morning. After about 20 km of climbing we passed a turnoff to Villahermosa, and from then on there was very little traffic on the road as we climbed through tiny mountain villages where maize is grown on steep rocky slopes. We got the impression that many of the locals, dressed in traditional clothing, had never been outside of their own small towns. We also saw large plantations of granadilla fruit for the first time and enjoyed trying the sweet gelatinous fruit at one of our breaks on the climb. We enjoyed the cool cloudy morning, but as we climbed ever higher we ended up riding into the clouds, which limited views and the length of any breaks due to the chill in the air. When we finally descended from the 2440 m summit to a small sunny town we celebrated by eating a second lunch and then climbed a final 200 m hill before descending into the valley of San Cristobal de Las Casas. All told we climbed almost 2000 m in about 70 km - another record for the trip.Read more