Palenque

The last two days I explored the Chiapas region in the south of Mexico 🇲🇽 by means of some of the various tour operators in San Christobal. The first tour started at 9 am. Our destination - Cañón del Sumidero (Sumidero Canyon) - is a 13 kilometres (8 mi) long natural canyon ⛰️ located just north of the town Chiapa de Corzo. The width of the canyon varies from 1 to 2 kilometres (3,300 to 6,600 ft). Its formation started 35 million years ago and is the result of cracks in the earth's crust along with erosion by the Grijalva River, which still flows through it.
We stopped at some view points to see the vastness of this canyon from atop - one of the stops was the popular 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) high El Roblar lookout point. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play along all too well. ☁️At first we saw nothing more than a white wall of fog 🌫️ when we arrived. Luckily, the sky cleared up after 5-10 minutes but we would have to wait until the afternoon for sunshine 🌞
After seeing the canyon from above, we drove to a dock near the Chicoasén Dam. There we changed from bus 🚌 to speed boat 🚤 and followed the Grijalva River through the canyon - marvelling at its impressively vertical walls. Most of these walls are between 200 and 700 metres (660 and 2,300 ft) high but at the highest point the walls reach even 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).
The deep and narrow canyon and its surrounding national park are also well known for their wildlife. According to the Mexican federal Secretaría de Agricultura y Recursos Hidráulicos (SARH), a total of 90 species calls the area their home. We saw birds 🦅 as well as iguanas 🦎 and crocodiles 🐊 on our boat trip to Chiapa de Corzo.
After our arrival in Chiapa de Corzo we had a late lunch before we walked through the town centre to the meeting point with our tour guide. It was already 4 pm and our tour was about to end. By 5 pm we were back in San Christobal - just in time to take a shower 🚿 and get ready for dinner with Deniz (from the Netherlands) and Gianluca (from Australia). This time we tested one of the vegetarian restaurants 🥑 in San Christobal (Te Quiero Verde) and it turned out to be very good. Afterwards, the others continued to discover some new bars but I had other plans. I had booked a tour to the popular Maya sight Palenque for the next day which was departing at 4 am. ⏰ So, I tried to be in bed early.

The next morning I got up a 10 to 4 am and was picked up only a few minutes later from my hostel. After picking up a few more passengers in San Christobal, we drove with our mini bus 🚐 approximately 2 hours through the dark, foggy and rainy back country of Chiapas to our first stop - a breakfast place just outside of Ocosingo.
Taking the streets through this region is not without its dangers. I had a seat in the front - next to our driver and thus could observe how he was often reporting 📞 about our position and also receiving information about god knows what. He was also explaining to us that - for our own safety - we could not make other intermediate stops as the ones that have been planned. The local bus company ADO 🚎 does not travel this direct route between San Christobal and Palenque anymore and rather takes a 5 hour long detour through Villahermosa since tourists on their buses have been robbed 3 times in a row just a couple of months ago.
It is not uncommon in Chiapas that the paramilitary groups 🪖 or other criminal organisations stop collectivos or even long-distance busses for bribes for „safe passage“. In such a case, the bus cannot pass a blockade until the desired amount of money 💰 has been gathered. The only thing you can do in this situation is stay calm. Ideally, you prepare accordingly BEFORE it occurs. For example you can apply the following measures: don’t carry your valuables with your all the time. If you must travel with all your belongings, separate the valuable items from the rest. Have a realistic looking spare wallet with some money (max. 300 pesos = 15 EUR) and plastic cards 💳 in it and ideally an old or expendable mobile phone - both are meant to give away to satisfy the criminals when necessary. Last but not least: hide your real wallet, your passport and your mobile phone - loosing them would be catastrophic. Luckily, these events are usually non-violent but of course unpleasant when they happen. I try the best I can to avoid making this experience. 🫤
Anyways, our 2nd stop but first real destination were the Cascadas de Agua Azul (Blue Water Waterfalls) 💦 which are part of the Xanil River and they really live up to their name! The longest drop is up to 6 metres deep and the water has a high content of calcium carbonate and other minerals giving it its colour. Even that day - which was still pretty cloudy - I could clearly see turquoise blue ponds 🔷 in front of the stretched out and cascading waterfalls. We spent more or less one and a half hours there before we continued with our journey. Our next stop was the totally different waterfall Misol-Ha. With a height of 35 metres, this waterfall was rather tall than stretched out. As with the other waterfall, you could swim 🏊‍♀️ in the relatively warm water. As a bonus it was even possible to hike „behind“ the waterfall to the entrance of a big cave - also an endeavour that could not be completed without getting wet 💦 There was an additional entrance fee to the cave that was not covered by the tour. I didn’t feel the need to go in. So, I skipped this optional part but I am pretty sure I didn’t miss anything.
One hour later we drove to the main attraction of the tour: Palenque. This impressive archaeological site in the middle of the jungle 🌴🌴🌴 was one of the most important cities of the Northeastern Maya lowlands during the Maya Classical period (ca. 200-900 A.D.). As an UNESCO Heritage site, Palenque is testimony to the mythology and resources of the Maya and not less important than Chichen Itza in Yucatan or Tikal in Guatemala - although it is only mid-sized in comparison to them.
According to the tourist information office on site, it stands out from other Maya ruins 🛕that can be encountered in Mexico „due to the extent of its concentrated urban area, its refined architecture, the beautiful and plastic perfection of its sculptures as well as its many well-preserved glyphic inscriptions, which have allowed to reconstruct the history and religion of the old estate.“ Indeed, Palenque is one of the most studied 🤓 and documented Mayan archeological ruins. Remarkably, the ancient city has a planned urban layout, with monumental buildings and some of the largest clearings found in all the Maya area. In addition, numerous residential areas with habitation units, funerary, ritual and productive activity areas surround the administrative and civic ceremonial centre.
The Mayan builders and architects 📐of Palenque balanced landscape with platforms, temples and palaces, which creates an peaceful harmony at the settlement. At some point, I climbed up the Temple of the Cross to a calm spot and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere (see video). I felt a bit reminded of my visit to Machu Picchu in Peru where I was many years ago. 😌
At 4 pm we started our long journey back to San Christobal. Our driver drove quite rapidly 🏎️ on the freeway 199 all the way to 3 hours away Ocosingo. It’s a fun route with many long serpentines going up and down the mountain ranges - a little bit like the “Kassler Berge” in Germany. But the section of the 199 after Ocosingo until the entrance for the highway to San Christobal is just horrible 😖 I noticed that already in the morning but going back I had the peace and leisure to count the 182 speed bumps along the approximately 90 km - that is on average one speed bump every 500 meters ‼️ … and I counted only those we had to break for. Another thing I noticed were the many people standing near the freeway and seemingly writing something into their mobile phones when we passed with our mini bus 🚐 After a lot of research, I am convinced that these were all local residents working with the Sinaloa or Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartels which recently put the region under their control (see https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-0…). I even found reports from 2018 about two cyclists that where found dead near a blockade put up by the residents of Ocosingo. 😲
However, our driver navigated us safely through this dangerous road so that we were back in San Christobal by 10 pm. I was pretty tiered after this exciting tour and only took a shower as well as prepared for my travel ✈️ to Valladolid on the next morning.Lue lisää