Sumidero Canyon, Chiapas

From the Oaxacan Coast on the Pacific I traveled southeast to the state of Chiapas on yet another night bus. After nine hours I made it to Tuxla Gutierez, the capital of Chiapas. The city is a major transportation hub, and close to the Sumidero Canyon, but not a particularly pretty place. Later that day I was planning to make it to the much more charming town of San Cristobol but first I wanted t to see the impressive Sumidero Canyon located between the two cities.

When I arrived at the bus station and got my bearings I found some other travelers and asked if they were also heading to the Canyon. I figured there was a good chance of it and we could all share a taxi or two and make things a lot easier. They were a group of five students from the UK spending there last bits of summer break in Mexico. I helped with the Spanish and together we made it to the small town of Chiapas de Corzo to take a tour of the gorgeous Sumidero Canyon.
















The tour started off tame enough then the banks of the river and man made reservoir began to rise. Before long we were skimming along the water between two huge canyon walls. The riding at the back of the boat oh the main deck was nice, but the seat next to the captain on the flying bridge looked much more appealing. Early into our trip I asked if I could sit up top with him and it was no problem at all. That's one of the things that I have really grown to love about Mexico. The people are fairly loose and there is always a way. The view from up top was amazing and I even earned my seat by translating parts of his tour from Spanish to English.

The canyon was gorgeous and truly impressive. At one point the canyon walls climbed to nearly 1000 meters; it's greatest depth near the hydroelectric damn was 300 meters. The force of the water falling through the turbines was reported to produce half of all of Mexico's electricity. There is something about doesn't sound right about that, but that's what he said.























Along the way we passed a number of water falls that were gushing due to the recent rainfall. The most impressive was the “Christmas Tree” cascade which, as you would imagine, looks like a Christmas tree from the distance. The only drag about the canyon was all of the trash floating in the reservoir. washed into the canyon from the nearby towns with recent rain. It was a shame to see so much trash in such an amazing landscape, but that is Mexico unfortunately.

On the way back we found some crocodiles hanging out along the banks of the reservoir. That was an exciting part of the trip, but not enough to keep three of our group from falling asleep on the way back to the docks. We all had a long night on the bus.
















After our boat ride, back in Chiapa de Corzo, we had lunch and saw some of the town before making our way to San Cristobol which was less than an hour away. I had originally planned to hitch hike so I asked them if they were up for it. We decided to split into groups of two and race each other to San Cristobol. The winners would be buying the losers a round of beers.














Brick gazebo

The Oaxaca Coast

From the city of Oaxaca (pronounced “wahawka”) I traveled west to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, still within the state of Oaxaca. There were a couple of resort towns along the Oaxacan coast but I avoided those for tranquil and funky nature of a few other beach towns. From Oaxaca I took a night bus that winded through the mountains and made it to a small fishing village called Puerto Angel a little before sunrise. I was tired, but it was great to see the fishing docks at sunrise. The town slowly began to come alive and soon I was off to find a place to stay for the night. Puerto Angel is a nice town but there were three other communities up the road that were more appealing for the beach and social scene.

On the way to see the other communities there were a couple of things that stuck out. One of which was the natural gas truck that plays loud annoying music early in the morning to let people know that it is passing. Kind of like an ice cream truck. In most of Mexico, even in the cities, there are no public gas lines so people generally have tanks of gas for cooking and heating water. You see and hear these trucks everywhere.

I stayed in the first town I made it to, called Mazunte. It was a very relaxed place with a beautiful beach for swimming. The first night I fell asleep very early and ended up waking up for the sunrise on the beach. The place I was staying in wasn't particularly nice, but the surf came all of the way up to the second story deck which overlooking the ocean. It was another beautiful place to see the sunrise.

Besides the beach and chill atmosphere the other attraction in Mazunte was the Turtle museum and research center. Ironically Mazunte, and this facility in particular, was a place where up top 50,000 sea turtles were killed a year. The sea turtle is now protected and the turtle slaughterhouse has been converted into a museum and research center ironically dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles.


















From Mazunte, which was a little too relaxed and a bit boring being on my own, I decided to travel down the coast to see the other beach towns. After passing another very quiet town I made it to a great place called Zipolite. There it was also relaxed, but had a little more going on. I stayed in a beautiful place right on the ocean. Through my mosquito net I could see the sun filter through the fronds of the coconut trees and hear the crashing waves around the clock. All for 8 dollars a night.



















Zipolite was a cool beach lined with thached-roof cabanas and pounding surf. The currents here were powerful and dangerous but the waves were beautiful. I'm a decent swimmer, but still felt the strong undercurrent carrying me out. With the strong currents and at times large waves surfing was very popular here.


























In Zipolite I found plenty of friends. With one group I enjoyed a delicious fishfry and with another group we went out for a beautiful seafood meal. The beach was a great time.

















Colored palm tree