The distance from Palenque to San Cristobal is only about 220 km long, but still it takes 5 hours to reach it by bus. The Mexican roads are quite ok disregarding the many holes and lack of tunnels, but I guess it is indeed quite hard to go from 80 meters above sea level to 2100 in a shorter time with a fully packed bus. :) It's a very pretty trip anyway, lots of beautiful landscapes all the way until reaching our destination between the clouds. Apart from the change from height and jungle to mountains, also the weather conditions changed considerably. During our two days in San Cristobal it has hardly been dry and the low temperatures even made us be happy that we did decide to bring a pullover and coat to hot Mexico.
After some great and cheap sushi, we went out to book our trip of the next day, visiting the Cañon del Sumidero. This canyon is just an hour away and one of the most important tourist attractions of the region. With good reason, we found it very impressive and absolutely stunning. In small boats you speed on the river between walls of 1000 meter higher mountains with tropical forests on them and monkeys swinging in the trees. The monkeys were there anyway, many people saw them, I suppose I did too. :P I was yelling all the time "Where, where?!?!" and my sister replied "There, there!!!!", so you could imagine that I got quite frustrated after a while of ridiculous blindness to the monkeys which everybody else enthusiastically were pointing at. ;)
On the way back through the canyon we could even spot (even me yes) some huge alligators warming up in the sun on the river banks. Apparently they are not so dangerous, but the ones lying with their mouth open did seem to have quite sharp teeth...
The next day we went on another trip, this time quite a bit further out of town. Our van first took us to a long cave, where young children would 'guide' you with small flash lights pointing out rock formations which looked remarkably like the Tower of Pisa, George Bush or a giant elephant. It was very dark in there...
Then we drove on for quite a while to the the waterfall of El Chiflón. Another waterfall one might think, but this one was so huge and impressive that it was very unique for us anyway. Especially because you could get really close and while having a nice shower enjoy the view of the thundering water just in front of you. On the picture below you can see a small platform, that being the mentioned shower room. ;)
Finally that day we went all the way to the border with Guatemala to see the lakes of Montebello. They are especially pretty due to the bright colours of green and blue and with the right weather they make the perfect spot for swimming. We did not have the right weather but kayaking on one of them was just as great. ^^
During the drive back we were treated by a beautiful sunset, for which the less nice weather came in handy after all. No complaints though, after the steam sauna of the earlier days, a bit cooler temperatures were more than welcome.
On the way back through the canyon we could even spot (even me yes) some huge alligators warming up in the sun on the river banks. Apparently they are not so dangerous, but the ones lying with their mouth open did seem to have quite sharp teeth...
The next day we went on another trip, this time quite a bit further out of town. Our van first took us to a long cave, where young children would 'guide' you with small flash lights pointing out rock formations which looked remarkably like the Tower of Pisa, George Bush or a giant elephant. It was very dark in there...
Then we drove on for quite a while to the the waterfall of El Chiflón. Another waterfall one might think, but this one was so huge and impressive that it was very unique for us anyway. Especially because you could get really close and while having a nice shower enjoy the view of the thundering water just in front of you. On the picture below you can see a small platform, that being the mentioned shower room. ;)
Finally that day we went all the way to the border with Guatemala to see the lakes of Montebello. They are especially pretty due to the bright colours of green and blue and with the right weather they make the perfect spot for swimming. We did not have the right weather but kayaking on one of them was just as great. ^^
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