About a 6-1/2 hour drive and almost 300 miles gets you from Bacalar to Palenque. After looking at the famous Mayabell campground (I stayed there 10 years ago) I decided it wasn't as great as I wanted to remember it as so I got a 1000p room at La Aldea, very nice for the price. Palenque is one of the must-see ruins in Mexico, much admired for the beautiful jungle setting. I thought it would be worth a re-visit after ten years.
looking towards El Palacio in center distance, Palenque
Templo de las Inscripciones on left, Palenque
Later that day I drove down to the border town of Frontera Corozal to visit the ruin site of Yaxchilan. I took a room at the Escudo Jaguar, set above the River Usumacinta and run by the local Chol organization. I was the only guest for the night (it must have room for well over 100) and I was the only one who spoke any English so I went to bed in total confusion as to how tomorrow would shake out.
boat dock at Frontera
bats hang in the passages of El Labertino
I was told that I should wait for the day trip visitors from Palenque to arrive on their tour bus in order to save some money by sharing a boat upriver to the ruins. Wandering around the boat docks around 8am, though, I ran into a guy, Francisco, who had his own, smaller boat and after a brief discussion on price (600p) we headed up the river a good hour and 15 minutes before anyone else. I highly recommend this approach in hindsight: spend the night and get your own boat. A short video of the river ride is above. Mexico is on the left, Guatemala on the right.
approaching the Gran Plaza
Edificio 33 atop the Gran Acropolis
I was the only one wandering this beautiful, haunting site in the jungle for all that time. Besides insects, birds and howler monkeys there was no other sound. This automatically goes into my top five ruin sites. In the quiet of this lush, ancient setting you can almost feel a connection to the past, imagining what life here might have been like. Hot and sweaty is the best I can come up with.
Leaving Frontera you have to make a decision to go back to the north towards Palenque, or turn south. The south portion of the road has been considered "unsafe" for some years as Mexico has their own border issues down here. I thought, I need to get this drive out of my system, so I turned south. Other than some crappy road conditions and a couple of military checkpoints it was completely safe. It's somewhat attractive rolling ranchland with some scattered jungle and small settlements. And there are three gas stations. Lack of gas was supposedly another issue, but not really.
Chiapas loop from Palenque to
Lagunas de Montebello
howler monkey (a bit blurry)
My next stop was Las Guacamayas (Spanish for scarlet macaws). This is a beautiful ecotourism lodge run by a local indigenous group on the banks of the Rio Lacantun consisting of clean, spacious cabanas connected by wooden walkways. To complete the perfect jungle setting, around dusk the howler monkeys really lit into it, one of natures great sounds. It gave me goosebumps.
a common sight along the river
some of Las Guacamayas
The next morning I joined a family on a boat tour of the river to see what we could see. Howler and spider monkeys, crocodiles, storks, hawks but no scarlet macaws, except flying very high above. The boat driver finished off the tour (it really was a three hour tour) by zipping around river rocks and logs at a pretty good clip. The video is a very short look at one part of it (not exactly hair raising, but still fun).
storks
crossing a river in Chiapas
a typical mountain view
The road from Guacamayas heads due west towards Lagunas de Montebello. It's on this stretch that the road climbs into the mountains, the hills dotted with corn fields, farms and villages.
usually my only company was the horse down the hill
the gloomy Laguna Bosque Azul
After about 3 hours you arrive at the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, home to several dozen lakes among the pine and oak forests. I found a place to camp on the Laguna Bosque Azul for 30p/night (less than $2). It was the middle of the week and the weather turned nasty so I was the only one here for two nights. The chilly temperatures (50's) and the gray, misty skies gave me a cold that lasted for over a week.
street scene in San Cristobal
On my third day the skies cleared and I took the opportunity to drive up to San Cristobal de las Casas, one of my favorite cities in Mexico. They are apparently trying to widen the mountainous 50 mile road that goes between Comitan and San Cristobal (see map below) practically all at once, which was a serious Mexican cluster if I ever saw one.
I thought this might help my cold (really)
Arriving in San Cristobal at night (I try really hard to not drive at night), I nevertheless managed to find my way to the campground through the narrow, crowded cobblestone streets and get set up. San Cristobal is at about 7000 feet, making the days bright and pleasant and the nights - at least in January and February - quite chilly, even cold. I wrapped myself in sweats and sleeping bag for the duration.
Back down to the Pacific coast and Puerto Arista (Jose's Camping). I make a stop here each trip, but I can't say I ever really do anything. It's more like a hiding place. Jose had the Super Bowl on tv, so I did that...quite satisfying. Surprising maybe, but satisfying.
February 2006
February 2016
The only thing in ten years I can point to that has really changed in P.A. is the welcoming sign as you drive into town (oh, and the turtle statue in the distance in the second picture). When I was there again in October, 2010 the concrete cross beam in the 2006 picture had fallen so it was simply the two end columns. I thought I had a picture of it. Darn. Anyway, that's Puerto Arista.
Chiapas
And that's Chiapas, at least for this trip. Chiapas is a place that never fails to impress me or draw me back. So much more to see! Look at all the roads I have yet to travel.
