Never before have I seen water so blue that it blends with the sky. Between San Cristobal de Las Casas and Palenque, Mexico, the waterfalls at Agua Azul and Misol-Ha are incredibly beautiful. Both sites are great to spend an afternoon lounging about and swimming.
Lower Pools at Agua Azul
Jungle 1 – Mayan City 0
If you had to build a city entirely out of stone, without the use of the wheel or animal or machine power, would you build it in the middle of a hot and humid jungle? The Mayans did. And then they abandoned it. I speculate that this was because it was hot and humid and in the middle of a jungle, so all of the local teenagers decided to go to college elsewhere
The jungle didn’t waste any time reclaiming its lost territory, and since the modern world rediscovered the ruins sometime around the birth of the United States, only about 5% of the city has been excavated. Over 1000 buildings are still buried under dirt, vines, and trees. Home maintenance is important in this part of the world
Bracelets for Sale
“A fish, a lion, a turkey, a cat.”, Manuel says, as he places small pottery animals on our table. “Only 10 pesos.”
Quickly realizing that we aren’t the type to buy small clay animals, he changes tactics.
“I’m hungry, I need some food”, he says, holding out his hand and putting on his sad and hungry face.
We have a conversation about his brothers and about school. He isn’t really paying attention, just answering while staring off into space, with his hand still waiting for some money.
State Seal of Chiapis
Inside the Sumidero Canyon National Park in the highlands of the Mexican State of Chiapis sits the towering Sumidero Canyon. Obviously. Boat tours on the 25 km long reservoir above one of the hydroelectric dams on the Grijalva River provide stunning views of the canyon and the regional wildlife
Get Your Mole Here!
Oaxaca, Mexico was on our list of places to visit for one reason: food. Oaxaca, often called the culinary capital of Mexico, is known for its mole sauces, hot chocolate, chapulines, and mezcal. We sampled all of them… sometimes more than once. It’s been said that the path to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I’m not certain if this is always true, but Oaxaca was definitely successful in this regard
