Cañón del Sumidero

 

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Sabbatical 2010

 

 

 

 

Cañón del Sumidero is an impressive canyon with rock cliffs as high as 1000m in some places. As we looked up, the cliffs literally disappeared into the clouds. According to legend, many indigenous people threw themselves off the cliffs to free themselves from the Spanish conquistadors.

We entered the canyon, close to Tuxtla Guiterrez, by boat on a steamy Saturday morning and followed the Grijalva River north. Due to heavy rainfall the canyon was high and littered with plastic bottles, huge tree trunks, and other debris. This, however, does not impact the beauty of the canyon, which looks pristine as crocodiles, monkeys, and many water fowl seems to thrive on the riverbanks.

Surprisingly we saw very few personal watercraft fishing or enjoying the water. Looking at the numbers of egrets and even pelicans, the river, at places 150 meters deep, must have lots of fish.

There are many waterfalls, some starting from the middle of the cliff face. The most beautiful was the appropriately named Cascada Arbol de Navidad (Christmas Trees Waterfall).

After the boat ride, we have a great meal in a very hot Chiapas de Corzo. Being in the town for barely 90 minutes made us long back to the cool mountain air of San Cristobal. In Chiapas de Corzo it was even too hot to visit the local market! I marveled at the wiring techniques of the Chiapanese. Storm clouds were coming in and we road into them as we returned to San Cristobal.

All in all an enjoyable day!