On the road again, goin’ places that I’ve never been. Seeing things that I may never see again, and I can’t wait to get on the road again.

– Willie Nelson

When I wrote my last post, we had just left Tulum, Mexico, and we had just embarked upon a 22 hour bus ride heading to the scenic town of San Cristobal de las Casas. Last Thursday, we left the coastal town of Tulum at 9 pm in sweltering heat and wearing our t-shirts and shorts. On Friday evening, we arrived to a chilly 60-degree San Cristobal. San Cristobal de las Casas is a beautiful town very high in the mountains in the Chiapas region of Mexico. We had heard several people mention that this area would be a great one to visit, and we knew we didn’t want to miss it. The town is jam packed with 200,000 people all living and working together on the mountain top. The streets were almost all one way and very narrow, and they were lined with even narrower sidewalks. The people who live here are used to the closeness of the cars zooming down the road past you, but as strangers in this town, the traffic was unnerving. It felt refreshing to be there above the clouds enjoying the cool misty air, especially when we compared it to the hot and humid places we’ve visited so far.

We stayed in a very old hotel that had to be quite majestic once upon a time. Because of its size, we felt like we were the only guests there. While exploring the town, we hiked the mountain to see a church perched on the very top of it. The view of the city sprawled out over the mountain was breathtaking. Deeper in the city is a downtown square. In the daytime, this area was empty and provided a place to gather your thoughts and catch your breath. At night, though, the town would come alive. The square was packed with craftsmen and women selling their goods, their home-made foods, and their freshly made desserts. There was even entertainment for the kids as a clown caught their attention and held them captive with his antics. There was music playing and people of all ages braved the cold to enjoy a warm meal in the festive environment.

On Sunday, we decided to rent a car for a few days and head further south to the Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello (National Park). This region reminded me so much of Tennessee. There were beautiful trees and scenic vistas everywhere you looked. The park boasts 59 lakes within its boundaries, and they seemed to be in every shade of blue and green. We found a cabana to rent for a few days at Cinco Lagos. The cabanas were set on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Cinco Lago. The air was refreshing, the view was amazing, and we loved it here. We explored several of the other lakes in the area including the Lago Internacional (half of it is in Mexico and the other half is in Guatemala), Lake Tziscao, and Lake Pojoj. We were able to take a balsa raft out to an island in Lake Pojoj and swim around in the cool waters there, and Henry was able to jump off of a 23′ cliff to the crystal clear lake water below.

On Tuesday, we left the lakes and headed northwest for the Cascada el Chifflon. This is a really beautiful area where the San Vicente river flows over five different waterfalls within about one kilometer. The water in the falls is typically a bright turquoise, but since it is the rainy season now, the water volume picks up more of the river bottom as it flows and that turns the water more brown than blue. At any rate, the falls were gorgeous. The park was well maintained with cobbled walkways and handrails. We were able to quickly and easily make it to the first three falls. The third waterfall is the largest, and it is where most visitors turn back and head down to the bottom again. Looking up from this 120 meter waterfall, we debated if we really wanted to make the climb to see the other two falls further upstream. Eventually, our sense of adventure won out, and we slowly weaved up the mountain to see the others. At the top, the view of the valley below was absolutely stunning, and it made my trembling legs and winded lungs worthwhile. On the way back down, Henry decided to take a shortcut and zipline back down the 600 meter zipline course. Brian and I were excited for him, but neither of us wanted any part of it. I’m terrified of heights, and I don’t know where Henry gets his courage for things like this!

When we left the falls, we decided to drive into Tuxtla-Guttierez and see what there was to do there. We found a room at a hotel for $35 a night, and it sounded too good to be true. We booked it for one night fully expecting to move on the next day. Turns out, this hotel was a little gem. For the price of our room, we had a nice room, a full freshly-cooked breakfast, and free admission to their water park. We decided to check out the water park, and we had the place almost to ourselves. At one point, I think we counted up about 20 different faces we’d seen throughout the day, but more often than not, we were the only people in sight. There were 8 pools with various slides, diving boards, and such, and we had a ball. As we’d move from one area to another, the workers would come with us to turn on the equipment for us. We ended up staying here a second night, and if it wasn’t for having to return the rental car, we might have stayed another.

Oh, and the best part about Tuxtla Gutteriez was a mall we found. During our 22-hour bus ride, we’d seen a KFC and a Pizza Hut in the town, and we decided we wanted to have some American food for dinner. The closest Pizza Hut to us when we drove into town was in a Pan American shopping mall. We ended up eating dinner here twice, and we were really excited to have our favorites from Pizza Hut, KFC, and Dairy Queen all in one place!

Yesterday, Thursday, we left Tuxtla-Gutteriez and returned the rental car in San Cristobal de las Cases. We’d talked about extending the rental car for the next leg of our trip, but when the rental agency didn’t have a car available for us, we took it as a sign that it was time for us to get back to buses again. We hung out in a courtyard lounge of a hotel for the bulk of the day letting Henry catch up with his schooling, and at 10 pm last night, we boarded our next bus bound for Puerto Escondido.

Now, here we are on the road again, and we are still really excited to see where this road goes.