Canon Del Sumidero

Canon Del Sumidero

Canon Del Sumidero

23/12/2018

Highlights

At each stop I reached down and put my hand in the cool river, until we reached the crocodile stop. Kenzo said “Mum don’t put your hand in the water.”

It was so hot I took my jacket off and left it on the empty seat at the back of the boat. At one point it blew away and Ajay caught it. Later I used my jacket to keep the sun off Lui, and shield him from the breeze, as he slept. It was about twenty minutes later that Ajay said Oh no, we lost mum’s jacket. I hadn’t heard him because of the noise of the engine. Carmelo smirked because he had passed me the jacket but said nothing to his dad 🙂

Watching eagles soar above, cranes and herons perch on the waterside, ducks floating on the water and other birds flying low beside us as the boat vvvvvd along.

The height of the cliffs were magnificent. 

Getting underneath the waterfall and seeing all the pretty foliage and flowers.

Lowlights

There were bays along the trip where a lot of rubbish had accumulated in the water. It gets quite disturbing. The locals try to clean it up regularly but it washes down from villages further up the long river.

Having to carry your jacket because it’s cold in the mountains and then super hot when you come down to sea level where the canyon is.

The Canyon

The walls of this canyon at it’s highest point is 1000 metres and has the Grijalva River running through it. On a morbid note, in the 1534 when the Spaniards invaded this area many locals preferred suicide from Tepetchia rock rather than be enslaved by the Spanish. 

We took a two hour boat ride through it that began by a bridge and ended by the hydro dam Manuel Moreno Torres. It has been designated an internationally recognised wetland site for the protection of it’s birds and other wildlife.

The Chiapas flag features the canyon at it’s highest point. 

The Birds and Reptiles

We didn’t see the monkeys or jaguars that live in the jungle surrounding this canyon but we did see iguanas and crocodiles. There were plenty of pelicans, herons, ducks and plenty of other birds that made the canyon more enchanting.

The Flora and Fauna

The canyon has a humid climate that supports lots of orchids, bromeliads, ferns, mangroves and more. There’s also a famous Christmas Tree which is a waterfall that has created mossy ledges that extend out like the branches of a Christmas Tree.

Rural Mexico has a lot of old Volkswagen Beetles

Vehicles in San Cristobal

Vehicles in San Cristobal

08/12/2018

Police Vehicles

We have seen many police Utes, police motorbikes and police cars. They are the same as what we saw in Isla Mujeres and Cancun. But one thing we have seen here in San Cristobal are police bicycles. The streets can be very narrow and there are three main pedestrian streets where it is much easier for police to patrol using a bike rather than a motorised vehicle. And we did see one pink police car.

 Rescue Vehicles

The ambulances seem to vary in colour and we have not yet seen a fire truck.

Trucks

When there is a festival, people decorate their trucks. For the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe there were many big and small trucks that had Her picture with flowers on the sides, front and back of the truck. 

There are many armoured trucks manned by men carrying guns.

We also saw their rubbish trucks which do not have automatic bin emptiers, they need people to empty the bins into them.

Tourist Buses

There are lots of different tourist buses here in San Cristobal because there are lots of tourists here  🙂

Motorbikes

Many people use motorbikes to travel. Here are some of the interesting varieties we saw. 

Volkswagon Beetle

In New Zealand it’s more commonly known as the VDub but here it’s a common form of transport. There used to be a VW plant that produced the beetle so there are many still floating around.

Other Vehicles

We don’t see many construction vehicles here. A lot of construction sites have people doing the labour instead of engines. We have seen a few floats as part of a parade though.