Mexico Part 2: Chiapas and Laguna Bacalar

After having spent the first two weeks of my trip in Quintana Roo, I was excited to get to know another Mexican state that I’d heard of a lot: Chiapas. My first stop was Palenque. It was a 12 hours bus ride from to Tulum to Palenque town and there were only night buses available. Even though I’d already been on many night buses in South America, this was the first time I was alone, so I was a bit nervous. However, it turned out that there was no reason for that, the bus was one of the nicest I’ve ever seen and I even had two seats for myself. So I even got some sleep and when I woke up the next morning I was already in Palenque.

I’d booked a cabaña in El Panchan, which is a little town between Palenque town and the Mayan ruins. Well, to be honest it’s not really a town, it’s just a few cabañas and two restaurants in the middle of the jungle. No Wifi, no windows (just mosquito nets), no cars. I really loved that place and enjoyed falling asleep hearing all the chirping and howling at night. I actually also ate one of the best Pizzas I’ve ever had in one of the two restaurants. It was so good that I ate Pizza two days in a row. It was a nice change after all those Tacos. I spent my first day in Palenque exploring the beautiful Roberto Barrios waterfalls, which are about a 45 min drive from Palenque. On the second day I visited the famous Palenque ruins. I’d actually planned to just check them out by myself, but then one of the many guides waiting in front of the gates convinced me to hire him. With a little bit of bargaining I got a pretty good deal (at least that’s what I think since it was about ¼ of the price he initially asked for). I definitely didn’t regret it, since the guy really knew a lot of interesting facts about the ruins and the Mayan culture. The ruins were pretty impressive, huge and surrounded by the jungle, which gave them a mystic atmosphere. My guide also showed me the parts of the ruins that are still completely covered by vegetation. If not for a few barely visible pieces of wall you could never have guessed what’s under those jungle hills. No clue how people even managed to find this place!

After two days in Palenque I headed on to San Cristobal de las Casas. Since the direct way is impassable due to a roadblock it took another 10 hours bus ride to get there. But it was definitely worth it. San Cristobal is a beautiful colonial town in the highlands of Chiapas with houses painted in all colors, cute cobblestone streets and lots of artsy shops and restaurants. The climate here was completely different. It was super cold at night (at least in the end it was worth bringing my bulky down sleeping bag with me) and it rained almost every afternoon. But I liked the town and my hostel so much that I still stayed for almost a week and I could have easily stayed even longer. There was tons of stuff to do and I spent a lot of time just wandering around the streets, exploring the town, trying all kinds of food and drinking lots of hot chocolate. I took a tour to the Lagunas to Montebello and the Cañon del Sumidero which were both incredibly beautiful. But my highlight of San Cristobal was unexpected: I spent two amazing days rock climbing. I went with Martin and Sofia from Vertigo rock climbing, who are trying to establish rock climbing in the region. It was fun to do such a familiar thing at such a different place and the climbing spots were just amazing.

I enjoyed it so much that I really didn’t want to leave. But unfortunately, I had to move on at one point. My next stop was the Laguna Bacalar, close to the Belizean boarder, which meant a 16 hours bus ride back to Quintana Roo. The 16 hours turned out to be 20, but again the bus was super comfortable, so it didn’t really matter. The Laguna Bacalar is known as the Lagoon of 7 Colors and is famous for its crystal-clear water. It looks like you’re on some Caribbean island but it’s actually freshwater. After all the action in San Cristobal I enjoyed a few quiet days kayaking, swimming and mainly just lying in a hammock, admiring the lagoon and reading my book. A perfect end for my 3 weeks Mexico, since tomorrow I’m moving on to Belize. Mexico really surprised me. It’s much more diverse than I thought, there’s so many beautiful places, people were super friendly and the Mexican food really is one of the best in the world. And now imagine that I’ve only seen a tiny fraction of this huge country. I will definitely come back to explore the rest of it. But that’s for another trip. Now I’m looking forward to exploring Belize.