While in San Cristobal de las Casas, we spent a few days relaxing and exploring the small city. Since we were located in the middle of the Chiapas region, known as the Mexican highlands, we wanted to take advantage of the location to do a day tour out into the countryside. After researching our options, we decided upon a tour of the Canon del Sumidero and neighboring town of Chiapa de Corzo. We walked into the first tour agency that we saw along the pedestrian street and booked our tour.

The morning of our tour, we were ready by 8:50am, waiting out in front of our hotel. The tour company said that the bus would pick us up between 9:00am and 9:30am, so we wanted to make sure we were ready. Our lovely hostess at the hotel ran outside shortly after 9:00am to tell us that the tour company called and would be there shortly to pick us up. The bus had backed onto our street, since it was a dead end, and we selected two seats behind the driver. We drove around the city to pick up six other tourists and then drove about an hour into the countryside toward the canyon.

The view from our van in the Chiapas region – we were so high up that the clouds covered the tops of the mountains!

We arrived at the river that flows through the canyon and put on life vests before boarding our small boat. There was one seat on each side of the aisle, with the boat holding about 15 passengers. After we were all seated, the captain took off and we started gliding down the river. The boat went much faster than I had expected, which provided a nice breeze to beat the heat. Occasionally, the captain would slow or stop the boat to point out an animal or geographic feature within the canyon. Since this was all in Spanish, we were lucky that there was a girl a few seats away who translated into English for her friends; we eavesdropped so that we could understand what we were looking at.

Lana with a view of the canyon in the background.

Jon enjoyed his time on the boat!

On the tour, not only did we see towering rock formations on either side of us within the canyon, but also saw a variety of other landscapes and wildlife. There were a handful of waterfalls that ranged from about 200 feet tall to a small trickle of only a few feet. Caves and other interesting rock formations popped up as we navigated our way down the river. At one point, the boat captain and a few passengers saw a monkey, but we weren’t able to make it out from our position on the river. We did see two crocodiles, both of which were sunning themselves on the shore with their mouths open. The captain steered close to one of the crocodile, and when the crocodile decided to get into the water for a swim, the captain quickly turned the boat around and started the engine again!

This was one of the crocodiles that we saw on our boat tour!

This was just one of the waterfalls that we saw along our tour – and this was probably the tallest!

At the midpoint of the boat ride, we stopped near a dam and another boat tied onto us to sell snacks and drinks. After this, we turned around and sped back to the starting point. The boat ride allowed us to see the canyon from the water down below, looking up at the rock walls and seeing the animals and nature that made their home along the banks.

A view of the canyon from the boat.

Once we were finished with the boat tour, we drove to Chiapa de Corzo, the city located at the base of the canyon. We had a couple of hours to eat lunch and tour the town. Our lunch was at the restaurant recommended by the tour company, since we were hungry and didn’t feel like walking all over to find somewhere to eat. It was still a good lunch and we were very pleased with our meal! We each received a soup to start, something like a vegetable puree with corn kernels. It was nice to have a bit of vegetable since they had been surprisingly sparse in Mexico! For our main dishes, we each chose something off the local specialty menu. I selected cochito – a pork dish that came with rice and beans. Jon ate a chile rellano, also accompanied by rice and beans. Our waiter was very friendly, talking to us all in Spanish and being patient with my elementary responses!

Lunch at the restaurant in Chiapa de Corzo – we both tried a local specialty and liked them!

We had about an hour to walk around and explore the town after we finished eating. We saw the main market, which had flower stalls situated around the perimeter. The main attraction in the city square was La Pila Fountain, but there was no water flowing while we were there. It was a hot day out, so we eventually found a small coffee shop where we ordered an iced coffee and frozen yogurt to help cool us off. Then, it was time for our bus ride, through the hilly, winding roads back to San Cristobal de las Casas. We had a great time on the tour and are glad we were able to get outside of the city to see a small bit of the countryside; it’s a beautiful region and we would have liked a few more days to explore even more!

This is La Pila Fountain in the center of Chiapa de Corzo.