Feeling small at Sumidero Canyon :O (Day 159 of the world trip)

10.02.2020

The second night was also rather short :p Jonas has been awake since 2:00 a.m. and I since 4:00 a.m. but oh well. It will be fine ;-)

So we had more than enough time for breakfast and packing :D :D

At 8:20 a.m. we went to our meeting point, where we would be picked up for the tour. We booked the tour through Sergio, even though he wanted 490 pesos and the tour can be obtained in the city for 300 pesos. In return, the pick-up should be included and there would be an insurance.

This "insurance" is maybe more of a nice contribution but we were too tired yesterday to look for an agency in the city :D Yesterday evening Sergio sent a WhatsApp message that the pick-up would not take place at the hostel but that we should go to a café in the city.

But of course that was completely okay for us and we were a bit early - but we weren't the only ones^^

Several other tourists were also waiting in front of the café and when the van arrived, we realized that almost all of them had also booked with the same provider - but for 320 pesos. Well. That was the "punishment" for our laziness^^

Our tour guide Ramos only spoke Spanish and Jonas and I tried to understand as much as possible. That wasn't much in total but it was enough for the basics. Otherwise, we just imitated the others who apparently all spoke Spanish :D

The goal of our tour was the Sumidero Canyon, through which a river flows and on which you can take a boat ride :)

At first Jonas was worried that it would be a tourist trap and was briefly reminded of Loboc :p But after we all packed ourselves in life jackets and got on the boat, it became clear that it wouldn't be that boring ;-)

Our boat driver German sometimes gave the small motorboat good speed and the breeze we received felt really good. Unlike "up" in San Cristobal, where it was only 4°C in the morning, it was already cozy 30°C "down" at the canyon, which according to the weather report should go up to 37°C. I don't know if that happened, but whenever the boat stopped, it quickly got quite hot :p

Every now and then we stopped so that German could show us something; we saw monkeys, various birds (including vultures) and even got up close to a crocodile at a distance of about 1 meter :O

But the actual highlight of the tour was the scenery itself. These tall rocks, most of which are covered in vegetation, are just so impressive!! Due to the constant moisture, there are stalactites on some of them, and there are also grottoes or a dry waterfall or a small "church" ^^

We have seen rocks and gorges several times during our trip, especially in Laos, but this canyon was just on a completely different scale! The walls are super high - at the highest point they even reach 1,000 meters.

When you look at a 1 kilometer high wall in front of you, you feel really small ;-)

We reached the halfway point of the tour at a dam. If we understood correctly, this dam supplies electricity to so many Mexicans that the other tour members exclaimed "oh" at the number German mentioned, so there were probably a lot^^

The return journey was much faster, as we only made one stop, and then the boat tour was already over :(

But already there we thought that the tour was worth it in our opinion. You don't find a canyon like this everywhere, and then to go through it on a boat sounds maybe boring at first, but it was really great <3

After the boat tour, we went back to the tour van and drove to the viewpoints. These are viewpoints where you stand at the top of the canyon and look down at the river :O There are a total of 5 viewpoints and we visited three of them, with the second viewpoint we visited definitely being the best!

All three platforms were good for photos, but at the second one, you stood at the point where the rock is 1,000 meters high and you could see really far and well. Simply very very special!

I can't describe it in words, but I hope the pictures speak for themselves :p

At the end of the tour, we went to the village of Chiapa del Corzo, where we only had 30 minutes, which was not enough time to explore the place properly. We stayed at the market square and then bought ice cream at the supermarket to enjoy it on a bench in the shade :D

We were back in San Cristobal around 4:00 p.m. Jonas was really tired again from jet lag, but we still had a few things to do: book tours for tomorrow and Thursday, pick up laundry, buy fruit, buy bread. Such a "shopping tour" is really fun^^

By the way, I spoke in broken Spanish at the tour operator, but the employee also spoke a little English, so we could sort everything out :D

We had dinner at the same café/restaurant as yesterday. The owner asked us which country we were from and she was happy because she knew Cologne!^^ The food was great again and we also treated ourselves to a delicious dessert <33

Back at our accommodation, we just took a shower and planned the onward journey on Thursday, but it's already 8:00 p.m. for that :p

The tour starts at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, so we can sleep relaxed again - hopefully until more than 3:00 a.m. ;-)