Our new highest waterfall ^^ (Day 160 of the world trip)

11.02.2020

It's slowly getting there :D Woke up at 4:00 am, got up around 5:00 am. After we finished the blog again, we had breakfast and at 8:00 am we waited at the door for our pick-up :)

At around 8:30 am, the van arrived and we found a couple with a child who had already been on the canyon tour yesterday^^ There was also a British woman with her son and three more Mexicans. So the van wasn't completely full and the ride was nice and comfortable because you could use a seat as a storage area :p :D :D

Our first stop on the long day tour would be the El Chiflon waterfalls <3

But first, we drove through the landscape of the state of Chiapas for about 2.5 hours. We had already seen a few days ago when we arrived, that it doesn't look typically Mexican here^^ It's not just dry desert and cacti (we are especially waiting for the cacti! :D :D).

In this state, there is (probably thanks to the great river?) a lot of water and therefore the landscape is very green! There is agriculture, green forests, and if you are a little higher up, you could also imagine you were somewhere in Austria or something :p

Jonas and I really liked this landscape! There are cornfields and especially a lot of sugarcane in the valley, which is apparently currently harvest time :)

With the great view, the boredom on the drive was limited and we finally arrived at the entrance of the waterfall at around 10:50 am.

As expected on a booked tour, there was unfortunately a tight schedule^^A guide led us 1.5 kilometers up to the highest lookout platform and on the way back, we had about 20 minutes of "free time" to go swimming but hey. We knew what we were getting into if we didn't do it on our own ;-)

And, it was definitely enough for great photos^^ Most of the way was in the shade, so the effort on the ascent was limited. But a few Mexicans had a hard time and the mother of the Mexican family in our group couldn't make it all the way to the top either...

It has to be said that obesity is already omnipresent here. You rarely see a Mexican who is not overweight :O It's quite noticeable and, well, it explains why the steps are an obstacle ;-)

The main waterfall is about 120 meters high :O (and we were already impressed with 30 meters in the Philippines... - :D :D). Then there are several small falls, which are also quite pretty and you just walk past them to get to the top.

When we reached the highest platform, you could admire this type of size particularly well. Of course, we took photos, but we also took a moment to simply watch the water as it plunged from the top to the depths. Wow!!

After everyone had taken enough photos, we went back to the entrance, where we were allowed to stop at a spot where you can swim. The English mother and her son, as well as Jonas and I, took advantage of this.

Well, I only went into the water up to my knees because it was sooo cold!! :D :D Since we only had fifteen minutes, I didn't want to fully immerse myself in the water because I would never dry off quickly enough, but Jonas didn't miss out on the fun^^

He swam a little in the really cold water and then climbed on a fallen tree trunk. That's Jonas for you <3 ;-)

At some point, the guide notified us that we had to go back to the van. Before that, Jonas and I had our brought sandwiches with jam and honey as lunch because neither of us wanted to eat inside the van :p

That was because of all the speed bumps, for which the van braked from full speed and then carefully drove over, just to then speed up again... :D And on some stretches, there were honestly speed bumps about every 50 or 100 meters. It was insane!!

Sure, it might prevent speeding, but it also makes the ride on this route super annoying :p

From the waterfalls, we drove for another two hours until we reached our second destination: the Lagos de Montebello. These are several large lakes that are really beautiful :)

If we could have, Jonas and I would have booked a tour just for the waterfalls because with the lakes, you end up sitting in the van for a very very long time, but okay - we have to admit that the lakes were beautiful and it was worth seeing them somehow ;-)

At the first lake where we stopped, there was a small island in the middle where you could row with a wooden raft^^ None of our group wanted to do that - Jonas would have been interested if he could have rowed himself :p

Instead, we enjoyed the view of the lake surrounded by dense forest, and as we briefly exchanged ideas, we both got the impression that you could even be somewhere in Canada :O :D

Neither of us had ever been to Canada, but that's how we imagine it^^

At this stop, there was also the opportunity for lunch. We hesitated at first because we still had a banana, but I eventually got really hangry (wow, these anglicisms :D Hangry = hungry and angry, meaning you are angry because you are hungry ;-) ), and so Jonas took pity on me and sat down with me at one of the stalls :D :D

Then I ordered a portion of rice, beans, and salad, which came with tacos. Actually, these stalls advertise with their meat, but when I didn't want that or the cheese option, the lady not only looked confused but also really unfriendly -.-

They made fun of me (my Spanish is very limited, but I understood that part^^) and even told the neighbors about this absurd order :D

Well. In general, Jonas and I have the impression that the Mexicans are not particularly friendly (towards foreigners)... There were a few exceptions, but in general, the people are not very enthusiastic or interested in tourists. When we try to arrange something in Spanish (for example, ordering vegetarian lunch on the first day), people seem rather annoyed. They probably expect perfect, fluent Spanish, but unfortunately, we can't offer that :D :D

After lunch and the first lake, we made a pretty unnecessary stop at a second lake (it looked like a reservoir and was much less beautiful than the first one, so tactically unwise to visit it as the second^^), and then we finally went to the last viewpoint, where you can see several lakes at once.

These were really great again, and especially the last one, where we had put the camera in the car and didn't take any more photos, was super super beautiful <33

Colorful flowers grew on the edge of the viewpoint, and the lakes looked as if they were incredibly deep. It was already a super idyllic image, and if we understood correctly, we could even see the border to Guatemala.

At around 4:00 pm, we finally started our way back. This time we took the main road, which had significantly fewer speed bumps. Yay! :D

I also found it interesting that we passed through a migration control four or five times. The Mexicans don't want to let anyone in (that's what you often hear at least. I don't have any evidence ;-) ). It's not uncommon to have such checkpoints near the border, but what surprised me was that our van was never checked.

If I wanted to secretly bring someone into the country, I would put them in a van with tinted windows, wouldn't I?? But okay. They know what they're doing, I guess :p

At around 7:30 pm, we finally arrived back in San Cristobal after an 11-hour tour. Hungry and especially exhausted, we looked for a cafe/restaurant that we liked. Our Korean lady was still open, but we wanted to try something different (even though it was always delicious and quite inexpensive there) and ended up in Leo's Cafe.

They have vegetarian and vegan dishes there, but they were a whole lot more expensive. But that didn't matter. Leo himself was really likable. He has certificates of his language skills on the wall and speaks a lot of languages, although he actually "only" teaches Spanish. English is his second language, and he also speaks Portuguese, French, and German! :D :D

The atmosphere in the cafe was pretty cool, and the food was really delicious :) After we entered, Leo closed the door. He usually closes at 8:00 pm, but we were lucky^^

Finally, when we returned to the accommodation shortly before nine, we went straight to bed and fell into a deep sleep :p :D :D

The tour was long, and if you want to fully enjoy it, you should probably look for accommodation near the lakes for a few days, as you can also go hiking there. But for us, it was completely okay (and all this for only €15 ! :O) and we are happy to have seen this part of Mexico!!