After a long bus ride including some sleep, we made it to Tuxtla, dropped our luggage in our hostel, and went out for a coffee. Tuxtla offers next to a typical small Zócalo also a huge main square which reminds one more about a minimalistic central square of a European city. Also, what was evident is the number of children walking around the town with toolboxes filled with shoe cleaning utensils, sweets, candies, or anything else to make money with. Unfortunately, I can not tell why this was so present in Tuxtla.
The main thing to do or why even stop in Tuxtla is the shorter distance to Cañón del Sumidero which is building up on the shores of Rio Grijalva. The canyon is an impressive part of the nature and forest environment around Chiapas. To reach it, we took a collectivo from Avenua 2a Surte to Chiapa de Corzo from where you can find multiple offerers of boat trips through the canyon. During the drive, we saw crocodiles, multiple different birds, and especially the cliffs with a maximum height of 1000 meters. In addition, we drove in the end to the Chicorsen Dam which is >250 meters high and very important for the electricity in México. It was impressive to see and a nice half-day trip, but in my opinion no 100% Must-Do.
Back in Tuxtla, Sam went back to work while I went to my first Fonda in México. Fondas are authentic local kitchens often operated by a family or even the chef serving you himself. In La Fonda del Recuerdo I got a menu (which is typical) including a carrot soup (zanahoria), baked loin in rose leaf creme, and a Citron and tequila ice cream as dessert/postre for $80/3,50€. The food was very tasty, especially the meat, the service outstanding and very helpful, and the location highly authentic. At the six tables in the small restaurants, I found myself only with a group of Mexican seniors and three single locals during their lunch break. So overall an experience you shouldn't miss, which will make it probably to my TOP5 places to eat during this travel.
In the afternoon, we had a Carajillo on the rooftop of my hostel followed by some beers with other travelers from around the world, beyond others a mid-aged American who shared all his motivation and ambition, resulting in his 20+ small companies in different fields, up to selling drawings of his daughter as t-shirt designs. Most important takeaway: The biggest value every one of us owns are his ideas. So if you have ideas, convert them into a passion or business, before someone else does. On the next day, we went for a taco breakfast at a local place and visited Jardín Botánico Faustino Miranda to enjoy a lovely 30 minutes walk through it and see apart from Cactus and Palm trees also beyond other Mango and Cacao trees. Before Samantha left me, we stopped at a coffee place where I got a Tascalate which is a chocolate drink made from a mixture of roasted maize, chocolate, ground pine nuts, achiote, vanilla, and, sugar and is very common in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Before leaving for San Cristobal de las Casas, I went to Bizarro Barbería to get a haircut and 'obviously' a tequila for $100/4€ and had some super tasty Gorditas at Tacos y Gorditas Morelia, which is a tiny indoor place with a huge cooking table basically in the middle of the room where well-filled Gorditas are made in front of your eyes while you can watch the business of workers streaming in for lunch, craving for their strengthening for the second half of the workday.
San Cristóbal is known for its green touch, the vast amount of nature it is based on, and its cute, colorful and calm town. Still, it is also known for many possibilities to get sick. Salmonella, parasites, and a water system that requires disinfection of your hands after 'washing' to mention the most prominent ones are drivers for the rumors of 50-80% of travelers getting sick when visiting. This is the main reason why Samantha liked to skip that city and flew directly to Cancún/Tulum. I was aware of this risk and still not wanted to miss one of the highlights in Mexico, which is why I was even more curious about what is waiting for me. After a collectivo ride to Santa Fe Bus station and a following another collectivo ride, I arrived and checked into Puerto Viejo Hostel which was the only hostel I booked a couple of days upfront because it is so popular (Review: "Hands-down, this is the most social hostel in México") and cheap (8€ per night, including free breakfast, free diner, free language, and salsa courses, and free drinks/cocktails every second evening). The experience started with a hostal tour from Anna, a volunteer from Munich, followed by the free dinner and afterwards cocktail happy hour at the bonfire with live music. It was already obvious that many people (~50) met in the backyard at the several tables, around the bonfire, at the bar, or the table soccer, it was very easy to get to know them and offered especially with the private(!) live music a great atmosphere. I especially point the private out, because many hostels have public bars attached, which offer music, but you get mixed up with strangers instead of only being in your hostel group like in Puerto Viaje. At the bar, I bumped into Pia, another girl from Munich who directly invited me for their waterfall tour the next morning. Without knowing what she was talking about, I accepted.
After a good night of meeting people at the hostel and later at Revolución, we started the next morning to the collectivo station. That was the time when I realized and was told, that we'll have to do a 3h one-way drive with two collectivos to reach the waterfalls. I was a bit surprised but ready to go. We had to go to Comitán and then to Chiflons. Arrived there we followed the river up the mountain to pass the four waterfalls, which were all special in their own way. One really big one and two ones with big pools below filled with the impressive blue water of this place. The whole place was just wonderful and all the next waterfalls need to cope with Chiflons now. Only a few people were there and especially while bathing in the river this was really comfy. After around 3h there we took the collectivos back and enjoyed dinner and the karaoke party this day in the hostel.
On the next day, the morning was used for a free walking tour, during which we were educated about the recent earthquakes, the Zapatista movement, and the addiction of San Cristóbal to Coca-Cola because of the bad water conditions (2l Coke per day pP).
Afterwards, we went to a Jazz Festival which was happening this weekend in a nearby forest. They offered a huge jazz stage, a smaller EDM stage in the woods, many workshops, and possibilities to try things like parkour, juggling, or slacklines. We enjoyed our time there a lot and learned about Copal, which is tree resin used all around Mexico to burn on caracol and be used as a scent. We stayed until 10 pm and went then back by collectivo, where I got the best seat - the floor - no joke, I like to sit there in cars and buses for short time.
On the last day in there was again a total other impression of the region waiting for us, with the visit of Chamula, a town 45 min in the north, well known for only one church. This church is known for the special rituals of the Tzotanil, an indigenous group following the Maya, which is mainly representing the inhabitants of the town. The church holds no chairs or benches. The floor is covered in brushwood and lots of wax from the burned candles of their rituals. During the latter, people are sitting on the ground, putting dozens of candles on the stone floor mumbling their prayers. If there is a shaman, he is drinking posh (alcoholic Agave drink) and Coke to burp his 'prayers' and send daemons to chickens they bring with them. Afterwards, the chickens will be killed and sacrificed. To secure those people during their rituals there is a strict phone and camera ban in the church. People tell stories about smashed phones after taking pictures, so please don't. This is also a reason why there are no pictures of this church on Google and you'll arrive without any expectations. This made the time in their so special. Walking in, hearing the mumbling of the people, and seeing the really warm picture of thousands of candles around the main room and everywhere on the ground is very very impressive and especially in comparison to most quite 'cold' churches just different. That is why we just sat down and enjoyed the atmosphere for nearly an hour. Afterwards, we kinda quickly left again because there is nothing else to see, but definitely worth a visit. In the afternoon I went to La Charcu a small restaurant with a cute terrace overlooking the whole town, perfect for sunsets. Joachim a guy I met with his girlfriend Sanne in my hostel was playing a small gig with his Melodica joining the hostel owner and his guitar. Feel free to follow him on Instagram or check his website. This was a really relaxed evening with great music and a kinda private concert, in the end, watching the sunset and enjoying food.
At least we enjoyed the food at this time. In the night sickness and diarrhea hit me (and Joachim) and I got really weak and did not sleep that night. In the morning I was not even able to walk anymore and tried to recover some hours with Electrolita (an electrolyte drink which is really tasty and common in Mexico), dry cookies, and bananas, since I had my flight in the afternoon. For hours I was sure that I have to cancel my flight and fly days later to Mérida, because I was so weak but won't go into more detail regarding my constitution at this time - not so yummy. In the end, I gave it a chance to drive the 1,5h to the airport and see how I'll be. In the end, all went fine and I was able to take my flight and was able to make my way to my hostel in Mérida. I decided to fly at this point, even though I did not plan to use airplanes a lot, because the way from San Cristóbal to Palenque and from there further is each more than ten hours. That is why I decided to skip Palenque (a highly recommended town with temple ruins in the jungle) and save 3-4 travel days instead. Additionally, the flight was the same price as the buses at around 80€.
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