13 October 2006 19:51
I don’t know what’s with me and boats, but a week later I found myself in another one.Tuxtla Gutiérrez is the capitol city of the state of Chiapas at the very south end of Mexico (map). One of its local tourist attractions is the Sumidero Canyon located just northeast of town. In a rather fantastic display of gravity-defying skill, the Rio Grijalva plunges (okay, drifts) north into the mountain range running east/west above Tuxtla Gutierrez (3D google map here). Eventually it comes out the north side and wanders its way across the flat to Villahermosa and on into the Campeche Bay (ie, Gulf of Mexico). It's the part where it cuts through the moutains that's the interesting bit. Our guide told us that the deepest part of the canyon was 1000 metres (3300'). Rather impressive, to be sitting on a boat on a river looking up a sheer canyon face to a mountain peak (or half of it anyway) 3300 feet above you.
Javier is a retired taxi driver who works for my company part time. He ferries the pilots to and fro from the airport and runs the occasional errand. Today he was my companion (and driver) for a 2.5 hour boat tour of the Cañon del Sumidero.
Our tour destination on land was the historical town (used to be the capitol of Chiapas) of Chiapa de Corzo. Upon reaching the town square, we were accosted by a man waving a picture of the canyon entrance and volubly offering us tour information. After some rapid-fire exchange with Javier he motioned to a young boy on a bicycle, whom we followed through the narrow residential streets to the waterfront. A boat was already mostly loaded, so we did not have a long wait to leave the dock. From there it was full throttle down river, with stopping points every five minutes or so for our pilot/guide to point out something or another of interest. Just like my last boat ride, crocodiles figured prominently. Just like my last boat ride, I wasn't real impressed. Unlike my last boat ride, I had pretty decent light to take pictures by.
Ah yes, my pictures here. And here's another guy with pictures.
After the boat tour Javier and I spent some time walking around Chiapa de Corzo, looking in the shops and asking a few prices but never getting around to buying anything. Actually, our first and primary and must urgent objective was food. I had no clue what I was up too, but Javier didn't seem too interested in taking the lead (actually, it was probably a difficult social situation for him as I'm technically his employer). We wandered into one resturant on the corner of the square. Javier paused in the entrance and I sailed ten feet into the interior before I noticed. He asked the host a few questions, then he motioned me out and we left. Turns out the place was "too sad". There were no other patrons, and more importantly, no live music. Alright. The place we eventually wound up eating at was down on the waterfront. Not only did our resturante have a drum set and a xylophone going live, the resturant next door also had the same set up. This gave us stereo...unfortunately they were playing different pieces. While they were playing it was utterly impossible to carry on conversation. Whatever floats one's boat.
Full, poorer, sunburned, and with a camera full of pictures we headeded home. Next up? The zoo.
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