This weekend we ventured to Los Lagos de Colón, a national park hidden beauty (to tourists). We happened to arrive on one of the busier weekends, stumbling upon what appeared to be a religious gathering, but that didn’t stop us from finding a calm piece of water away from the crowds. Sinead had the inside scoop on which part of the park to stake out and we rented a room on the water for less than $13! One of the first hurricanes of the season foiled our plans to camp, but honestly, sleeping on those beds was pretty much like sleeping on the ground, so I didn’t feel too jipped of the experience haha.

The trip from San Cristobal to paradise consists of a ~2 hr bus ride to Comitan, a ~1 hr bus ride to the outskirts of the lagos, and a ~15 min taxi ride to the entrance of the national park, which puts us basically on the Guatemalan border. The park actually consists of 44 interconnected lakes, a couple of rivers, and a waterfall.

No longer in the mountains and sweating, we quickly changed into our swimsuits and took a dip in the clear water tinted shades of bright green and blue. The sun stayed high in the sky all afternoon despite what our weather apps told us and we eventually made our way to the park’s waterfall. Mineral deposits of the hard water had created both small and large pools to hang out in and simultaneously soak up the sun. Children and adults slid down smooth rocks, moving from pool to pool semi-graciously. I opted for the awkward crab crawl technique to combat the slippery rocks and only fell like once, so I’ll count that as a win in my book. While exploring a small cave with professions of love etched into the walls, we stumbled upon another cave only accessible by almost full submersion in the water. That cave had a sort of magical quality that’s hard to describe, pretty much secluded from the outside world with perfectly smooth walls that implied few had entered. I wish I had pictures of it 🙁

We built a fire as the skies grew cloudy and heated tortillas, beans, and half a chicken we bought in the nearby town for dinner. Thankfully the fire pit was covered because it allowed us to still roast our marshmallows when it began to pour. Stuffed, we sat down and played cards for what seemed like hours and then took a break to roast more marshmallows. After more cards and more marshmallows, we called it a night.

The next morning we ventured out to the archeological site located in the park, which was pretty jaw dropping since I’ve never seen pyramids in person. It was a small site, so you could probably make the rounds in about half an hour, but that was nice because you got the experience without having to wander around for a better part of the day lol. Climbing the steps of the tallest pyramid was a bit nerve-wracking given that the width of the steps were probably about half my foot size, so I felt in danger of tripping the entire way up. Reaching the top, we sat down and started a card game, but were whistled at by the site guards to stop soon after. Sinead explained the cultural stigma behind playing cards and its associations with gambling and drinking, but it was kinda annoying nonetheless because we weren’t really doing anything wrong.

We left around 3:30 to make the trek back to San Cristobal, which was a little bit more difficult than the trip out mainly because it’s hard to find a bus that can fit 4 people. We eventually arrived back around 7:30 pm and unanimously selected a restaurant for the ramen (probs best ramen I’ve ever had tbh). Before we knew it, it was already approaching 9:30 pm and we’d devoured our meals, 3 desserts, and played more than a few card games all while filling the restaurant with slightly obnoxious laughter. Time flies when you’re having fun as they say.