It’s Irene again! I’m so excited to tell you all about our weekend. This weekend, we decided to go on some tours to dive into the natural beauty of Chiapas.

On Saturday, we took a bus tour to Cascadas de El Chiflón, a chain of five waterfalls. We headed off on a 2 and a half hour drive to the waterfalls at around 8 am. The ride there was so beautiful, especially with the morning sun, shining through the trees. We drove past numerous towns and homes, finally arriving at the entrance to the El Chiflón Waterfalls Ecotourism Center.

Once we got there, we began our walk up the steps to the waterfalls. There,

every 5-10 min, we always got to a new waterfall. I have to say, though, that I was very tired walking up those steps; I am definitely not as fit as I was before coming to college! However, the waterfalls and the water were absolutely stunning. I have never seen such beautiful, blue-green colored water, and the water was so clean; I could see all the rocks and sand through the water. We stopped at each small waterfall, taking in the sound of the water and the birds. It was so peaceful. I don’t know about the others, but I have to say these stops allowed me to self-reflect on our trip so far.

As we walked further up, the waterfalls got taller and taller, and all the more awe-inspiring. As they grew more magnanimous, we felt the water spray on our faces from the waterfalls.  It felt so cool and refreshing, especially as it was very hot and humid at the waterfalls.

Also, this was my first time ZIPLINING! The park had two zipline courses for people: one over the water and one over the trees. Nikhita, Alejandro, and I chose to zipline the course that went over the water. I was surprised because instead of feeling nervous, I felt so excited and ready. Thankfully, Alejandro was there to translate the instructions (as he has been doing throughout our whole trip; thank you Alejandro!), regarding which hand goes where and how to brake. After pushing off from the starting point, it was so much fun; the breeze felt so nice and the view was amazing! It ended so quickly; we all wished we could go on more zipline courses.

Afterwards, we walked back down to the entrance and waited for our tour bus to arrive. Meanwhile, we saw iguanas! It was so amazing because the only chance I ever had to see iguanas was at the zoo. Alejandro said that iguanas were normal around his hometown in Ecuador. To him, iguanas are as common as the squirrels seen everywhere at Rice!

After getting back on the bus, we embarked on the next part of the trip: Lagos de Montebello. Once we reached the National Park, we stopped at a restaurant and ate lunch with the whole tour bus. We got to know each other very well. I think this is one of the many things I have enjoyed on this trip: everyone’s openness. Everyone is so open to meeting new people and talking about interests, opinions, and more. Especially at the hostel, all the lodgers sit around the campfire every night, sharing stories, meeting new people, and just having fun. I’ve realized throughout this trip how important these experiences and interactions to my daily life; I look forward to the many more new relationships and interactions to come!

Continuing on, we visited all five lakes in the National Park. The bus driver would let us off at each lake giving us an allotted time to explore and visit each lake. All of them were so beautiful; this time, the water was a deep blue color, hinting at the depth of the lakes.

We returned to San Cristóbal at around 9 pm, went out for a quick dinner and more ice cream 🙂 and retired early for the day; we were all very tired.

With the tour of the waterfalls checked off our list, on Sunday, we visited the Cañón del Sumidero. This time, we took a tour from our hostel, so there were many familiar faces on the packed bus. We drove for about forty minutes before reaching the canyon. After putting on our life vests, hats, sunglasses, and LOTS of sunscreen, we got on the motor boat and headed off on our boat tour.

I feel like I’ve said that everything was beautiful throughout this whole post, but really, it’s true; everything was truly beautiful! The views were breathtaking; I felt like I was in the movie series Jurassic Park. The tour guide stopped the boat whenever there was a special site or sighting of an animal; we saw monkeys, crocodiles, and so many birds (I didn’t catch what they were called)!

We’re now back at the hostel after eating some delicious hamburgers and hot dogs at Al Carbón, a restaurant we will definitely be returning to before we leave.

Well, I think all of us will be sleeping well tonight. Tomorrow, we will be back to working on our incubator at Cántaro Azul!

Good night and thanks for reading!

Irene