Last updated on July 17, 2022

Preemptive warning: this blog post will have a LOT of pictures. In Ana’s words, it is basically a Pinterest board… whoops (you’re welcome in advance).

Day Trips in Chiapas!

By Melissa Cantú

Introduction

¡Hola a todos! My name is Melissa Cantú, and I am one of the 2022 Loewenstern fellows working with Cántaro Azul in San Cristóbal de las Casas for the summer! As the youngest fellow from the Mexico group, I am a class of ’24 bioengineer minoring in engineering design. I plan to go into a career in biotech (synthetic bio or tissue engineering) or medical devices. I love both areas of bioe so I haven’t quite decided which I like more lol.

I am a Regia at heart since I was raised in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Due to my entire family living in Monterrey, I get to visit Mexico pretty frequently, but I am only truly familiar with the culture of north Mexico. Chiapas and San Cris are a completely different universe compared to Monterrey.

Firstly, the quaint look of this “pueblo magico” makes San Cris totally unique from any Mexican city I have ever seen. Secondly, I have never lived in such a walkable city! It’s astounding how many people consider walking their primary method of transportation here. Thirdly, apart from Spanish, two very prevalent indigenous dialects spoken in this city are Tseltal and Tsotsil. An astounding 73.5k of people speak indigenous dialects, making the sound of San Cris especially unique (source: datamexico.org). Lastly, a particularity of San Cris’s culture is that there is an intentional integration of nature into everyday life. I mean, in the two instances where I was typing up this blog, I went to two cafes: one with a live tree as a centerpiece for the table I was sitting at and one with a central plaza with two huge, live trees and lots of greenery.

Ki-Múul Cafe

Amor Negro Cafe

Day Trips

Anyways, now that you have an intro to what makes San Cris unique, I can introduce “day trips”. They are one of the most popular tourist activities here in San Cris, and for good reason! There are so many companies that host these group trips to different sights out of town. I actually arrived at San Cris a week before my work at Cántaro Azul started in order to take advantage of these trips and get familiar with San Cris before work got too hectic, rendering me unable to travel around as much. For this reason, I would highly recommend arriving a week early for any future Loewenstern-Cántaro Azul fellow.

The only thing I would say about these day trips is that I recommend to do them with other people that you know. I would not feel comfortable going on a day trip by myself, and I did not. I was lucky to be accompanied by my dad and/or my boyfriend (they came to drop me off at San Cris).

I have been lucky enough to go on two day trips so far! (both during the free week before Cántaro):

Day trip 1: Horseback riding to the nearby indigenous town San Juan Chamula

My first day trip started in the Hotel Ciudad Real in downtown San Cris at 12:30pm, where I actually was caught in front of a big parade. It seemed to be a parade for a Catholic saint, although I never truly figured it out.

Parade in front of Hotel Ciudad Real

Desfile en Plaza de la Paz

After the parade ended, I followed the horse owners to the northwestern outskirts of San Cris in my own car, although the option to ride in the cargo bed of the tour guide’s truck was offered. Once we arrived, we got to pick our horses in a breathtaking field.

Breathtaking Field in Outskirts of San Cris

Me and My Beautiful Horse

The horseback ride to the Chamula town center was around 45 minutes one way, so we got plenty of time to appreciate the beautiful horses and scenery with green mountains.

Horseback Riding Video

Video on horse

Once in the Chamula town center, we visited the outdoor markets, the famous Chamula church, and a beautiful hill that gave us a great view of the town. Along the way, we even got to try some Pox (pronounced “Poshe”), a sweet Mayan liquor made of corn, sugar cane, and wheat. However, the Chamula church was the most memorable from the entire day trip for a few reasons.

Firstly, the church may seem like a regular 16th century Catholic church, but once you enter, you quickly realize that this is not an average Catholic place of worship. There are no pews, no altar, and no cross at the back of the church. Rather, there are statues of Catholic saints in glass cabinets along the entire perimeter of the church; people sitting/kneeling on the floor in concentrated, rhythmic prayer in an indigenous dialect; groups of lit candles on the floor in front of praying individuals, some of whom brought with them either chicken eggs or live chickens as a part of their prayer. The tour guide was very helpful in explaining the context of the people’s prayers; however, I am not sure how accurate or how in-depth the explanation was, so I would rather not explain what I was told on here in order to avoid spreading misinformation. Update: apparently the church is undergoing some renovations, which is why most of the furniture was gone.

Secondly, as a Catholic myself, I could not help but feel a bit of confusion and sadness at seeing a place of worship from my religion be repurposed into something else. However, this holy place was repurposed into a place of worship fitting for the community and their religion, and I have nothing but understanding and respect for that. My point in mentioning this is that this is a core reason why this place was particularly memorable to me.

Important update on my previous point: After going back on this day trip a second time and revisiting the church, it dawned on me that this church was not “repurposed” into something else. The people of Chamula who visit this church to pray celebrate the same exact religion that I do, just with different traditions and language than me/my community. There is no “right” way to celebrate the Catholic God, and the indoctrinated Western belief that they were doing it “wrong” was likely the culprit for my feelings of sadness and confusion the first time coming to the church. For all I know, they might be sad and confused if they were to see how I celebrate the Catholic religion. Since I first visited without an idea of what I would see, I admit that I was caught off guard and was, as a result, very closed-minded.

I find the people of Chamula’s traditions and prayers a beautiful way to display of their identity, faith in the Catholic God, and love.

Thirdly, photography, video, or phone calls inside of the church are not allowed. I was surprised by this because I have never been to a place of worship where the functions of phones are strictly prohibited.

Church in Chamula’s Town Center

Many Different Bean Varieties in Chamula Market

The entire day trip lasted only 4 hours, which is a vastly different duration than my second day trip. The trip was 400MXN with the Jalapeño Tours agency.

Day trip 2: Cascadas de Agua Azul, Cascada Misol-Ha, and the Palenque Mayan Ruins

This day trip, by far the most intense and tiring of all that are offered here in San Cris, starts at 3:30am-4:30am and finishes at 11pm-12am, depending on the agency (~19 hours)!!! You may be wondering why I would ever want to do this day trip, and my answer is: why not? Before coming to San Cris, I knew that Palenque was one of the main tourist attractions in Chiapas, so I wanted to be able to experience it at least once. Make sure to bring your swimsuit and loose clothing for this day trip! Also, be aware that you will not have any cell service on this trip apart from at Palenque!

The first stop in this trip, Agua Azul, actually ended up being my unexpected favorite from the entire trip. This place might have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever witnessed in my life, and the best part was that visitors are allowed to swim in the river! I enjoyed the chilly river water while listening to the soothing sound of the multiple waterfalls. I also learned how to skip rocks on water here!

Some of my roommates have said that the hike up the trail to see the top of the waterfall is not worth it, but I do recommend climbing up to at least the third “mirador” (viewpoint) so that you can get a pretty glimpse of a large part of the river!

Agua Azul Pictures

After an hour and a half of swimming, it was time to change and head to the second stop of the trip: the stunning Misol-Há waterfall. This waterfall was so much taller than the ones at Agua Azul, and we were able to walk behind the waterfall, a quality unique to this waterfall out of all the ones in Chiapas. Make sure to bring good hiking boots! The wet rocks around the waterfall are very slippery. Visitors are allowed to swim in this location too; however, my particular tour only gave enough time to walk around the waterfall for 30min-45min before leaving, which was not enough to swim. 🙁

I recommend spending the extra 15MXN to enter the cave at the end of the hiking trail, although it is small. There is only a small room inside the cave with a small waterfall and bats that call the cave their home, but its a nice place to cool down and appreciate a hidden waterfall.

Misol-Há

For the last stop of this trip, we arrived in the city of Palenque (indigenous name is Lakam-Há) to visit the famous Mayan ruins where Pakal’s tomb was found. Apart from the interesting historical and archeological context of the beautiful ruins, it was enjoyable to walk/hike through due to the tall trees, lush greenery, and visual interest. I highly recommend getting a tour guide to explain the meaning of the different structures in this archeological site and provide more context for the lives of the Mayans. I learned so much from my tour guide.

Some agencies, such as Explorando Chiapas, will already include the tour guide for the archeological site in the tour price, which is fantastic. Jalapeño Tours, one of the major San Cris tour agencies, do not include the tour guide in their premium price.

My tour group also decided to take the tour through the jungle (slightly more expensive than just a tour of the archeological site; around 120MXN more per person, depending on the size of your group). I liked the jungle tour, although it felt like more of a simple sight-seeing hike than a tour. Make sure to put plenty of bug repellent on if you do the jungle tour, and wear high socks to avoid ant bites.

Lakam-Há, better known as Palenque

I could have spent an entire day here! The entirety of the archeological site was very large in area. The awe-striking part is that only about ~3% of the structures in Lakam-Há have been unearthed. There are no plans of uncovering much more of the site because it is very time consuming (to uncover 3% of the city, it took 80 years!), there is not enough funding, and the jungle around the archeological site is a governmentally-protected nature site.

After finishing up at Palenque, we mentally prepared for the bumpy 5hr30min-6hr trip back to San Cris on a traveling van. After getting home, I collapsed onto my bed and slept for 12 hours lol; the one-day trip had felt like two separate days from how long I was awake. While I would never do this trip again (update: I did go on the trip again lol), I am truly so glad that I got to experience it at least once, and I really encourage you to do this day trip if it is something you would like to do too. This day trip was 650MXN-800MXN per person, depending on the agency.

I ended up going a second time on this trip with Explorando Chiapas instead of Jalapeño Tours like my first time, and the second trip was much easier than the first. The trip was shorter with Explorando Chiapas which may be a good or bad thing depending on how long you’d ideally stay in each location. The second time, I came prepared with “Dramamine” (a medicine to avoid car sickness is a must because the roads involve constant turns), a portable charger, a pillow, and some melatonin to help with rest if needed.

Bonus Content

Ecopark El Arcotete

During that first week at San Cris, I also got to visit El Arcotete. Apart from being a perfect place for hiking and getting some exercise in, the park has a pretty picnic area, restaurants and refreshments, artisan stores, two suspension bridges, a river, a beautiful 400m cave, 2 zip-lines, rappelling, paddleboats, and a camping area. You can visit El Arcotete through a day trip (~300MXN), but it is easier and cheaper to visit the park by either taxi (~120MXN from west side of town) or a 20min colectivo ride (15MXN) that you can catch on the cross streets “Nicolas Ruiz” and “Isabel La Católica”. The park is located on the outskirts of San Cris. Be aware that you will not have any cell service at the park! For this reason, make sure to go early in the day, since the park closes at 4pm and no taxis/colectivos come in the park after then. Totally not speaking from personal experience…

El Arcotete

 

El Fogón de Jovel

I know this restaurant has been featured in Ana’s previous blog post, but the hype is justified. This Chiapaneco restaurant is a must-visit while at San Cris. The first time I went (during the week before everyone arrived), I had the parrillada with beef, adobo chicken, pork ribs, chorizo, pineapple, and sausage, and it was mind-blowingly good. Since it was so good, I had take my fellow group there once they arrived, and it was a hit. They play live marimba music of Mexican classics every once in a while, which is a great form of entertainment to set the lively atmosphere at this colorful restaurant. They play “El Corrido de Monterrey”, which makes my little Regia heart happy 🙂

More experienced update: there are plenty of amazing restaurants in San Cris, and this is totally among one of the top picks if you want Chiapaneco food, but I’m not sure if this would be in the top 3. Blog post on the best tacos and restaurants in general in San Cris coming up soon!

Corrido de Mty en Marimba

Iglesia de San Cristobalito or Iglesia de Guadalupe

I highly recommend visiting these churches at the top of hills around golden hour in order to catch a breathtaking view of the city. Both churches require a tiring climb, though, so if you feel lots of altitude sickness after arriving, I would skip out on this.

View of the City from San Cristobalito

Vista desde Iglesia de San Cristobalito

View of the City from Iglesia de Guadalupe

Closing

Anyways thanks for reading through my long blog post! If you have any questions about any of these places, I would be happy to answer them in the comments below or though email at mcantu@rice.edu 🙂 I look forward to more day trips and great experiences in my remaining 8 weeks here! Update: part two of Chiapas day trips can be found here!