After spending few days in the pine forest next to the river with pleasant temperature, we had a plan! Instead of taking a border crossing which is few hours south of San Cristobal, we decided to drive south to that direction and just before border, follow the road which goes parallel to Guatemalan border, East, North and then East again and cross few hundred kilometers away at a border called El Ceibo. On Mexican side, it was in the state of Tabasco and on the Guatemalan side, it was close to few National parks and above of all, it was remote enough to have less traffic for the crossing and we haven’t seen any warning in the area so we packed and headed south.
The pilgrimage was still full on and the variety of transportation, decoration and statues that people were carrying was just endless. It also made our drives extremely slow. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see our previous post here.
We had few points of interests along the way and the first one was the majestic El Chiflon Waterfall. Chiapas is famous for its waterfalls, rivers and their stunning blue colors. But El Chiflon was something else, massive and majestic and you could see it kilometers away from the road.
We set up camp the night before in the waterfall complex area. We had to pay some extra to stay the night but that was a perfect spot to chill out, have a swim in the river below to cool off, do some work on the car and be ready to climb up first thing in the morning when it is nice and cool.
The next morning, we followed the river and hundreds of small waterfalls along the way and then started to climb up and see all the cascades one by one. I lost count of how many waterfalls we saw up close but they were endless and even our drone couldn’t give it a justice.
And like every other place we visited in Chiapas, we were the only ones. When we were heading back down, we saw few people starting the climb but not too many.
The next stop on the way was an interesting cenote along the way called “Cenote de Chucumaltic”. Cenotes are some of the top tourist destinations in Yucatan area in Mexico but this one was the first one we came across in Mexico. If you wonder what a cenote is; a cenote is a natural sinkhole, formed by the collapse of limestone bedrock, that exposes groundwater underneath and it is often crystal clear with turquoise color. We did a short drive to reach the car park and a short walk to see this massive cenote and it was stunning. We stayed there for the night and again we were the only ones. It was a bit eerie and strange to be honest. All these beautiful spots that were probably packed with people in Yucatan peninsula in winter but this area was deserted. The next day, we visited a town nearby called San Francisco Uninajab which was like nowhere else we’ve seen. The middle of town was all series of natural pools with incredibly blue water and the main road was going through them but we haven’t seen a single person around.
At this stage, we literally were driving few kilometers from the Guatemalan border and we were heading east. The next interesting place on our route was the “Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello” Which looked really interesting on the map. Area packed with different lakes in between protected forest and endless option to camp. The weather wasn’t great that day and as we got to the entrance of the park, it was raining heavily. We had to pay at the entrance and after few more kilometers we got another point that we had to pay to visit a lake that we probably hardly could see anything because of the heavy rain and low clouds.
The access roads in the national park were also dirt roads and with this amount of rain, they were most likely all mud pits so we had to move on and forget about a nice camp next to a lake for the day. The rain didn’t stop for 24 hours and we had a long lonely drive through small villages for two days.
On this stretch of road, we almost saw no amenities, no gas station or any kind on restaurants and after two days of long drives in the rain we reached to the protected area called “Montes Azul” extremely remote right at the last corner of Mexico, before the border with Guatemala turns north. It is famous for having a massive diversity of animals and plants including Howler monkeys. There is a track on the east side of the Larcantun river which is a natural boundary of the protected area and we were driving this road up north and hoping to see as much wildlife as possible.
The road was bad and at some spots it was just gone! But it was an interesting drive and while we haven’t seen much wildlife but we definitely could hear them from the other side of the river and it was loud especially with the population of howler monkeys around. We had a peaceful stay in a beautiful village for two day before carrying on north. The weather and the vegetation was changing dramatically and it really started to feel like we are getting closer to the tropical climates.
That was a great stay in a peaceful place with the sound of the jungle and lots of cute dogs to pet and a beautiful walk next to the river. The weather cleared out too which was a great help so we could sit outside a bit.
From here we followed the border line north. It wasn’t only the climate and the vegetation that was different in the area. The poverty was visible too. It was completely different from the rural area that we visited in the rest of Mexico. And the military checkpoint were everywhere which makes sense since we were technically moving on the border.
Af the end of another long day of driving we finally entered the state of Tabasco and set up camp in a nice campsite in the town of “Tenosigue”. It felt like another world. After days of seeing no gas station or a basic grocery store, it was a modern town with everything we needed.
From here, it was only an hour of beautiful and peaceful drive in the lush green forest to reach the border. The border crossing was easy and we were almost the only ones there that required TIP so it all went pretty fast and everyone were friendly.
So just like that, we entered the 4th country of this journey!
In the next post, we’ll start a new adventure in Guatemala and Central America. Till them have fun 🙂
