Pretty Place in Mexico

Pretty Place in Mexico

March 7, 2002

Agua Azul

 

One of the prettiest places we visited in Mexico during a trip in 2002 was the Cascadas de Agua Azul  (Spanish for "Blue Water Cascades").  As was often the case, we stumbled upon them as another example of serendipity at play -- an accidental find.  We were driving Highway 199 between Palenque and San Christobal de las Casas in the state of Chiapas, when we saw this beautiful, blue river beside the highway.  It is not one of the top tourist spots in Mexico -- as was clear because there were no large tourist hotels nearby.

Located on the Xanil River

Cascades

However, it appeared to be a favored swimming hole for the locals, some hippies and even foreigners.

Irish Nudist

 

At least on the front of her T-shirt was the claim "An Irish Nudist," so I'm inclined to believe it.  She was kind enough to pose for this photo -- with her clothes on.

Hippy Bathers

 

Enough visitors come to this site to justify vendors of various items.

Indian dresses for sale

Pat buying some fried stuff

Five pesos each for whatever they were selling

 

Of course, wandering too far from the tourist area is not without risk.

Warning

 But, apparently it is safe enough for a visit by some grade-school kids for Pat to admire.

Pat and grade-schoolers

And the water was a little chilly

 

In 2008, we again visited Agua Azul.  Realizing that this was not the safest part of Mexico, we left early in the afternoon so that we could have time to make it to a safer RV park in San Christobal.  We never drove in Mexico after dark.

As the road climbed up into the mountains, we obtained some views of the landscape and the Xanil River valley.

Xanil River Valley

 

It was also necessary to drive carefully because there was always the risk of driving off into one of these highway slide-outs.

Highway slide-out

Of course, we were always on the lookout for birds and other wildlife.  Here's one that a car had hit that was lying beside the highway.

Crimson-collared tanager

 

The remainder of the trip that day was relatively uneventful -- except when a drunk Chamulan indian fellow tried to make us pay for traveling through their lands.  When I offered to take his photo, he shied away and we took off.  They really hate being photographed.  In the past, RV convoys have been unlawfully stopped at temporary roadblocks on federal highways and forced to pay a fee before they were allowed to pass.  I was glad that he showed no evidence of having a gun.

Otherwise, we felt safe in the RV Park in San Christobal that night and we had seen some wonderful sights to get there.

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