Lake Atitlan is a stunning lake formed by an ancient eruption and now framed by three volcanoes. We spent a week at a lakeside campsite and could have stayed much longer.
Guatemala I
After only a half an hour drive from San Ignacio, we reached the border to Guatemala. Leaving Belize was a relatively quick process, and entering we got lucky with short lines and zipped through there as well.
You better Belize it!
Tucked into the Caribbean Coast between Mexico and Guatemala is the tiny country of Belize. It is officially an english speaking country, though most people have a different mother tounge – Mayan, Spanish, Kriol and many others. But everyone does speak English, and border immigration was all in English which made our two weeks here a bit easier.
Yucatán Peninsula
Here it is, our final blog post from Mexico! After 5 months and many kilometers, our final adventure was on the Yucatan Peninsula. After our time in the jungles of Chiapas, coming into Yucatan was a bit of shock.
Chiapas Part III: Mayan Ruins & More Waterfalls
From Frontera Corozal, we took an early morning boat with our travel buddies Tyler & Megan to the Mayan ruins of Yaxchilan. The boat is about 45 minutes along a river that forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala.
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Chiapas Part II: Along the Guatemalan border
Two of the main stops for any overlander or tourist in Chiapas are San Cristobal de las Casas and Palenque. The direct highway that connects the two, 199, has a number of roadblocks set up by the Zapatistas.
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Chiapas Part I: Aguacero, Sima de las Cotorras, Cañon del Sumidero and San Cristobal de las Casas
Chiapas is a spectacular state in Mexico full of waterfalls, wildlife and Mayan ruins. From the first day we were enamored by the region. Not long after crossing into Chiapas, we were waved over by a friendly guy that saw our Swiss plates and wanted to meet us.
Estado de Oaxaca
Our first stop in the state of Oaxaca was a reserve protecting Green Military Macaws, or Ara Militaris. The birds often return to a canyon in this reserve for the night and it is possible to see them through a guided hike in the late evening. While the hike was hot but beautiful, we only saw 2 Macaws from our viewpoint.
Zona Archeológica de Cantona
Cantona is a large and remarkable archaeological site that is much less visited than the other large sites of Mexico. Cantona was a large city with an area of approximately 12 square km and full of many pyramids and ball fields. The most significant feature is that these were all built without plaster or mud – just dry stone buildings. And for our visit, we only saw 6 other people in the 2 hours we explored this large area.
Izta, Popo & La Malinche
Just outside Mexico City are the two big volcanos Iztaccíhuatl (5230m) and Popocatépetl (5426m), also called Izta and Popo. They are respectively the 3rd and 2nd highest mountains in Mexico. They form a National Park and Izta can be climbed whereas Popo is closed due to volcanic activity.