Parque Nacional Cañón del Sumidero, CP

The Canyon at Sumidero is impressive, but filled with garbage...Carmel suggested we stop at the national park on our way from Oaxaca to San Cristobal in the state of Chiapas.  As we were leaving the petrified waterfall, the brake light came on again.  As we drove the windy mountain road, the brakes were having trouble, and eventually we only had front brakes operational.  This meant very slow travel, and we reached the town of Tuxtla Gutiérrez after dark.  As we entered the city, there was a routine police stop, and I was reaching for my wallet (I know how this goes by now), Carmel started talking to the police officer, who was all smiles and very helpful.  Carmel is convinced that it was because of her womanly charms, but the officer just smiled, asked us where we were going, gave us direction, and sent us on our way!  My first free police stop!

We arrived at the gate for the park entrance at about 7pm to find it closed and locked.  We had read that we would be able to camp in the parking lot for a small fee, and this was really putting a crimp in our plans.  A business owner from across the street offered to phone the park office, and soon after she left, a night watch guard appeared and let us in.  We were shown where the bathrooms were, and set up camp for the night.

In the morning, we had a nice breakfast in the on site restaurant, and then boarded a boat down the river.  The whole tour was in spanish, but it was quite interesting all the same.

A crocodile in the plastic infested waters

The dam at the far end of the canyon

A shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe 

After our tour of the canyon, we drove to the next town, San Cristobal, to continue the adventure!