Southern Exposure

Monday, December 15

With our hearts still in Chiapas, we made our way south to our border crossing with Guatemala. We had wanted to go north to visit Palenque, and then complete a loop through the Chiapas highland forests along the border with Guatemala. This area is the home of the Lacadon Mayans and reputed to have spectacular vistas. We’re feeling the fire under our feet – we’ve been in Mexico almost a month and it’s time to really get going south.

Our plan was to ride to the national park Lagos Montebellos. It is a series of multiple hued lakes that are actually limestone sinkholes set in a pristine pine forest. The descent from Chiapas offered little after the spectacular ascent. It seemed almost an indigenous version of suburban sprawl, we never seemed to be able to break into open road, simply going slowly from one small town to another.

We arrived at Lagos Montebello and while it was a very scenic forest, it seemed a nice but we are very spoiled with beautiful lakes and forests in the Pacific Northwest. We rode through the “eco tourist” village, which were charging an outrageous 300 pesos/night in a cabina to be the only tourist in town. We ate lunch overlooking the lake and learned a painful lesson in not asking the price first. The 140 peso lunch was a bitter pill to swallow but lesson learned.

We continued to down the road and it soon became clear exactly where the border lay. Rather than a river or an arbitrary line on a map, Guatemala started where the looming green mountains began. It was very striking, and it seemed to mirror our anxieties about border crossings quite well. We spent the night in Frontera Comalapa not far from the border in a surprisingly spacious but inexpensive hotel. It was an early night for a early start to the border.