Vacaciones México 2012/ Vacations Mexico 2012

Por fin fuimos los tres juntos a México. Pudimos ver a nuestra familia y amigos. Una semana la pasamos en la ciudad de México visitando gente querida y arreglando trámites burocráticas y la segunda semana fuimos de vacaciones a Chiapas con tío Car. Fuimos a la Reserva de la Biósfera Selva el Ocote en Chiapas. Está a una hora de la capital Tuxtla Gutierrez y es una área protegida poco conocido por lo que casino encontramos muchos turistas y pudimos disfrutar los lugares mucho más. Estuvimos acampando durante nuestro viaje. Primero visitamos la Sima de las Cotorras, pero lástima no era temporada de cotorras, para verlas hay que ir entre marzo y octubre. Aún así hicimos el recorrido perimentral en la sima. Ese mismo día nos escapamos al Cañón del Sumidero ya que el tío Car no conocía. Al otro día tuvimos una expedición a la Cascada de la Conchuda, para ello caminamos más de 6 km, bajamos por el Cañón del Río la Venta, tuvimos que hasta hacer rapel para descender, wow!, toda una aventura familiar. Llegamos un lugar hermoso y aislado de la civilización, nadamos en el río, en las cascadas y exploramos las cuevas. Fue un recorrido muy demandante para todos pero lo logramos y regresamos con bien. Después fuimos las las Cascadas El Aguacero, otro lugar muy bello y que pudimos disfrutar nosotros solitos. Finalmente hicimos un paseo en lancha en Puente Chiapas antes de iniciar nuestro regreso a la ciudad de México.

Finally, all three of us, could make it together to Mexico. We saw family and friends and did a bit of travelling. One week in Mexico City visiting our beloved ones and doing paper work, then a second week in Chiapas together with uncle Carlos. In Chiapas, we went to the Biosphere Reserve Selva el Ocote, one hour from Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital. This protected area is quite unknown among Mexicans, so we didn't encounter too many tourist making it all the more enjoyable. We camped at some pretty wild places. The first evening we had coyotes howling a just a couple of hundred meters from the tent. And that was a proper camp site. The other places we stayed at were not. Kosmos and his father spend quite some time running around at night with a UV-lamp, lifting rocks, searching for scorpions. The search continued until Kosmos lost the lamp. No scorpion was found. However, in terms of fancy arachnids, they found a golden orb weaver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_orb_spider) and a tarantula (http://www.tarantulasdemexico.com/en/tarantulasmex_en.htm). About the latter, all they can report is that it had black legs, they didn't see more. At the same location we also saw, and Kosmos caught, cane toads (Bufo Marinus), famous for their bufotoxins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xd9CnUK3jA), and having invaded Australia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mvV8OT-mmE). Anyhow, I'm digressing, so we left Mexico City, drove past the volcanoes, down the plateau and in to Veracruz, took a right and continued along the sea, took a slight right and entered Chiapas. After another slew of ups, downs, lefts and rights we arrived to la Sima de las Cotorras. It was a mighty nice place, a big hole in the ground after a caved in cave a long long time ago. Jungle at the bottom, and arid shrub forest at the rim. From there we ventured to Canyon de Sumidero (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumidero_Canyon), very accessible, loads of tourists, but inconceivably impressive. A 1000 m vertical rock face from the water up to the top of the canyon. After this soft start, things got a bit out of hand. On, what we thought was a 6 km walk to a pretty waterfall, we encountered another canyon wall we had to get down. Fortunately not 1000 m, but since Kosmos father is a bit of a whimp he can get seriously injured from just falling a couple meters. It was more than a couple of meters. We had to rappel down 15 meters (in addition to the hour or so of more "normal" walking/crawling/climbing). None of us had done anything like that, least of all Kosmos. He was lowered down in a harness hanging from the waist of the guide (who, besides having superhuman qualities also was very knowledgeable). There is no point in trying to describe the beauty of the underground river exiting from the rock in to a jungle, full of little orchid gardens attached to the branches of trees, falling in waterfall after waterfall down towards Rio la Venta. You all know how it is, "words can only express so much" (and not more). The day after we moved on to el Aguacero on the south side of the reserve. A much more accessible place, with stairs down the canyon wall to Rio la Venta (which runs straight through the reserve). We camped on a sand bar by the river, swam, played in waterfalls, and saw a peregrine falcon. The last night we stayed by Puente Chiapas, on the northern edge of the reserve. Kosmos father got fever and an upset belly that lasted all the way back to la Ciudad.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hjolko/sets/72157629225101015/