Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, México

October 12, 2014|Posted in: Nature, Pueblo Magico, Town

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Chiapa de Corzo is one of three Pueblos Mágicos in the state of Chiapas, the others being Comitán de Domínguez and San Cristóbal de las Casas. It is also extremely easy to catch a passenger boat tour through el Sumidero from here and makes an excellent day trip if you’re based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, it being located only some 15km from Tuxtla and easily accessible by collectivo/combi.

Given our itinerary, we ended up spending two nights, rolling in late in the day after seeing la Sima de las Cotorras very early in the morning and then visiting el Aguacero on the way in to town. That first night we didn’t do much besides get situated at the Hotel los Angeles, not rated very well on tripadvisor for some good reasons but then we were lucky to just get a room anywhere in town that night as it was another busy tourist weekend. The price was right, it was comfortable enough with ceiling fan, hot water, and TV, it had secure off-street parking, and it was in an excellent location vis-á-vis the town’s main plaza and boardwalk from where the boat tours disembark.

It also had two large green parrots, however, and while some folks thought they were cute, the truth is that they were annoying as hell and LOUD. The novelty of hearing them scream “Hola” over and over again and having it bounce all around the internal courtyard layout of the hotel wore off very quickly. Their voices are seared into our minds. I personally fantasized about killing them more than once and stared at them with deliberate intensity every time I walked past the cage in an effort to intimidate them and buy some silence. You can figure out how well that worked.

The next day we slowly got moving and breakfasted at their restaurant late in the morning. The food was fine, nothing to get excited or upset about. We then moseyed down Avenida Julián Grajales to Calle 5 de Febrero where we took a left and headed down to the waterfront to see about a boat tour through el Sumidero. Since we’ve written at length about our experience there, we won’t repeat anything here. Just be sure to check out that post.

Upon completing the boat tour, we returned to the hotel. Soon thereafter we had dinner and made an early night of it. We were due back in Guadalajara in only two days and we were still planning to see the town the next morning, then el Sumidero from the viewpoints on its west rim. That meant returning to Tuxtla at some point the next day and getting that done before returning the car. We had already been criss-crossing Chiapas for nigh on three weeks and we were travel-weary to say the least.

In the morning we hurriedly walked parts of the town, past the town’s main market, into the plazas of two churches, over to a viewpoint of the river, and then through the main central plaza with its clock tower and other structures before calling it good. During our walk we noticed here and there these huge preserved trees with mammoth trunks that made the place all the more special.

Back at the hotel we emptied the car of trash and reorganized it a bit, then grabbed our things out of the room and loaded up the hatchback. At some point I took one last hateful look at the parrots and M. made sure we were checked out. Time to get moving for our last full day in this unforgettable state of Mexico.