Río Celeste Maya, Chiapas, México

September 17, 2014|Posted in: Ecoturismo, Nature

Just down the road from Las Nubes outside of the ejido Gallo Giro sits Rio Celeste Maya, a more economical option to Las Nubes. As with Las Nubes, the land in the care of Río Celeste Maya, along with a few extremely basic cabins (essentially wooden shacks), is situated right on the river, albeit on a pleasantly quieter part. If Las Nubes is upscale, Río Celeste Maya is roughing it, but really all this means is that you will be even closer to nature here.

Follow the signs from the T-junction outside Gallo Giro where all signs for all nearby attractions are grouped together in one single row. Las Nubes is represented by a smaller, rectangular blue metal sign at the far left end of this row pointing you to the left, Río Celeste Maya by a larger, square-ish crude wooden sign at the far right end of this row pointing you to the right. You will also see signs for Gallo Giro itself and the Hospedaje los Laurelitos. After taking this turn, continue to follow the signage and route which will quickly put you on a dirt road and then have you heading down a larger hill through trees to the riverbank below.

It’s beautiful, just as it is at other points along the river, and we were lucky enough to be the only guests for the night we stayed. We were glad to have our tent and camp in that as opposed to staying in one of the cabañas – not that we wouldn’t have had that been the only option, but Rio Celeste Maya seems ideal for camping as you might get the sense of from the photos. We paid $50 MXN for two with our own gear, they don’t stock any camping gear themselves. Camp fires are permitted, and we were able to purchase firewood from the staff – we paid $10 MXN for 10 pieces. Kindling we were able to scoop up from the ground.

There’s a simple outhouse near the entrance and a large water tank, the kind you might normally see on building roofs, with water that you can use to flush the toilets via a bucket or use to wash your dishes and utensils. Staff can cook for you for a small fee, but we brought our own food so we’re not sure as to price or quality. One guard stays onsite throughout the night, which for us was deadly peaceful and almost a bit eerie.

The activity that really made it for us here was a $100 MXN canoe ride for two up the river to see two small islands and some rapids there on the day after our arrival. Our guide and captain stopped the boat in one part of the river allowing us to hop out and get some swimming in. The water was a crystal-clear turquoise and as refreshing as it comes.

Aside from that, another memorable moment came when two random women from the ejido stopped by shortly after we had arrived, driven by curiosity, with a little boy. As they saw that we were trying to build our evening’s campfire, one of the women immediately began helping us gather kindling and build the beginnings of the fire, while the little boy, much to everyone’s amusement, began whacking the car bumper and one of the headlights. We thanked them and chatted a small amount before they returned to the ejido.

The staff were friendly and curious as well, but just a note that it’s recommended that you speak passable Spanish. At one point one of the staff warned us away from putting our tent below some large tree branches that were getting ready to fall. In other words, he spared us some potential injury and damage to our gear. We wouldn’t have been aware of it at all unless we were able to communicate in Spanish.

{Last Visit: April 2014}