Sumidero Canyon

Sumidero Canyon is without a doubt a spectacular place, where the horizontal plane of the water where we sail contrasts with the vertical plane of the huge rock walls that envelop us. The visit to the canyon is compulsory in a trip through Chiapas and it's also strategic given its closeness to the capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez (so close you can take a bus of the ordinary public transport and, in a few minutes and for a low price, be there).

It is convenient to visit the place early to find available boats, as well as to have a better weather. The trip through the canyon takes aproximately 2 hours and when we visited it it costed us about $30 pesos.

Snowy night in Creel

It happened during our trip to the Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Sierra Tarahumara had already given us a freezy and great New Year's night, had shown us Tarahumara roads, landscapes that invite to meditation... Our Italian friends that we met in Chepe, the train that transported us to the town of Creel, had already ended their adventure there and were gone towards Chacahua, in the southern State of Oaxaca.



A lifetime friend and I walked the streets of Creel. Small restaurants and handicraft stores, a place to lodge... our steps continued and small snow flakes started to fall on the parked cars.

We arrived to a small bar. There were only few people. We took a table and asked for some beers. We started to talk, to philosophise. It was one of those talks where there is no hurry, where you can talk openly, where there are advises from friends, from brothers. After some hours, we left the bar, to find something fascinating: the whole Creel was white!



That's it, as we talked, the snow had covered streets, trees and everything that there was and it was still doing so. Considering that where we live there is no snow, perhaps once a century, this spectacle was ecstasy.



This internal joy transformed us into kids as we were walking. Strangely for us the streets where deserted. How could the other visitors be sleeping when everything outside was perfect? Streets impeccably white covered, still without footsteps and full of magic.

We started to take us pictures, to run, to throw us snow balls and to laugh. Not even as a kid could I had imagined that one day I'd play in that way on the snow and in my own country. I ran over the main plaza and throwed myself to the floor rolling over the snow. Ah, such a marvelous moment!



Suddenly, the motor of a truck was heard. The noise was always louder until it got to the zone we were. The truck gained speed and then turned abruptly, skidding on the snow and spinning. Yes, there were other crazy guys that decided to take advantage of the occasion to have fun and play. They way they came, the way they left.

A little bit later, we decided to go and have some rest so the next day we could take our way to Divisadero. That snowy night in Creel ended there, but it's still alive and current in my memories.


Where is it?


Larger map


How to get there?

From Los Mochis take the Chepe (Chihuahua Pacífico train) and stop in Creel. The train leaves in the morning and arrives in the evening.

From Chihuahua it is also possible to take the Chepe or you can take a bus.


Some advises

Personally, I recommend to take the Chepe from Los Mochis. There is first and second class. Second class is pretty decent and the price is much slower. It is important to notice that each class leaves just once a day, so you must be early to get the tickets. The seats on the right side have a better view. As in any train, it's not a bad idea to take your own food with you.

I suggest to go at the end of December or the start of January, because there are more chances to find the town with snow.


To know more...

Creel at Wikipedia

Xī'ān (西安), more than some famed warriors

In our trip to China in 2008, one of the obligatory points was Xī'ān (西安), because in the outskirts of this city are the so famed Terracota warriors located. The visit to the warriors was incredible, no doubt, and I'll talk about it later. The part I want to share this time concerns to the Xī'ān (西安) city, which was only in our plans as a strategic point to see the Terracota warriors and we should spend just some hours there and leave, but our experience there was so nice that we made a change in our itinerary and came back to visit it a bit more.

Located more or less in the middle of China and a bit to the East, Xī'ān (西安) was in certain moment the capital of this country. It is the capital of the Shǎnxī (陕西) or Shaanxi province (Do not confuse it with Shānxī 山西!) and its one of the ends of the Silk Road.

It was at night that we arrived to Xī'ān (西安), coming from Shànghǎi (上海) and we went directly to our hostel, the Xiangzimen Youth Hostel (湘子门青年旅舍). An ancient Chinese building adapted as a hostel, with a fabulous decoration, very gently staff and even a small pub was our home that night and received us with a really luxurious room considering it was a hostel. It was the welcome Xī'ān (西安) had for us and at the same time an invitation to stay there longer.

The next morning we did a little walk around the hostel. Ancient houses, temples and small streets that leaded us to avenues with modern buildings. Our feet walked over a majestic city and our eyes were confirming it. We continued with our plan after that, visited the Terracota warriors place and came back in the evening to take the train to our next destination.

As our taxi was getting closer to the train station, the smalls streets and the people there seemed to say "don't go!", "stay a bit longer!". Finally, the car stopped. We took our backpacks. The Sun was dropping its last light rays over a big station, preceded by a square and the city wall. An impresive amount of people was there, witnessing the same panorama but, surely, without having the same feelings than us.

Because of destiny ups and downs, in the next point of our trip, things accomplished their usual whim of getting off the plan and we had to make some adjustments. We evaluated our options and decided unanimously come back to Xī'ān (西安) and know a bit more.

Once again at night, once again the Xiangzimen (湘子门青年旅舍) and the impression of having come back home. We left our things and went to the small pub of the hostel, where we were laughing and enjoying a great time. While we were drinking our beers, we drawed a couple of Mexican flags to complete the flags decoration made by the travelers themselves.

The next day we went out to take a walk, enjoying everything that we saw. Streets and avenues combining modernity with History. The problems that an old man was having to cross the street and not be run over by the cars contrasted with a river, a city wall, statues of ancient lions and all the History enclosed by this city.

No doubt, the city wall is a great attraction. It can be seen everywhere and it can be climbed. We did it. It was a long walk that included frequently ancient buildings (nowadays adapted as stores! :( ) and that gave us a very nice perspective of Xī'ān (西安). That enjoyable combination of modernity and History that I talk about could be seen. Suddenly, we saw a completely ancient zone, inviting us to go down and know it. The invitation was not rejected.

Thousands of people, so many stores and stands where anyone could buy everything, no matter if it was chopsticks, musical artifacts, paintbrushes, clothes... everything. A man painting with water ephemeral hànzi (汉子) or Chinese symbols on the floor. China and its art of bargaining were perfectly incarnated in that neighbourhood. If you wanted to buy nothing, you came out with something. If you wanted to buy something, you came out with a lot.

Later, we went out and looked for another emblematic Xī'ān's (西安) place: Dàyàn Tǎ (大雁塔) or the Great Goose Pagoda. A woman some days before had told us to visit it. It was a shame we just had few time to visit the zone. We came to a modern public square with gardens, wide ways and statues. It was impeccable and in certain way the atmosphere was more commercial than traditional, thing that made me noise in a manner of speaking. We walked more, against the clock and finally could see the pagoda. Time to go back to the hostel, take our things and leave towards our next destination: Běijīng (北京).

Where is it?


Larger map


To know more...

Xī'ān (西安) at the Wikipedia
Xī'ān (西安) at Lonely Planet

Other references

Xiangzimen Youth Hostel (湘子门青年旅舍)

Hierve el agua (Water boils)

In a trip through Oaxaca, Mexico, we found a touristic advertisement about a placed called Hierve el agua (that means, "water boils"). A fantastic landscape invited us to go, so we went to a travel agency and asked how to get there. They told us it was dangerous and because of it, there was no tour to that place. We asked some questions that gave us tools to organise our trip.

We searched in our map and identified the closest point: Mitla. We took then a bus from Oaxaca to Mitla. Once there, we asked how to get to Hierve el agua. They told us that a small transport could get us there. Where do we take it? -We asked. Right there -they told us, pointing to a small store.

We had there breakfast. A good and cheap sandwich, less than $10 pesos (less than a dollar or an euro). Finally our little transport came: a small pick-up like car, like made to carry pigs, adapted to transport people. We found another problem: we had to wait until there were enough people to take the trip. That looked a little bit difficult... in Mitla, where there were almost no people because it wasn't high season and much less backpackers thinking about joining to the trip.

After a while, finally another truck came, with more backpackers and a place for us. The trip began. Our small vehicle started its way through a dirt road, climbing hills and showing us spectacular landscapes, while we were being covered of dust. Interesting was the mixture of nationalities that traveled in that truck: the driver, we guess coming from Oaxaca, a couple of German guys, a guy from Mexico City, a Polish girl, a Japanese man and us, a tapatío (born in Guadalajara, Mexico) and a guanajuatense salmantino (that is, born in Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico).

We were in the back part of the vehicle, with the Japanese. We tried to talk to him, in English, thing that became a bit tough because the Japanese didn't speak much English, but it was in fact funny.



After an hour or an hour and a half, maybe, we got to Hierve el agua. The first impression was that it costed a lot of pain to get there to see that thing. Yes, a beautiful landscape from above, magnific, some of thermal springs, but it seemed not enough.

It was when we started to explore the zone that the great thing came out. Going up and down, round the apparent waterfall was a fantastic experience. And I say apparent waterfall because the thing that looks like falling water is in fact a mineral formation made of water that for a long time has drained slowly from above. It even looks like the waterfall were freezed, making it very peculiar.



We were exploring the area for about an hour. Plants, kind of stairs, very smooth rocks (because of the erosion), not constant water drops that kept drawing the great freezed waterfall, maybe for a postcard, maybe to never ever being seen. As always, the funny thing was to go down, but to return to the higher part of the place turned to be a bit tiring.

After the delay of a lot of people, the group gathered again and we took our small transport one more time. This time we took advantage and traveled in the human section instead of the pork section. We went to Mitla and from there we continued our adventure to other places, that I'll be talking about later.

Where is it?

Bigger map

How to get there?

From Oaxaca City, take any bus going to Mitla. It must take the 190 highway to Santa María del Tule, Tlacolula, etc. and then it must take part of the 179 road. Get off the bus in Mitla. Ask where can you take the transportation to Hierve el agua (it'll be possibly in a small store). Wait until there are people enough to take the trip (about 6 to 8 people). The vehicle goes through a dirt road, climbing hills and it takes about 1 hour to arrive. The driver waits there for about an hour and drives back to Mitla. To go back to Oaxaca you can take a bus from Mitla, but it's recommended to stop in a small town or archaeological site, like Yagul or Santa María del Tule.

How much does it cost?

It's really cheap. The roundtrip from Oaxaca to Hierve el agua shouldn't reach $200 pesos (about 10 or 15€). The bus from Oaxaca to Mitla should cost less than $50 pesos (don't expect for a luxurious bus). The transportation from Mitla to Hierve el agua costed us $25 pesos per capita.

Traveler instinct

Traveling has become a need.

It all began when a cousin invited me to do a trip to a far and exotic place and, after some adjustments due to budget, we ended traveling to Western Europe, that wasn't certainly not so far nor exotic, but fascinating and it marked a very important point in my life.

France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain, were the destinations from that trip. As I came back to Guadalajara (Mexico), I realised that I needed to travel more, learn languages, know more...

Years have passed and my way of traveling has changed: everytime more practical, more adventurous, more austere, more strategic, funnier. Mi last big trip was last year, to China. Everything so strange and sometimes a little familiar. Everything so different, so exotic, so fascinating.

That first trip I payed a tour. Now I make my own tours. That first trip with suitcase. Now always with backpack. That first trip speaking my native Spanish and the so "universal" English, that in France didn't let me ask for something to eat without cheese (that I don't eat). Now, speaking French, being able to ask for a meal sans fromage (without cheese), speaking German and a bit of Chinese, that was the salvation sometimes while in the Middle Kingdom (Zhōngguó, 中国, China).

Thousands of photos, countless reflections... thoughts, sensations, flavours, smells, colours, people, places, cold, hot, joy, desperation, surprise, sadness... Traveling is now a way of living, a road with no return, is to remember to be human, to remember that we are part of Nature, to remember that we born in a city or town, but we are part of a planet.

I've decided to write this blog so I can share my experiences and be automotivated in the research of new destinations and new roads. I hope you enjoy it.