Category Archives: Adventures

MotoTravel Adventures by Arnan and or Jeanette on their motorcycles. Read about our experiences and follow along on our journeys.

Mexico’s Canyon del Sumidero is a grand adventure – Part 2

This is Part 2 of our Canyon del Sumidero Adventure. To read part 1, click here.

Taking a boat tour through Canyon del Sumidero

After navigating the city and to the boat docks we contemplated which company to use. Google Reviews were of not much use since there are thousands of reviews and everything seemed fine. So we just went with the nearest one. Just outside Tuxtla Gutierrez. You can also get the tour further up the river in a little town called Chiapa de Corzo.

The place we used was an efficient setup, which is fine. But it also means you have to turn off your brain and just follow where they point you to. Which is a bit dumb and impersonal. We were directed from the parking space past the entry booth, to get a life-vest and into a boat in less than 2 minutes. All the while not really knowing what we were supposed to do or why and in what order. Just follow the pointing fingers.
Entry is about 540MXN for 2 persons. This includes a boat ticket, canyon ticket and taxes or something. We didn’t really get it and it’s not very well explained. But if you have the time to read the signs you can see how it all works. We didn’t get much time to look around, just follow the pointing fingers.
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Mexico’s Canyon del Sumidero is a grand adventure – Part 1

If you’re visiting either the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez or San Cristobal de las Casas you should probably also visit the Canyon del Sumidero. This is a massive canyon towering above the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez with a large water reservoir at the end. Mexico’s CFE has a hydroelectric dam there.

We visited the Canyon in 2 ways. The touristy and common way is to hire a boat and go down the river which we did as a sort of part 2. But a little less common is a land route along the top of the canyon with some stunning views. We went up the land route first. This route takes you about 400-500 meters above the river and gives a great impression of how high the canyon really is. I have made a simple route to ride and off we went…

On top of Canyon del Sumidero

In the neighborhood of ‘La Esperanza’ you’ll find the entry gate to the Sumidero Viewpoints. In Mexico they call those Miradores. So here it’s Miradores del Canon del Sumidero. Entry onto the road is 50MXN per person. After that you’re let loose on the long winding road. Once you reach the top of the mountain range there are 5 miradores spread out over the area, along the canyon.

Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy when we were there, so at first we didn’t actually get to see much. Watching the clouds move about was fun too, and occasionally they would let up and give us a glimpse of the canyon below.
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Relaxing in Campeche and Isla Aguada

Relaxing in Campeche

Last week we stopped by in Campeche for a few days. Or more specifically, the historic city center. We ended up mostly ignoring the newer parts of the city other than a stroll through the commercial bit where the market and shops are. The Spanish sort of built this place up quite a bit and most of the old streets and buildings are still there. With shops and restaurants all over the place.

Overall Campeche doesn’t have all that much to offer, but if you like wandering between the old buildings from hundreds of years ago it’s pretty cool. Most of the old city is surrounded by a city wall with fortifications everywhere. A few Kilometers east and west of the city are some preserved old fortresses as well. I think 6 in total. We visited Fuerte de San Miguel and it’s coastal defense site. I was hoping to get a great view of the city and Gulf of Mexico. But the surrounding area was littered with large trees. So no such luck – Nothing to see. The fortress itself has been filled with Mayan artifacts and history tidbits, which was ok, but I was hoping for more Spanish stuff.
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Roadtrip into Mexico its history – Uxmal and Mayapan – Part 1

For our stay in Merida I have planned a few small roadtrips. One of which took us south to the fancy Uxmal ruins and the not so fancy Mayapan Ruins. The last few Mayan ruins we’ll visit for… Well, maybe ever. Going further into Mexico other tribes and peoples inhabited those parts. So the next archeological site is probably not Mayan.

Anyway, we headed out from the hotel at around 8AM, courageously following the route I had prepared. And at the edge of Merida we ran into some trouble. Some dudes thought it prudent to do road maintenance in the morning amidst heavy traffic and closed the one highway exit heading out that end of the city. Sending everyone off to take the next retorno (U-turn) and approach the cloverleaf intersection from the other side. Furiously waving his orange flag and pointing down the road.
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Preparing for a 5500km motorcycle trip

We, Arnan and Jeanette, are going to drive on motorcycles in Mexico from Cancun, Quintana Roo to La Paz in Baja California Sur. Our route getting there is well over 5000 kilometers long. And the idea is to spend about 3 months on it and seeing a lot of Mexico along the way. Simple, right? Yup… Adventure!

The difficult part is getting there in one piece while having fun. And I believe that gets exponentially easier if you have a bit of a plan.
I’ve made a route, tons of things to see and do along the way and have a general idea of which hotels we can use. And, well, adventure!!
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Finding Flamingos in Rio Lagartos

Flamingo Spotting

in June we went on a little mid-week road trip from Cancun to Rio Lagartos in Northern Yucatan, Mexico. The main goal was to find millions of flamingos.

Day 1

Leaving at around 8am from Cancun on our motorcycles, Arnan on his BMW F850GS and Jeanette on her G310GS, we of-course ignored the Quota (Toll road) and headed straight for the Libramento to Leona Vicario. A small town along the route. From there we followed carretera 180 to X-Can, an even smaller town just over the border of Yucatan state from where we headed North towards Tizimin – A midsize town with a nice old Spanish church and old buildings in the city centre.
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