Mexico Road Trip: Sumidero National Park
Long gone, he laughed, and for a while we had the copycats that would wear those masks and commit robberies so it would get blamed on the Zapatistas. But they eventually got caught and they are gone too…now no one around here wears ski masks, he laughs, we don’t have much snow anyway.
Angel is one of those guys that should be an ambassador. Or at least the head of the regional tourism department. He loves his town and region and he speaks about with a passion. He makes you want to stay another six months and do and see everything he says. Maybe it’s because he went to school in Mexico City and speaks flawless Spanish…and because he left for the big city he developed a zeal for his hometown.
They say Chiapas has many zonas encantadas or enchanted places, he continues during breakfast, and I would say that is true. You may not believe it, but many strange things happen here that are true and I know they are true. You know what I mean? Like the new highway, he says taking a drink of coffee, the workers that built it reported seeing duendes or small men all during the construction. They would play tricks on the workers and the road took twice as long to build as projected; in fact, they are still building it, he laughs, the recent flood took down the bridge again.
It’s been ten years fixing that bridge, he continues, the story goes that the workers had to cut down a huge ceiba that was right in the middle of where the road was to go on this side of San Cristobal. One day an old man in a beard walked out of the jungle and told them to not cut down the tree – he said he lived in the tree. The worker’s told the head engineer the story and he just laughed and told them to cut it down anyway. They did and the next day the engineer died…what do you make of that? A similar incident occurred when they tried to cut down the 600 year old ceiba in the plaza.
I’m not sure about the cause and effect, I replied, but I did read the sign on the Ceiba that they had tried to burn in down in the 1940’s but only were able to burn part of it and it still survives today…and looks like it could live another 600 years.
That’s right, he replied, that’s what I mean by this whole region has these enchanted zones. The same thing happened when they damned the river and made the Canon del Sumidero or Sumidero Canyon park. And those things are still happening…are you planning to go to the Sumidero – do you know what it is?
I hadn’t planned on going, I answered, but it might be worth seeing.
What are your plans today? he asked.
Maybe walking around town and seeing some of the sights, I replied.
The Sumidero is like your Grand Canyon, he said, let me make a call.
He picked up his cell phone and dialed several numbers. It seems everyone has a cell phone in Mexico.
My friend is head of the Proteccion Civil here and they are doing some ecology clean-up work with some volunteers, he said, you have to get permission to go but they are leaving around 9:00 for a clean up trip and you should go.
Sure, I replied, that sounds more interesting than seeing the church.
I have to go to Tuxtla today or I would go with you, he said, but let me get you a taxi to his office – it’s on the outskirts of town. I’ll meet you for breakfast again tomorrow and see how it went.
We shook hands and in ten minutes were in front of the Director.
We have to be careful because the area is remote, said the Director, and we do not give permits for individuals to go without tour guides. There are no roads and you know how odd some of the tourists can be, he laughed, I trust Angel’s judgment but I just wanted to make sure myself. My men are going with a private citizen, Roberto Garcia. Sr. Garcia has been working with us for three months now and takes his boat each time we go out to clean up the trash. Let me call him…
The Director got on the phone and spoke for a minute.
It’s all arranged, he said, they will wait for you at the malecon or dock. Take some water and food and be sure to wear your hats, the sun can be strong and not long ago we had some German tourists that got sunburned so badly they had to go to the clinic.
That’s fun for them, I laughed, that way they can show off back home.
I’ll have one of my men drop you back in town, he said, and have a safe trip.
We shook hands and off we went. The nice thing about being an adventurer and not being on a tour is sometimes the unexpected often turns up and if you look for it, almost always turns up.
Twenty minutes later we were on the dock getting into Roberto Garcia’s boat. Roberto was a big, strong man and I liked him instantly. I sat with him in the back of the boat so we could talk on the ride back into the canyon. The river was beautiful outside of Choapa but it was nothing like it would be back in the canyon.
I grew up not far from here and remember the river as a kid, he said, that’s why I do this. This river means something in here, he said patting his chest, and I want to make sure it stays the way I remember it. I’ve been successful and worked in the US and Canada and I want to return a bit of my success to my town…I grew up on a ranch not far from here, he said pointing beyond a large bridge as we went under it.
I know that things cannot remain the same forever, he continued, and everything will change but I want some of this incredible beauty to remain for my children and their children. It may sound sentimental for a grown man like me but that’s how I feel…that’s why I go with the government workers to help keep it clean…and I use my boat and don’t ask for anything in return. My reward is knowing that each time I come I leave the river in better shape than I found it. That must sound silly to an American like yourself.
Not at all, I answered, where I live in California people are very much interested in ecology and a clean environment…come to think of it, I don’t really know anyone that thinks that is silly…
We need more of the attitude you have in the States and Canada, he said, that’s the hard part. It is hard to get people to change their habits. A lot of this trash comes from Tuxtla – there’s a river that flows through town and that’s where most of this trash comes from. It’s the plastic that bothers me the most…nature cannot get rid of plastic very easily…I’ve read where it takes hundreds of years and yet we keep making plastic…why do we humans do these things?
I didn’t say anything to another question to which I had no answer. We were entering the canyon area and the scenery was turning spectacular with cliffs hundreds of feet high. We noticed some Indian ruins near the river’s edge and I thought this must be one of Angel’s enchanted zones.
We came to a spot with drifting logs and debris and loaded up the government boat. We drove several kilometers upstream to the drop site. We unloaded the boat and Roberto suggested we stay and take a look around while they made another run.
I estimated the site to contain 400 or 500 tons of debris; mostly logs but also plastic and other trash. Every ten minutes a boat with 20 plus tourists comes speedboating up the river…hitting a submerged log would not be a good thing. The tourists are busy watching nature and would find a dip in the cold river distasteful.
I conclude that the Zapatistas hate ecotourism because it makes them irrelevant in the natural, preserved parks such as Sumidero. The hundreds of tourists each day bring their dollars and euros and pesos and create hundreds of jobs. And where the tourism is controlled and managed, there is little or no damage to the environment.
I watch as Roberto and the government boat arrives with another load of debris. As I help then unload I think of changes that are happening to my Mexico. Roberto and the government are two of them.
Jack D. Deal
