Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen

After another fine breakfast in the jungle restaurant of Don Mucho, we packed up and started off on the long drive south to San Cristobal. Having already experienced a portion of what this road would bring us, no one was particularly looking forward to this leg of the journey. Knowing that we would also have to backtrack along this route on our way north to Campeche made it even worse. We cursed every tope, road block and switchback along the way. We made our scheduled stop to see the falls at Misol Ha and, as this was not a planned swimming opportunity, it was a bit of a “Griswolds Visit the Grand Canyon” experience. I don’t think the kids were too disappointed, their lips just now returning to the proper shade of pink after our afternoon in the old waters of Aguas Azules. The site is beautiful and so easy to get to from Palenque. It has the feel of a state park with all the accompanying facilities and far fewer vendors to contend with. If you are travelling in the area, I would definitely recommend you make this a part of your itinerary.

 

A travel tip: if you are planning to explore this region and are going to make the drive from Palenque to San Cristobal, work your visit to Misol Ha and Aguas Azules into that travel day. The drive from Aguas Azules to San Cristobal will still be long but at least you will have broken the monotony with some enjoyable stops. 90 miles, four and a half hours and 250 topes later, we arrived in San Cristobal, everyone's tempers now quite short. Fortunately, we immediately found a lovely and very civilized restaurant in which to take in a late lunch. Located in the Hotel Ciudad Real, on the pretty Plaza del 31 Marzo, the restaurant, Sensaciones de Chiapas specialized in regional favorites like chorizo de conejo (rabbit), longaniza and cured meats. I popped a bottle of Argentinean Malbec to take the edge off and booked us into the to the last remaining rooms for the night. By 6:30 we were tucked into our comfortable beds and in for the night. Looking forward to exploring this beautiful city. Tomorrow is sure to be a better day.