Pedal The Globe Series: Adventures In Chiapas

7 Episodes documenting our 3 weeks of bike adventures from San Cristobal de Las Casas to Palenque, Chiapas. Featuring the 7 cyclists: Rio, Sunny, Hippo, Benny, Lil Beto, Andre, and Lori.. (W/ Lori we are the Magic 7 w/out Lori - The 6-Pack)

Part 1: Leaving San Cristobal de Las Casas



Part 2: Into Chiapas Nature



Part 3: Paradise Livings in Lagunas de Montebello



Part 4: Into the Deep Chiapas Nature



Part 5: Pedal to the Medal through Zapatista Lands



Part 6: Miramar



Part 7: Finale - Outta the jungle & down to Palenque

Highlight: The Nature Of Chiapas

Chiapas, the southern most state in Mexico along the west coast, is easily one of the most amazing places to see natural wonders in this huge country.. 

(Me upon entering Chiapas from Oaxaca)

El Chorreadero:

The first waterfall I encountered in Chiapas was when I was riding solo up the mountains on the old highway between Tuxtla Gutierrez and San Cristobal De Las Casas. Known as "El Chorreadero" this was the first waterfall I've ever seen that comes straight out of an underground cavern.

(View from the inside looking out)

The cavern was huge, and even included a subterranean lagoon & waterfall. I tried taking a photo of the underground falls but it was too dark,  I was all alone with flying bats, and a bit scared so after getting a good look of it I carefully trekked back to the light..

(The slippery and uneven ground of the cavern)

El Chiflon:

Probably the most amazing waterfall I've seen since I was a child.. It's actually a series of 3 large waterfalls one after the other. Also the first big destination we arrived at after leaving 7 people deep from San Cristobal De Las Casas..

(El Chiflon in the distance)

(El Chiflon close-up)

(Me near the top of El Chiflon w/ Rainbow)

(Little beach at the top of the trail at El Chiflon)

Las Lagunas De Montebello:

A two day ride from El Chiflon we arrived at the beautiful Montebello lakes, right on the edge of Mexico.. It consists of about 9 lakes, each more impressive than the next.. The first night we stayed in Laguna Montebello, the largest lake, and it only got more interesting from there..

(Laguna Montebello)

(Our camp at laguna Montebello)

Day 2 we camped at the Laguna International. A lake which is half in Mexico, and half in Guatemala.. To our surprise you could easily cross into Guatemala here, where there is nothing but a few houses, and the only town anywhere near there is across the lake in Mexico.. We spent the night on the other side of the line in Guate, and I can now officially say that I have crossed the entire country of Mexico with La Bomba Diggidad!

(Camping right on the border)

You can't tell from looking at the photo above but all of our things got soaked the night before... There's Sunny putting up some things to dry. Sunny and Ben got the worst of the rain in their walmart quality tents... In fact they spent the night sleeping on a table in a little shack in Mexico while all their things, and friends were stuck in a rainstorm in Guatemala.. It was quite the night..

(Laguna International.. It's a Meximalan lake..)

(Our Bordermalan friends who live on the property where we camped)

Our third and final night at the lakes culminated at the most beautiful of all, which actually was not one but five lakes, or Cinco Lagos as it's called..

(View of lakes 2,3,4 from the top of hill across the main lake)

(Crossing the main lake by raft)

(Lago Cinco)

(Main lake with the rafts)

(The chalets by the main lake where we slept)

The chalets are actually used by the locals as little kitchens and convenience stores for tourists in the day time.. At night they all pack up and leave.. We hung around until everyone was gone, and took a chalet a piece for the night... We got up super early the next morning and packed out before the vendors returned...

(Sunrise on the main lake from above)

Laguna Miramar:

After the Lagunas de Montebello we began the most challenging part of our journey, cycling the backwoods of Chiapas. Reaching Laguna Miramar from Montebello was a dirt roads adventure to say the least.. Our team was down to 6 after Lorena took a collectivo shuttle from Montebello back to San Cristobal. We took backroad dirt tracks to get to the, “Las Margaritas - San Quitin,” dirt highway which takes you to a town near the lake. Through deep jungles, broken bike issues, sickness, and Zapatista communities we pedalled & pushed through 6 days of dirt road trekking. 

 Sights like this were common 

As well as signs like this

La Bomba Diggidad on the road to Miramar!

Arriving in the last town before the lake, the town of Emiliano Zapata, the locals have the tourist gig well set up. They have clean cabanas connected to a large dining area, which is 6 km from the lake, and the last place we could get to with our bikes. From there they charged us the entrance fee to the park, daily, which was kind of a hustle, and a camping fee per person. This also included storage for our bikes and heavy luggage as it is quite a hike to get to the lake.. The 6km hike is an amazing walk with beautiful scenery, and slightly challenging sections which made it all the more fun. 

Leaving the cabanas with all our things for the next couple days..

Muddy 6k walk

With sneaky ticks

Beautiful ancient trees to see 

And log bridges to cross..

We arrived at the laguna just before dark,

and it was a mini little paradise.. Definitely worth all the hard-work…

Our camp & kitchen by the lakeside for 3 days

Misol-Ha:

After Laguna Miramar, we took a collective ride out of the deep jungle. There were 2 broken bikes, and we all decided to stick together. We took a ride to Ocosingo, and from there we were a mere 90k up the hill from our final destination together in Palenque.. However, there was more to see on the road! 13 K before arriving in Palenque is another magnificent waterfall. Definitely worth seeing and feeling. The water falling created such a powerful current that it was a powerful adrenaline rush just swimming in the lagoon below...

It rained so heavy the night before that the steps to the cavern became another waterfall..

Palenque:

3 weeks after leaving San Cristobal, we finally arrived at our final destination as a group of six.. Or with the “6-Pack” as the group began to call itself. I can do an entire section just on Palenque, and will do one later focusing on a community I spent some time at here known as “El Jardin De Eden.” But for now I’ll focus on the nature, and the ancient Mayan ruins.

The ruins exude a magical essence which blankets this whole area..

The archeological zone is huge and all around the large temples are tons of trails which lead to Mayan habitations. Many of which nature has weaved its way through..

Some of the most impressive parts were the carved art pieces cut into many of the temples, and in the royals habitations..

The nature of Chiapas is rich of life and energy. I witnessed and lived lots of beautiful moments here, from the mountain tops, to the thick low jungles. But, if I could tell you the main thing that I took from this slice of the trip, it would definitely be new family.


All of the bike crew at the Jardin De Eden community, Palenque..

(L to R - Ben, Sunny, Hippo, Lorena, Rio, Beto, Angelo, Andre)

Our original group of 7 has split here. Lorena went back home to San Cristobal De Las Casas, Beto got rid of his bike and took a ride with his new 'wife' to D.F. to catch a flight back to Curitiba,  Andre & Ben are going together to explore the Yucatan Peninsula, and Sunny, Hippo, Angelo, and I are going to cross into Guatemala 170k from here by river boat into the northern Guatemalan state of Peten.

If you don't know who Angelo is it's because he recently joined us here in Palenque. He is a Brazilian who was living in San Diego, California and is now returning to the south of Brazil where he's from. He was hitchhiking, and bussing until he met us at "El Panchan" in Palenque. Beto donated his bike "Esperanza" to Angelo, and now Esperanza which just rode up from Brazil with Beto, will ride back down to Brazil with Angelo, and so it is...

Here's me and Angelo collecting wood for a sacred ceremony during our time in "El Jardin"

There is a bit more of Chiapas to see before we cross into Peten in a few days. We will be passing through the indigenous land of Lancanja, and the pyramids of Bonampak. Since I can’t be certain of our next reliable internet I will leave ya’ll here in Palenque! Next step we enter Central America, and cross the jungles of the northern Guatemalan state of Peten, in direction of Belize. Till next time… Adios, amor, e paz! :))

PS - Check out this sweet video Benny shot of us during our time in the backwoods of Chiapas:

Special Update: Bici Nomada, New friends, Benny Vision Productions, Casa Verde Colectivo & San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas!

So to catch everyone up on where we're at......

Prior to arriving in the magical little town of San Cristobal De Las Casas, the team was, my brother Sunny, our road dog Hippolyte from France, and myself. In fact, Sunny and I had gotten into a pretty ugly little bad-mouthing session one morning on the beaches of Oaxaca, and from that point all the way to San Cristobal we had been split up.

I arrived in San Cristobal solo, at night, and thinking I would be here for at least 2-3 days to rest. I figured I'd run into Sunny and Hippolyte, and assumed that as usual they'd be itching to bolt out of town as soon as they were rested up. I had accepted that I'd ride from here to Palenque solo. Boy was I wrong.

We are prepping to leave as I write this, and looking out the window I can count 7 bagged down bikes. There may be at least one more joining as well. Long-story short, my brother and Hippolyte met some cyclists on their way up to San Cristobal who told them about this travelling cyclist hostel in town known as Bici Nomada.

At Bici Nomada Sunny, and Hippolyte met some other touring cyclists: 

Andre from Brazil who is travelling south from Alaska back to Sao Paulo. Here he is with Silvia who works at Bici Nomada.

 Beto also from Brazil has been travelling north from Curitiba, Brazil to Mexico. 

They both met here at Bici Nomada as well, and maybe it was the energy of all the touring cyclists in town but a big plan was made to cycle from here to Palenque as one large group, and we even got some new riders to join..  

Lorena who runs Bici Nomada will be coming with us on her first long ride!

To add to the mix we made a friend in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, who decided to join us as well.

Benny bought a bike in Oaxaca, took a bus to San Cristobal, and is now a part of our team.

We spent more time in San Cristobal than any other stop on our entire journey, and according to the locals here that is a common occurrence. But as you can see in this video made by Ben, we have kept quite busy.. Check out Ben's youtube page here:  Benny Vision

I don't usually stay at hostels but the mix between all the activity that was going on,  the new friends we made, and this epic bike journey we conjured through the jungles of Chiapas, it was better to just ride the flow.. A big bonus to staying here was meeting and hanging out with the epic band Casa Verde Colectivo.. They played a show at our Bici Nomada party, and stayed the night. Not only are they amazing people but their music is off the chain:




Very grateful to have made such great friends here, and to have gotten to know a bit of this amazing place, San Cristobal De Las Casas, Chiapas:

This story wouldn't be complete if I didn't tell you about Masaru and Ruben... These two dudes from Queretaro were a big part of our time in San Cristobal.. They arranged for Casa Verde Colectivo to play, organised the party, and were a big part of our family here.

Masaru, Ruben, & Sunny:

(Photo By Andre Fatini)

A big reason for this update is because today we head off for the wild. We will be going into the jungles of Chiapas where paved roads don't even go. Paradise awaits us, and we will be far from any wifi or internet for at least 10 days till we get to Palenque. From there we split up: Sunny, Hippo, Ben, and I will head to the Frontera Corozal to enter into Peten, Guatemala, Andre will head for the Yucatan, Beto probably to Mexico City soon to get back to Brazil.