Cañón del Sumidero

The Sumidero Canyon is the reason most people come to Chiapa de Corzo. Just north of town the Grijalva River enters a narrow gorge cut by a geological fault, and for roughly 25 kilometers it runs between cliffs that rise around a thousand meters above the water. The canyon is a national park, declared in 1980, and a protected wetland, and it appears on the Chiapas state coat of arms.

For centuries the river here was wild and deadly, and nobody managed to travel the whole canyon until a group of local explorers did it in 1960. Today the water is calm because the Chicoasén hydroelectric dam closes the canyon's northern end, turning the river into a long, deep lake that boats can navigate easily.

The classic visit is a boat ride from Chiapa's riverfront up to the dam and back. On the way you pass under the sheer walls, look for crocodiles on the banks, spider monkeys and herons in the trees, and stop at landmarks such as the Árbol de Navidad, a moss-covered rock formation shaped by a seasonal waterfall, and the Cueva de Colores, a cave with a small shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. The other way to see it is from above, at a chain of lookouts on the rim reached by road from Tuxtla Gutiérrez.