El Aguacero

El Aguacero is the easiest way into the Río La Venta canyon, a deep gorge that runs for some 80 kilometers through the limestone hills west of Ocozocoautla, with walls that reach hundreds of meters in places. At the ecotourism center on the rim, a long stairway of more than 700 steps drops through the forest to the river at the bottom.

The waterfall is not a single drop but a cascade that pours out of the canyon wall itself, from springs high on the rock, and falls over moss-covered ledges in dozens of streams. Standing below it feels like being caught in a downpour, which is where the name comes from. On sunny mornings the spray makes rainbows over the river.

In the dry months the river is low and calm, you can walk along sandbanks on the canyon floor and swim in the pools, and guides lead visits into El Encanto, a cave with an underground river. In the rainy season the river rises fast and turns dangerous, the lower area may be closed, and the stairs are slippery. Further downstream, the canyon holds harder-to-reach sights such as the Arco del Tiempo, a giant natural arch reached on long guided treks from the Cintalapa side.