The Lakes of Chiapas

Beyond our base in the colonial town of San Cristobal de las Casas, one can go deep into the jungle close to the border with Guatemala to see the wild and remote areas in the state of Chiapas. We took some days to visit those areas were access to internet doesn't exist. The dense vegetation and the mountainous geography make it difficult and the places we were about to stay in would offer internet service for just few hours at day. Our goal in this side trip was to visit the Zone of Lakes in the highlands, seeing wild animals in the jungle of low lands, and to visit Mayan archaeological sites.

Fineliner, watercolor and color pencil on Pentalic Watercolor Journal 7" x 10"

For two days we visited the zone of lakes. Our first stop was the Archaeological Zone Chinkultic. At the top of the main pyramid, usually the tallest, biggest and builted in the highest location, we saw the surroundings. Next to pyramid was a cenote that I dared to sketch rapidly and far in the horizon we could see part of the Tziscao Lake were we would stay overnight. 

That evening we went to the Tziscao Lake. It was incredibly windy and cold, we were still in the highlands of Chiapas. Later we would go down to the jungle. Well protected from the weather I sat in a little peninsula totally exposed to the wind but I managed to sketch some cabins at the edge of water. I quickly realized I would sketch with direct watercolor to save time and finish the sketch as soon as possible. This would be the only day of the next days with bad weather.

Direct watercolor on Pentalic Watercolor Journal 7" x 10"

Next morning we visited more lakes of the Lagunas de Montebello, a National park which is internationally known for their beauty, the wide range of blue and green colors and the transparency of their waters. The lake Montebello, which gives the name to the whole zone of the 60+ lakes, is the one of the most open, I wasn't impressed, but our second stop at the group of lakes called Cinco Lagos would change that. The 3 of 5 lakes we visited was a set of lakes barely connected by narrow passages, it gives the impression that it is only one lake, but they are actually three, Lake La Canada, Lake Pena Blanca and Lake Escodido. This group of lakes are deep and surrounded by big cliffs.The local people offer rides to cross the lakes on rafts made of big tied tree trunks, very stable.  We met a young family from Switzerland at the beach area of the lakes, the only one where is allowed to swim. While I was swimming in the cold water I yelled at the family, hey Switzerland! I made signs for them to join me to swim. When I was out and dry, I heard someone yelled on the other side of the beach: hey Chicago! We witnessed how they accepted the challenge and also dared to swim in the freezing water, how fun! After that refreshing experience we returned to the embarcadero or pier. There, my sketchbook was awaiting for me to sketch the view of the rafts.

Pen, ink, watercolor and color pencil on Hand Book Watercolor Journal 8" x 8"

This sketch would be the last large size sketch I would do in order to optimized our daylight time. There were at least 10 rafters who would observe me sketching. I had fun chatting with them. At the end I asked them for a group photo, that was the moment when half of them disappeared, you see, they are shy. To the very left is Rodolfo, the rafter on the sketch with red shirt, he was wearing a black one but I took the liberty to change that. Next to him was Hermett (sorry if I got  your name wrong) who was our guide for the ride.

I'm glad we met friendly through sketching as they opened up. I'm sure this was a rare opportunity for them to see something different like me sketching the beautiful lands they love and are so proud of.
Click here for the next post about Chiapas.