Up the Creek Without a Camera

Today we went to Canon del Sumidero, a national park with a river running through it. It is about forty minutes away, and unfortunately on our way out of town we missed the turnoff to the 'cuota' route - the new, quick highway - which means we were on the scenic route.

I began taking pictures from the car like I always do, as the sights on the way to anywhere are always interesting. Within twenty minutes or so I had to stop, as I started to feel light-headed on the winding route.

It seemed to take about an hour to get to Chiapa de Corzo where the canyon is. We were looking for a restaurant to have some lunch, when a young man (about thirteen years old) on his bike spotted us. He was a guide to help tourists get around the town. As we were not able to stop for more than a few seconds without impeding traffic, we continued driving while talking to him; after a moment I realized he had dropped off his bike and hopped onto the outside of our car to continue conversing with us while we drove. While still hanging onto the outside of our car, he lead us to a nearby restaurant (a pretty fancy one, but it allowed the dog!), and while we ate he arranged for us to go on the canyon tour.

He waited for us to finish, then lead us to the dock where we were the last people to fill up the motor boat. We put our life jackets on, paid our money and boarded with about twenty other people, mostly French tourists.

A few of the French tourists around us seemed miffed that we had brought our dog, so we kept her close to us. We thought the boat would take us to areas of the park where we could get out and walk around; had we known we were going to be sitting for two hours under the mid-day sun on a small boat crammed with tourists, we probably would not have gone.

Within a minute of launching, the captain announced that it was about to become very windy, as our speed increased, so to hold onto our hats. As everyone secured their hats, I reminded David that he should remove his hat. He assured me that he wouldn't lose his hat. Just then, the boat was off in a flash and so was his hat. He was in a foul mood for much of the remainder of the tour, and ranted about the French distracting him.

For her part, Chloe was very well behaved, as her ears are accustomed to flapping in the wind on our boat up north. She did, however, see things she wouldn't see on Georgian Bay: shiny black vultures, large pelicans, and crocodiles.

At one point the boat was close to the vulture-covered shore, and Chloe tried to get a better view by placing one paw on the leg of a French woman beside her. The look of serious astonishment on her face at the sight of the vultures was priceless. So was the look of serious astonishment on the face of the French woman. I quickly grabbed Chloe and duly apologized. It was at that moment that I realized how sorry I really was...that I left the camera in the car.

The sights were unlike anything I had ever seen: The true majesty of the immense cliffs, the patterns etched in the mountain face over thousands of years, village women washing their clothes along the shore of the river while crocodiles sun themselves a little further along the beach.

Chloe's Notes: We went on a boat ride today and saw lots of odd wildlife: big birds, crocodiles and French people. Poor David lost his hat and his temper.