Sumidero Canyon photos and fundraising total

First things first... our caravan group and a few readers of this blog raised a total of 64,000 pesos ($4,482 CAD, $3,380 USD) for the Hogar Infantil orphanage.

To those of you who contributed, thank you sooo much!

Today (Friday) will be shopping day. Looking forward to showing you what we purchase for the kids.

Yesterday, the group left San Cristobal de las Casas at 9:00am and headed 45 minutes downhill to the town of Chiapa de Corzo where we met Bob and Denise who had taken a bus and taxi to the same destination.

Chiapa de Corzo is where most of the boats launch to tour the fabulous Sumidero Canyon. Cost is 250 pesos ($17.50 CAD, $13.20 USD) per person for the two and a half hour ride.

Nice day to be on the water.

It was hot though. Here's the group, waiting in the shade.

And we're off! Hold on to your hats!

Two mismatched engines, but whatever works!

Once we pass the highway bridge, we head into the canyon.

The walls are getting higher.

Birdlife along the way.

Looking up the canyon.

You wouldn't expect to see pelicans here.

Heading through the canyon.

The "Christmas Tree" is a mineral formation from an underground spring that exits through the rock at certain times of the year.

Getting close to the base of the "Christmas Tree".

Here comes another tour boat.

We aren't the only ones enjoying the canyon.

Lots of birdlife.

Beautiful scenery!

This little girl had a big grin for her selfie shot!

Our boat captain was pretty good a spotting the wildlife from a distance. I guess when you spend all of your time on the water, you get to know what to look for. He spotted a crocodile way off at the shore, and we went to get a closer look...

But the croc kept himself in the water. 

Best I could do was the eyes... and a tooth!

Later on, we spotted this monkey family.

The male was just hanging around!

But the female was looking after a little one.

She brought him closer for a better view.

So we eventually carry on, when all of a sudden we cut the power and turn sharply towards the shore. We all knew the captain had spotted something, but we couldn't figure out what it was. Turned out to be another crocodile, but this one was just a baby...

Only about 18" long.

We have no idea how he spotted it from way out on the lake.

Overall, a great boat trip. A little hot, but when the boat was moving there was a nice breeze.

We had some lunch and a couple of beers.

Then, we took the group in our van up to the lookouts that are in the National Park above the canyon. Too bad it was a bit hazy, but at least the group could get some views from above to give them a different perspective...

And then, about an hour and a half drive back to the orphanage.

Busy day today... stay tuned for tomorrow's post when we do some shopping!

Sorry for the sporadic posting... we have been hampered by very poor WiFi and cellular internet the last couple of weeks. It has been very sporadic and we're doing the best we can.