Agua Azul Waterfall
Last time I was in Mexico, about seven years ago, one of the most chilled out stops was a swim at Agua Azul – the blue waters.
Agua Azul Waterfall panorama
The main falls
Agua Azul
The waterfalls lie a short distance from Palenque, on the road to San Cristobal de las Casas. From the car park it’s a short walk past the shops to see the various levels of the waterfall. The limestone steps are up to 6m (20 feet) high. The blueness of the water comes from the high mineral content, and anything that falls in eventually get covered with limestone deposits. It’s possible to see partially submerged trees covered in a thick coating of limestone.
It’s obvious how they came up with the name Blue Waters
Agua Azul Waterfall
The coach driver seemed to give us an excessively long time at Agua Azul, so we ended up having an early lunch there. The entrance is lined with restaurants, and their staff stand in the pathway shouting in your face. With 45 minutes to waste on a hot day it was more enjoyable to just give in and buy a cold drink, than stand in the car park getting approached with a menu every few minutes.
There are still a few swimmers at Agua Azul – the water is quite shallow, so very warm
As I remembered from last time, the food is very cheap, but not particularly tasty. Most of it is fried tacos that have been waved past some filling.
Still a beautiful place, but not quite as laid back as before.
The cataracts go on for some distance
Misol-Ha waterfall, on the road to Palenque
Misol-Ha waterfall
Not far from Agua Azul is the 35m drop Misol waterfall. We also stopped here last time I was here, and we all welcomed the opportunity to go for a swim to cool off. The pool was deep and had a pleasant mixture of hot and cool water, depending on the shade. It’s also deep, but there were ropes to hold on to for the lesser swimmers. We spent ages there.
This time there was no swimming allowed, although there was a path round the back of the falls. It’s a pretty enough park, but debateable whether it’s worth a stop any more.
On the plus side it has a fridge full of ice-cream, clean toilets and friendly/bored staff with whom to chat whilst waiting for the others.
Parrot at Agua Azul in Mexico – he was very interested in our lunch
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