Mexico & Guatemala
Trips & stories
A warm river near Tuxtla, cenotes near Comitán and Montebello, nights on the Oaxaca coast, the kit we take camping, a stove project in the Guatemalan highlands, and life in a house that runs on rainwater. Browse an outing, a practical guide or a story.
These field notes come from places I’ve visited and work I’ve done, often with my family. Read my full story →
Outings
Rivers, cenotes & coastal camps
Seven experiences we’ve rated, grouped by where they are. Each card gives our dated verdict and what to know before you go, and opens our account of it. How we rate
Near Tuxtla
An hour and twenty minutes’ drive from San Cristóbal.
Balneario Isla de María
Our verdict: 4/5Latest visit July 2026
A thermal river, warm not hot — the short camping trip we make each year.
Basic facilities · MX$40 ✓ a person (2026)
Caution: after heavy rain the river rises and can overflow.
Read the river page →
Comitán and the Montebello lakes
Chukumaltik and Las Peñitas are about an hour apart.
Before you go: the UK government advises against all but essential travel within 40 km of the Guatemalan border. The Montebello lakes are inside that zone, and Chukumaltik is close to its edge. What we’ve seen there.
Chukumaltik
Our verdict: 5/5Visited May 2026
An almost 70-metre-deep cenote, with water clear enough to watch the bottom drop away.
Picnic tables; life vests and a canoe for hire · MX$40 a person (May 2026)
Caution: it gets deep quickly at the edge.
In our cenotes account →
El Camarón
Our verdict: 5/5Visited August 2026
An infrequently visited forest cenote, easy to get into — the one I’d bring the children back to.
An unsigned 1.5 km track (low cars may not make it), then a short path with handrails (August 2026).
In our cenotes account →
Camping at Las Peñitas, with the walk to Bartolo’s ridge
Our verdict: 4/5Visited August 2026
The lake at dusk, and cornfields running to a hilly horizon.
Bucket-flush bathrooms and roofed tables; no shops nearby.
Caution: there’s no trail down to Bartolo, and its water is immediately extremely deep.
In our cenotes account →
The cave and the stone arch
Our verdict: 3/5Visited August 2026
A local man’s tip took us through tall pines to a cave where people still hold ceremonies.
About ten minutes’ walk from the road; we paid nothing.
Caution: the cave gets steep and slippery quickly.
In our cenotes account →
The Oaxaca coast
A ten-hour drive from San Cristóbal.
Playa Riscalillo
Our verdict: 5/5Visited August 2026
A reef with turtles at the end of a beach with nobody on it in the evening.
A calm, protected bay the week we were there · MX$200 per adult; the children weren’t charged (August 2026)
In our Oaxaca coast account →
The orchard campsite, Zipolite
Our verdict: 5/5Visited August 2026
Slow days under fruit trees, with star fruit and mangoes straight from the tree.
Shade, a pool and power by the tent. Hot: 28°C (82°F) at 7am.
In our Oaxaca coast account →
The full accounts: Balneario Isla de María · Cenotes in Chiapas with children · Camping on the Oaxaca coast with two children
The Alternative Lives Factor
Outside the usual routes
The Factor records how rewarding we found a particular experience. The reasons, practical details and observations about travelling with our children help you decide what appeals to you. Each verdict reflects our own dated visit.
- 5/5This is why we do it
- 4/5Our kind of experience
- 3/5Glad we went
- 2/5A few good moments
- 1/5Not for us
Our ratings so far: cenotes in Chiapas · the Oaxaca coast · Balneario Isla de María
Practical guides
Before you set off
What we take camping, and the crossing we use between Mexico and Guatemala.
Packing list · ten essentials
What we take camping with children in Mexico
Ten things we always carry on a family camping trip in Mexico — four of them about food — plus what five years of trips to a thermal river in Chiapas taught us, including the winter the tent froze over.
A regular journey
Driving through La Mesilla and back
The border crossing we use between Mexico and Guatemala: paperwork, vehicle permits and the stops along the way, from our own crossings.
Everyday life
At home in San Cristóbal
What daily life is like in the house we built in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.
Living on rainwater · 2024–2026
Living on rainwater in Mexico: what daily life is like
Moving into our unfinished house with one working sink and no mains water: washing clothes in the river, a first dry season that left the cistern 90% empty, and the float switch I’m still proud of.
Community work
Work in the Guatemalan highlands
Community work
The stove I built to keep families warm
The woodstove I designed for the cold Guatemalan highlands: it burned less firewood than the concrete stoves it replaced, and was built to keep the room warm too — a field note on what you only notice after time inside the homes you’re trying to help.
Community work · 2013
San Francisco Las Flores, and the beans that wouldn’t cook
Two trips to a Cuchumatanes village to install cookstoves, and the night our beans wouldn’t cook until a neighbour’s wood fire and some cal rescued dinner.
Follow along
If you enjoyed these, I’ll email you when I publish another article. The stove story and the night our beans wouldn’t cook give you a taste of the writing beyond our trips.