On Friday morning, we rode a little over an hour from Palenque to the Cascadas de Agua Azul – a series of waterfalls famous for its turquoise-blue waters found on the Xanil River. The water has a high content of calcium carbonate and various other minerals so all the rocks and trees that the water runs over are encased in thick coats of limestone. The falls also consist of numerous cataracts forming sequences of waterfalls.
The September 2017 earthquake had altered the course of the river and caused the water level at the falls to drop. Local residents, who depend on the tourism that the falls bring in, went to work with picks and shovels, shifting rocks and mud to restore the river to its original course. As a result, we were very fortunate to see this stunning beauty in all its glory because it truly is an incredible sight to see and pictures don’t do it justice. We did get to fly our drone there so keep an eye on our YouTube channel for the video.
There are allocated areas at the falls where people can swim; however, we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity. Instead, we hiked all way to the highest viewpoint while taking many pictures along the way, came back down, had lunch, and then returned to our hotel where we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool with our laptops.
