Frontera Corozal

Introducing Frontera Corozal

This riverside frontier town (formerly called Frontera Echeverría) is the stepping-stone to the beautiful ruins of Yaxchilán, and is on the main route between Chiapas and Guatemala’s Petén region. Inhabited mainly by Chol Maya, who settled here in the 1970s, Frontera Corozal is 16km by paved road from Crucero Corozal junction on the Carretera Fronteriza. The broad Río Usumacinta, flowing swiftly between jungle-covered banks, forms the Mexico–Guatemala border here.

Long, fast, outboard-powered lanchas come and go from the river embarcadero. Almost everything you’ll need is on the paved street leading back from the river here – including the immigration office (8am-6pm), 400m from the embarcadero, where you should hand in/obtain a tourist card if you’re leaving for/arriving from Guatemala. If it’s slow, the officer often closes up early, but anyone in town can tell you where to find him, if need be.

The neat and modern Museo de la Cuenca del Usumacinta (Museum of the Usumacinta Basin; admission free; 8am-7pm), opposite the immigration office, has good examples of Chol Maya dress, and some information in Spanish on the area’s post-conquest history, but pride of place goes to two fine and intricately carved steles ­retrieved from the nearby site of Dos Caobas.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009