Qualla: Sima de las Cotorras

Sima de las Cotorras: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit A01172826, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every morning at dawn, the sound starts -- a rising chatter that fills the limestone bowl like water filling a basin. Then the birds emerge. Thousands of Mexican green parakeets launch from their roosts inside the sinkhole, spiraling upward in tight circular patterns until they clear the rim and scatter across the surrounding forest. In the evening, they reverse the choreography, funneling back down into the darkness. The Zoque people who live near this sinkhole in western Chiapas call their land Coita, a word meaning "place of rabbits." But it is the parakeets that have given the place its fame: Sima de las Cotorras, the Sinkhole of the Parrots.

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Image: A01172826 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sima de las Cotorras: A Hole in the Earth

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Arlij, CC BY-SA 4.0. The sinkhole is part of the El Ocote Biosphere Reserve, about ninety minutes from the Chiapas state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez. It belongs to the municipality of Ocozocoautla de Espinoza, accessible by nineteen kilometers of rough road from the town center. The nearest community...

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Image: Arlij | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sima de las Cotorras: Paintings in the Dark

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jbmcpr, CC BY-SA 4.0. The sinkhole walls hold cave paintings whose age and origin are not fully documented but predate European contact. Visitors who rappel the walls or take guided tours along the rim path can see them alongside the tropical vegetation that covers the sinkhole floor. The caves within...

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Image: Jbmcpr | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sima de las Cotorras: An Ecotourism Experiment

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit majo.gavidia, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1985, the Sima de Cotorras Ecotourism Center was established to give local Zoque families an alternative to agriculture and a reason for younger generations to stay rather than migrate. The cooperative built a road, a restaurant, eight cabins for up to five people each, a camp...

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Image: majo.gavidia | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sima de las Cotorras: The Parrots and the Patience

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Silviayesica, CC BY-SA 4.0. The center's challenges are practical: poor access roads, almost no signage, and limited promotion. Most visitors learn about the site through word of mouth. Government support has been intermittent and sometimes counterproductive -- officials have cut down trees to install cemen...

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Image: Silviayesica | CC BY-SA 4.0