Chapter 43: All Quiet on the Southern Front

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So we headed south, from the mountain city of Xalapa to the tropical plains of southern Veracruz. On the fast toll highway we saw the landscape change drastically and felt the temperature go up with every passing minute. We once again passed through the city of Veracruz again, this time making a point of avoiding the street with the car rental facility, just on the off chance that they would see what we did to there car and chase us chase us down.

Our drive became a lot slower once we headed south from Veracruz, since the highway went off in another direction, and we had to take the older roads (filled with the dreaded "topes" - speed bumps). In Mexico, they use topes liberally to manage the speed of drivers. That is great is city roads and busy intersections... but I still don't see the wisdom of putting them in random spots on highways. It is hard enough to slow down from 100kph to 10 with only a 5 second warning, but it is even harder to do it when there is no warning. So there were a few times we hit topes at close to full speed and I am pretty sure our little Chevy POP caught some air.

After a long days drive, and well after the sun had set, we made it to our rest stop for the night. It was a small town called San Andres Tuxla. Apparently, this town has very little to offer other than a nice town square that has the head of an ancient Mayan Statue sitting in the middle (nobody seems to know where the body is). Luckily for us, on this night, there was plenty to do. The one claim to fame of this town is that it is a place where all the "city folk" from the city of Veracruz come down to in order to enjoy the Xmas holidays. So on this night, the streets were filled with fiestas and he town polulation had virtually doubled overnight. We also ran into an American couple, who had family ties back to this town. So they took us around to all the sites and back street restaurants (owned by there relatives) to get free food and get an insite into the real festivities.

Early the next morning we headed onward to Laguna Catemaco. But on the way we decided to stop at another waterfall (whos name now escapes me). The waterfall was impressive, with a 160 step walkway to the bottom. There we rested and grabed a bight to eat and a little bit of coconut milk to drink. Once we made our way back to the car, we discovered that we had actually left the lights on, and that our little POP was totally out of juice. So the next hour making a spectacle of ourselves for the locals as we tried to jump start the car. After our novelty had run out, one of the spectators came over and told us he had a jumper cable. So we were finally able to get our car stated and continue on our way

Late in the afternoon we made it to Laguna Catemaco, and were greeted by one of the most stunning places I have seen in my time in Mexico. The weather was perfect (especially after the cold we had felt up in J/Xalapa) and the sun created stunning beams through the big puffy clouds in the sky. We were hungry, so we stop at on of the many lakeside restaurants to fill our stomachs. The food was good, and as we were eating, a waiter came over and told us that there was going to be a "Special Xmas Party" that night. So, we all agreed that it may be a good place to spend Xmas (more on this later).

After we ate, we rented a lancha (motor boat) and got a tour of the lake. We saw many islands covered with different birds, and were even taken to an island that had imported Thai chimpanzees. There were apparently there to be researched by the University of Veracruz, but apparently the research had failed since all the tour operators in the lake keep giving them food, and messing up there habitat. The trip was over in under 2 hours, and after a 10 minute argument with the operator about being overcharged, we headed over to a La Jungla, a camp site that was recommended by the Lonely Planet guide.

We had seen La Jungla during our tour around the lake, so we followed our infallible sense of direction (just going along the lake) to find it. This turned out the be the best campsite we would find on our trip. It is located at the end of a 2km dirt "road"(and I use the term loosely). But if you are willing to find your way there, it is more than worth it. It is owned by a European immigrant who decided to settle down here over 20 years ago. While we were there we also meet a Belgian couple who was 4.5 years into there 5 year sabaticle which they had spent traveling around the world (NOTE-TO-SELF: Get a job in Belgium).

We went back to the restaurant for the X-mas dinner, but it ended up being aweful. The meal ended up being chicken in a bad BBQ sauce with mac 'n cheese, and the champaine ended being nothing more than sparkling apple cider. So we decided to pack it in early that night. The next morning, during Xmas day, we had set in our head that we wanted to spend Xmas on the beach (something none of us had done before). So once again, we followed the Lonely Planet to a place called Playa Escondido. The guide listed the road as "difficult". But that was an extreme understatement. The road was not meant for anything other than high clearance SUV, or horses. You would have to be crazy to even try it in anything else... so 30 minutes later we found ourselves 2km down this road in our Chevy pop.

We never actually made it the whole way to the Playa Escondido. After 30 minutes we came across another beach with a small restaurant. We thought we were there and decided to stop to get a bite to eat. We asked the two girls working there is this was Playa Escondido. They said no, and told us that we were less that a third of the way there down this road. We we adventurous, but we also did not want to get stranded on a random dirt road. So we settled for the beach we had. :)


¡Feliz Navidad!

Spanish School Mexico

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