Veracruz, a little less that 300 kilometers to the south-east. As Gillian took the dogs for a last stroll around Art moved the motorhome off to the side in front of the hotel chapel to hook up the car. While doing so he noticed that the large rubber stone guard under the rear of the motorhome had come loose at one end and was now fore and aft, rather than cross wise. A bit of crawling around underneath with pliers and hammer and he was able to re-attach it. Ready to roll: car hooked up, dogs and navigator at their stations, Art checked all the gauges prior to pulling out: oil pressure OK, both air gauges up to pressure, batteries charging, engine temperature not reading!!!!! What? Not Again! A quick check below to see if the guard had caught a plug or wiring harness, nothing obvious, so off we went. Some 2,000 Km later we still don't have an engine temperature gauge, relying on the Cummins engine computer to shut the engine down if it over heats! About 1:30 we stopped for lunch at a road side restaurant in a small town, where we were tentatively approached by a small boy of about 8 or 9 years, carrying a filthy rag, a squeegee, and a bottle of water, offering to wash our windshield. He couldn't even reach the bottom of the window! Art got the step ladder off the back of the rig and put him to work. His eyes lit up and we got a very quiet "thank you" and a shy smile as Art handed him the princely sum of 20 pesos.
After lunch we inquired of the waiter and were told that we was one of the very poor of the village. We tipped the waiter well, with something extra to buy the boy a meal when he came past again. Hope the waiter has a conscience!
Without too much trouble we found the next campground on our list, Campamiento El Rey, just south of the city of Veracruz. We were greeted by a couple who were very glad to see someone else, as the place was quite isolated. We were separated from the beach by a row of straggly wind blown cedars and got parked and level. The wind was howling, salt spray and sand blowing over us. We dug out a couple of large plastic bags and a roll of duct tape and covered the air intakes.
Next day we met an interesting family; a 26 foot class C motorhome from Huston Texas; Mom Tessa, and 3 kids: a girl 9, boy 12 and the eldest girl 13. (and as they said "Daddy on a stick") They had a picture of daddy on a piece of wood up on the dash. Dad flew in to join them when he could.
They were on their way to Panama, having completed the North American part of their trek--to see as many World Heritage Sites as possible in a year! This spring they are off to Ireland where they will pick up a camper van to do Europe, then next fall fly to China for their youngest to see her country of birth. We met them later in Palenque and dinner with them and got to know them a bit better--an amazing family.
We spent a couple of days here, driving to various areas to see the sights, Veracruz city and its neighbour Boca Del Rio and a day trip to Xalapa, the state capital. Xalapa, sometimes spelled Jalapa, and pronounced "Halapa" is the home of the Jalapeno pepper.
In Xalapa, our first stop was for lunch. We found a very nice looking restaurant in a hotel and had an excellent meal. Gillian's salad was a little bigger than expected!
The museum there was excellent, the only thing wrong with it was that the directional signs just stopped and there were no exterior signs on the building. We finally asked, parked on a side street, and walked around the block. We found an open gate and wide path, there were still no signs anywhere but as we got closer we could see one sign on the side of the entrance way. Not visible from the street!
This museum has a huge collection of "Olmec Heads" from the area, some small, some immense. The amount of energy and skill required to carve and move these tons of rock is obvious. What is not obvious is why? No one seems to know, though of course theories abound.
Off next day (November 20) to the town of Catemaco, the RV park being part of an hotel, managed by an American, who's wife's (Mexican) family own the hotel as well as a restaurant in town. The main attraction of this stop was the washer and dryer!! Both were painfully slow due to very low water pressure and very low electric power but eventually got the job almost done. We went into the village for dinner, leaving the interior of the motorhome festooned with almost dry clothing!
One funny moment; Tia ran barking at a street dog that had dared to enter the campground, the stray turning and dashing into the street. Tia kept going and somehow came off the line and was gone through the gate after the trespasser. Gillian grabbed a leash and went out after her while Art got the car. (The dogs always come for the car--might miss a trip!) As Art got to the gate Gillian and Tia returned; Gillian had found her half a block away playing in the road with the dog she had just chased out!
Our next stop was just to the west of the city of Villahermosa. The drive was very scenic, climbing into the mountains from Laguna de Catemaco, then down the other side to the highway to Villahermosa. This was almost as far east as we would go, turning south soon after.
The campground, at a Balnearo, (Water Park and Pool) was as the end of a very narrow, bumpy dirt road, the RV Park sign pointing to a locked gate full of scrap cars and trucks. Just ahead of us an attendant came out and explained that we could park in the parking area, he wasn't sure if there was any water, sewer or power! The RV park would be cleaned out for December, we were too early.
We weren't the only ones here--a couple from El Rey were here, as well as a Quebec couple who had parked beside us in Poza Rica. Well after dark a couple arrived from Huatulco, on the Pacific coast, via a road that the guide books say "THIS IS NOT AN EASY DRIVE" although it is the shortest route in distance. A couple in Catemaco had told us it took them 10 hours of driving time on terrible roads.
There was an old wreck of a truck along side our parking place and chained underneath was a vary sad dog with a brood of very cute puppies. Poor Mama couldn't get after her pups if they wandered too far away; she looked so stressed and sad. We never saw anyone come near that evening or the next morning. We just wanted to cut the chain and take them all with us.
We took the opportunity of our proximity to a big city to drive in with the car for some grocery shopping and at the same time spied out our route through town for the next morning.
We had a bit of a visit with the others in the park and went to bed reasonable early, excited to be almost at the end of the eastward part of our journey; tomorrow we would turn south.
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