Catamaco and the drive to Villahermosa

We planned on two nights here in Catamaco, the 9^th being Gillian's birthday.

For Gillian's birthday, other than a cheeky card from Art, we also went out for dinner.Gene also told us that there would be a party birthday party for a friend of his going on the night of the 9^th until who knows when and we would be welcome to attend. When we told him that it was Gillian's birthday too, he said that we must attend.

After breakfast Art did a couple of loads of laundry which took a while as the water pressure was so low the machine took forever to fill! Other than that we had a quiet day, Gillian catching up on her magazine and Art blogging, e-mailing etc.

That evening we did go out for and early dinner at La Ola (The Wave) in town. The restaurant is on the lakeside, with was also a nice garden leading to the lake where several fishing boats were moored. Inside the false ceiling was quite unusual and beautiful, it was of woven wooden material of some sort.

Recommended by Gene, (Owned by relatives—did he have a choice?) it turned out fine with some reservation. We had eaten here a few years ago, and remembered good food.

The only down side to our meal was that we followed the comments of Mike and Terry Church, in their “Travelers Guide to Mexican Camping” which said “ you must try the “togologos” a local speciality.

We did ask the waiter what they were and he confirmed our guess that they were snails. Well we both like escargot, though to be truthfull Gillian appreciates them more than Art, so we each asked for an appie order of togologos.

For our main course we ordered “Vuelve la Vida” (return or restore life) which was a medley of all seafood served cold in a huge brandy style goblet. Quite nice but you guessed it, more togologos!

For drinks Gillian ordered a Negro Modelo and Art a margarita. Or two.

The togologos arrived, done as a ceviche. Ceviche is not one of Art's favourite but he was OK with it. Until he tried to eat one. Gillian had the same response.

Togologos will not be written up in the Michelin Guide. Perhaps in the Michelin Catalogue. Not so much as tough as hard. Some of these little things the fork wouldn't penetrate!

The place is quite pleasant and the staff friendly and helpful. Our waiter knew about the party back at the RV Park and was surprise that we weren't there.

We also met an English couple with their Mexican friend, on their third visit to Mexico and had a nice chat.

Back at the RV Park we turned the TV on to catch the last 15 minutes of the 5 O'clock CHEK TV News from Victoria, ( remember the 2 hour time zone difference) feed the dogs and go across to join the local party.

More food and drink we visited and chatted for a few hours then we returned to the RV none the worse for wear, we planned to leave in the morning for Villahermosa.

Gillian soon retired but Art was determined to complete the last blog entry but Google was being difficult and having problems uploading pictures. He persevered until 1:30 AM (shortly after the music stopped!) then gave up and went to bed.

Shortly after 1:00 AM there was a sudden hard shower, and a gust or two of wind. Just after going to bed he heard rain on the roof once again.

Just after dawn Art was awakened by the wind which was buffeting the awning and shaking the rig. The only advantage of an electric awning is that he didn't have to go outside to retract it! Just a push of a button did the trick then back to bed.

7:30 AM Art gave up on any hope of continued sleep, the wind howling around ended that. We soon decided that there was no real need to push on down the road, we would stay a third night. We could take the opportunity to do more laundry! Sheets and towels. Two loads took most of the day! Gillian occupied herself with a bit of house cleaning.

A river flowed past the campground into the very close Laguna Catamaco. Here we watched divers collecting the infamous togolgos from the river, some them in the fairly strong current.

November 11

The wind had died down, it was time to go. The night before Art had filled the fresh water tanks but left the holding tanks, for morning. After breakfast that was taken care of, satellite dish stowed, power disconnected and we were ready to go.

On the road about 10:00 AM we set off south. As we headed out of town past the lake the wind returned and it began to rain. This route we had taken some years ago, but only remembered bits of it.

There were many small towns and villages along this road with population ranging from a few hundred (mostly children from the looks of things) to eight thousand or so. The rain eased off just in time for this photo of a town church.

Much of this road had been seriously damaged by the summer (rainy season) floods. We crossed several areas where the road had obviously been recently repaired and several were repairs were still in progress. We were not terribly excited about one temporary steel bridge about a foot wider than our track and no guard rails! Somehow we got across with out falling into the river.

We eventually reached the toll road heading southeast, but only after a couple of U-turns! Mexican road signs leave a little to be desired. Obviously the way to the toll road was not part of what we remembered!

The toll road was in disgusting shape for the first 20 or 30 kilometres, then on and off for another 50 or so then things began to improve as road repairs were under way. The last half of the drive the highway was in good shape.

Unfortunately the rain and cloud hid much of the true beauty of one to the bridges along the way. Further along one of the toll booths was almost completely flooded as the rain continued.

Approaching Villahermosa we began to try to recall and visualise the approach. We remembered that we had to take a returno and that it had been difficult to see the entrance but we remembered also that we had found it. That was a few years ago! A couple of extra returnos later we were on the muddy potholed dirt road to the balneario.

A young lady directed us to a less waterlogged placed to park, assuring us that it was firmer than the other areas. After a bit of manoeuvering to find a level spot (so we wouldn't have to put too much weight on the jacks) we were eventually parked, jacks down with wooden pads under the jacks and slides out A couple of young men had strung an extension cord out to us as apparently none of the electrical outlets on the posts worked!

Once connected to an very undersized cable Art set the satellite dish to searching out the satellite. It seemed to find it OK but when we later went to watch the news the the receiver had lost the satellite signal. It would appear that the rig had settled into the soggy sod! Re-setting the dish, all was fine.

We were also told (when we asked) that internet was available but only “close”. Surprisingly enough we were able to connect using the laptop at the dinette, hence an up to the minute ( or evening) blog post.

Cholula to Catamaco, a long and "interesting" drive.

Tuesday 8th November

By 9:40 we were rolling towards the 150D. Looking for our exit Art spied the small 150D sign and hit the brakes. Not quick enough! We overshot the exit/entrance ramp by several metres! Our options here were limited: 1) carry on north along the periferico and hope that we could find a retorno, 2)disconnect the jeep and reverse each vehicle, enter the ramp, stop and reconnect and continue—this option screamed for a run-in with the police—or, 3) just back up the 3 or 4 meters and turn onto the on ramp. This last option is against all cautions in the towed vehicle manual since it can force the front wheels hard over in the wrong direction and cause them to skid sideways, straining or even damaging the suspension and or steering.

Art opted for Door Number 3 and with Gillian closely watching the road sign beside us on the right to let him know the instant we were clear of it he inched the rig backwards focused on the front end of the jeep in the backup camera. Just as Gillian said that we were clear Art notice the rear of the jeep drifting to the right. We just needed a few more feet! Art turned the wheel very slightly and move back a little more, put the wheel hard over and drove onto the ramp. So far so good. Time will tell if there was any damage. (Several days later all seems well, the jeep handles just like it always did.)

Slow and heavy traffic around Puebla but it eventually diminished and we were eastbound once again. Still not sure of our final destination for tonight, we will decide as we approach the southeast running 145D. Do we cross it and stop on the coast just south of Veracruz or do we follow the 150 south then cut into Catamaco, a much nicer a park, and much closer to Villahermosa?

Just out of Puebla was farming country, lots of cornfields, the dried stalks heaped in loose piles or stacked in stooks in the fields. We supposed they would be used as cattle feed.

We came across a very long stretch of highway of newly poured concrete, the west bound lane having been dug up was in the process of being rebuilt. Also some interesting traffic on this freeway!

This highway too crossed some spectacularly rugged countryside. Huge vertical canyons covered essentially in jungle. We came across a long down hill section, the signs warning trucks of an 8 kilometre down grade. After several kilometres at least we came across an identical sign! There were also several tunnels. Fortunately most of the steep hills were down grades--our fuel use was pretty economical! The sign reads "Check brakes, 8 kilometre down grade".

One "runaway" lane looked no better than staying on the road should a truck loose its brakes; the very short fairly flat lane of deep soft gravel ended in a precipice. A long way to fall if the truck didn't stop!

Though there were a few corners to navigate as shown on the GPS screen it was in pretty good shape and we made reasonable time. Catamaco was looking better, or at least do-able, as we rolled on.

We reached the 145D at about 1:00PM, the GPS said we would reach Catamaco at 3:30, as well as I can remember. Even allowing an hour for lunch and possibly fuel, though we still had just over half a tank.

Now we had another decision to make; Which route to Catamaco? The red road from Cosamaloapan, or a bit further along the 145d and take the straighter and slightly shorter yellow road?

At Cosamaloapan we pulled it the rest area at the toll booth and had our lunch and walked the dogs a bit. Since there was a Pemex right next door we took the opportunity to top up the diesel.

We were off again 50 minutes after stopping, decision made, 36 kilometers to our exit onto the yellow road which we would follow to for 45 kilometers to Santiago Tuxtla on the 180 with only 28 kilometres between there and our destination for the night. Our only concern was the possibilities of low bridges or very narrow streets and turns in a village along the way.

A bit further down the road we noticed some large concrete structures obviously built to be part of an overpass. The curious thing is, there is no cross road to connect to it! Also the dirt and grime indicated that they had been built some years ago.

As we approached our turn we were heartened to see a large dump truck then a semi-trailer crossing the overpass in the direction we would be taking. Gillian was warning Art that at the end of the ramp we had a hard left. Art noted the road merging in from the left but did not think it was our turn as it was a hairpin and possibly too tight.

The decision was taken out of our hands by a cowboy on horseback carrying a large pole with a red flag on the end which he was using as a traffic direction tool as well as for herding cattle. Yes cattle. There were several horsemen moving along side and around a group of cows steers and young bulls that seemed determined to go anywhere but where the riders wanted. Most were in the brush at the side of the road, but a few were obstinately kept heading towards us and the freeway exit ramp we had just travelled!

Art proceeded slowly the right side of the road ahead and a couple of hundred meters along we were clear of the cattle and there was a wide area where we could turn around. Art made a U-turn and pulled up behind the cattle. Here another cowboy with red flag was controlling the back of the herd. He indicated that he wanted us to just stay behind and not to pass.

We waited for a while watching the goings-on with great interest and no little amusement. It soon became apparent that the cattle were being moved, probably just changing grazing fields. They were being herded up and over the overpass to the other side of the freeway. It was a very entertaining 15 or 20 minute delay.

But that was just the beginning! Once we got clear we ran into a very poor section of road, potholes several feet across and up to 6 inches deep. In some places efforts had been made to fill the worst with dirt. At a couple of points the edge of the road had completely fallen away, 5 to 10 feet down. Somewhere along here we came across 4 or 5 very young boys, probably not over 10 years old, with shovels, filling in the holes. We called them over and gave them a handful of pesos.

We wished that we had noted the time that we started down this road, but we did time the last 10 kilometers; 24 minutes. I'll even do the math: average speed of 25 kilometers per hour. That was probably about right for the whole 45Km. One minor incident along the way--a cupboard came open and several items hit the counter and the floor, including a tetra box of soup that somehow remained intact!

As we entered Santiago de Tuxtla at the junction with the 180 we were pleasantly surprised with the picturesque little town. The roads weren't any better until we turned onto the highway.

The last 28 Km along the 180 we did much better and though traffic was slow and fairly heavy eventually we reached the RV Park. We stopped on the street while Gillian opened the second gate and as we drove through we were met by Gene, the owner who recommended the best spot.

We unhooked and parked, jacks down, slides out, power connected and satellite dish set up and then it was dark.

Tolls today: 1140 pesos, just under 100 bucks.

Tequisquiapan to Cholula (near Puebla) via Arco del Norte

9:40 Monday morning we left the balneario, having to continue east a kilometer or so to the Retorno or U-turn lane to cross the highway divider and head west again to the quota.

In the middle of Del Rio we had a fairly long wait as a slow moving train crawled across the highway. Once the train had passed we had a red light to wait for then continued on. The signage to the highway though minimal was clear and soon we were southbound towards Mexico City.

Not that we wanted to go there, but we had to proceed in that direction for about 75 kilometers on the 57D to the new Arco del Norte around the Mexico City area to the east and on to Cholula near Puebla. It is no wonder that it took so many years to complete, much of the terrain was very steep and rugged, the area being volcanic and covered with lush vegetation, which would give way for a short intermission fairly flat land. Unfortunately the cloud cover prevented good viewing of the two famous and legendary volcanos to the south, Iztaccihuatl and Popocatépetl.

Eventually we had successfully bypassed the dreadded Mexico City and approached the end of the Arco del Norte where we paid a toll of 470 pesos. We thought that this freeway would join into the major east-west toll road to and from Mexico City. The Guia Roji certainly indicated that but on leaving the toll booth we found ourselves traveling over 3 or 4 kilometers of absolutely terrible road surface to the 150D to Puebla and points east. 8 minutes later we paid another 135 peso toll and shortly after that we spied our exit for Cholula and easily found our way to Las Americas Trailer Park. We were parked and setup by 2:10 PM.

After lunch Gillian asked the park manager for directions to the cathedral, which had been built on the top of some extensive pyramid ruins and which we had missed on previous visits. She was told 4 blocks straight along the street so she set off on foot. 4 blocks along there was no sign of anything so she asked again, and was told again, 4 blocks down the street. Soon she could see the spires and 4 blocks later she arrived.

She then began looking for the entrance to the tunnel to the pyramid ruins and came across the exit. Again she asked for directions and was told that the exit was the entrance. As she walked in she was faced by a solitary guard who told her that this was the exit only and she had to go around to the enterance. Eventually she found the entrance. She was turned away because the tunel had been closed for two years due to a tunnel collapse!

She made do with what she could see from ground level, took some photos and returned to the motorhome about an hour and a half after setting off. Trekker and Tia were somewhat put out with her taking such a walk without them!

Next morning after a hasty breakfast Art jumped into the jeep and drove the three or four blocks to the supermarket to pick up a few items; orange juice, bread, milk and to visit the ATM to replenish our pesos. He returned without the water! Not desperate yet but will need some tomorrow for sure.

Tequisquiapan

Leaving our site we snuck past the green elephant and pulled up to the pumps at the attached Pemex to fuel both motorhome and jeep then hooked up, a procedure that seemed to fascinate the attendant. We were on the highway at 10:25, heading north to avoid the city traffic.

We were a little taken aback by the sign at the Pemex station. We didn't realise that the Aztecs had Pemex stations in the year 880!

Less than 15 Km north of the Trailer Park there is a new toll bypass, mandatory for heavy trucks enroute to Mexico City. Since Queretaro was 15 kilometres south of us anyway it seemed logical. We remembered the trip through town some years ago, and judging by the increase in traffic, it was a decision well made. Although the on-ramps and exits are still being worked on it was a relaxing and easy drive.

Approaching Del Rio, our turnoff point, we pulled over for a navigation discussion, and continued on down the freeway for a few more kilometers to the Tequis exit. (I won't say who was right and who was wrong because this is being written on her birthday.)

Following the instructions in Church and Church we made it through town and about 10 kilometers further on came upon the sign for the balneario.

This waterpark has lots of space for camping and is a very popular summer vacation spot for Mexican families, though there was only one tent there when we arrived. They began packing up mid afternoon to return to Mexico City, about three hours away by car.

Once parked and leveled and the power hooked up we had a quick bite of lunch and set off in the jeep to explore the town. We were looking for centro and hoping a few shops would be open even though it was Sunday. This is a well known Fire Opal centre and Gillian was hoping. . . after all, tomorrow would be her birthday! On the way in we spotted these wonderful drawings on the overhead.

The entrance to the main part of town looked promising but we couldn't find centro! At least the shops. Lots of houses and a few bars. One-way streets kept taking us out of town!

After two such attempts we gave up and headed for the Sunday Market which we had noticed on the main road into Tequisquiapan.

We even found a place to park right by a gap in the fence for easy access to the market. The market is obviously very new. Clean, modern, stalls which lock up at night. Wonderful basketwork, for which the area is well known besides Fire Opals.

We wandered the stalls and had a good look around but avoided temptation and made no purchases, though some items were very beautiful and the workmanship excellent, transporting them home would have been difficult. The opals would have been harder to resist. In any case, we returned to the RV Park pesos intact. Staying another day was tempting.

We had parked right in front of the speakers which had been playing loud Mexican music since our arrival, though thankfully not Rap! We returned to find all quiet and peaceful. In fact the place looked like a cemetery with concrete blocks which marked each space (and contained the electrical outlets) like rows of headstones. In the photo you can just make out the motorhome at the far end of the field. Even the jeep was lonely, parked outside of the locked campground for the night.

6:PM to the minute the power to the coach dropped off as the incoming voltage reached the high cut off point, probably when they switched pool pumps off. Meanwhile batteries were fully charged so we weren't concerned.

Later at TV News time we'll put the inverter on. 5 O'clock CHEK news from home at 7 O'clock will be the norm now until mid March! From here on we will be making good use of the digital recorder on our Shaw Direct Satellite receiver to make up for the 2 hour time difference.

Power was on and off through the evening but the inverter got us through until bed time which wasn't late as we planned for a fairly long run to Cholula next day.