The Nomads

in search of Olmec ruins...

Richard standing on top of an uncovered structure

Catemaco, Mexico

Temp: 30 degrees C

Sunny & Hot

Today we went of to Las Tres Zapotes to see the site of the oldest (and un-excavated) ruins in Mexico . The ruins were of the Olmec culture which predated the totonac and was the earliest of the Mayan civilizations. The actual historically ceremonial site contains 102 buried structures which cover an area of four square kilometres and flourished from 1200 BC to 900 AD. They had a bizarre looking god with an olmec head but a beak like a duck and wings…?? And the giant Olmec head…There were at least three, the smallest measuring over a meter and the tallest 3.4 meters!

What a trip! Being an undeveloped archaeological site it is largely unknown in the tourist trade and is totally lacking any highway signs or indications. This really put my Spanish to the test and it is really a miracle that we ever managed, by dirt road, donkey track and horse trail to find the site at all on our motorbikes.

I should mention that we put in an extra 50/60 KM trying to find it and almost ended up back in Tlacotalpan.

I am now known as “Ricardo, el matado de los Iguanas”!!

I am guilty of my first motorcycle road-kill! I don’t know how I managed to stay on the road. a four foot long iguana ran out across the road in front of me , I was doing almost 90 km/hr and I rolled over him with both wheels mid-thorax. Now there will be many who will scoff at this and claim that with my penchant for exaggeration, the thing was lucky to even be a decent sized lizard, BUT, if you bear in mind that the bike weighs over nine hundred pounds with a near full tank, plus it had both hard saddlebags stuffed to the gunwales, plus all the camping gear and a full backpack, plus the weight of Sue and I; and you consider the impact of that kind of weight at that speed, can you imagine what size of iguana could take the direct hit (I literally ran right over the middle of it’s back with both wheels)……… and still get away!!! It was writhing in the road when Denis got to it (he went around it) and by the time I managed to slow down and go back to get a picture of it, IT WAS GONE! I KID YOU NOT! This thing was almost the size of a caiman!

On the way back to Catemaco we had planned to go to see the falls at Eyipantla but the army had fifty or sixty people backed up and completely stopped and were doing a very intensive search so we decided , after waiting for about ten minutes to bail and head back.

We had in mind to make it back to Catemaco in time to hire a boat and go out on a tour of the lake which is a fifteen by four Km fresh water lake with numerous islands surrounded mostly by jungle. The ecological reserve of jungle known as Nanciyaga borders on this lake and was the film location for the movie Apocalypto (Dir. By Mel Gibson) and, previously, the movie Medicine Man (with Sean Connery).

We left by boat around five thirty and spent a very exciting two-plus hours checking out the islands inhabited with monkeys and egrets, hawks, condors, herons, crocodiles, all manner of birds I could not identify…..Mark Mac. Would have been in heaven!

And, Giant ferns in the jungle as high as the trees!! ….sailed back into the setting sun and went for a late dinner as we had not eaten anything all day.

All in all, it was a very eventful day.

Tomorrow the plan is to get an early start and try to make it to Palenque, in Chiapas State, southwest of Villahermosa, weather permitting.

Kilometers - Daytrip: ? total: 6???

Gas: $22.00

Lodging: Hotel Del Lago $45

# posted by Richard and Susie @ 5:03 PM