Friday, May 2, 2008
Day 22 Thursday May 1
our cabana at the Jungle Palace !
Left
Temp: 38 degrees C
Sunny & Hot
Heading to
The nature of the roadkill has gone from the familiar to unidentifiable mammals and rodents! Some of today’s victims were two monkeys, a golden hawk, a cow, numerous dogs and cats, a bizarre skunk-like animal and many I couldn’t hazard a guess at.
So here we are in the jungle at
Half of our hut is suspended over a stream and the chorus of “skeekers” was deafening! It became a bit more subdued as the evening progressed but the main concern now is whether the howler monkeys will keep us awake all night.
Kilometers - Daytrip: 600km total: 7???
Gas: $29.00
Lodging:
Day 21 Wednesday April 30
in search of Olmec ruins...
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
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
Kilometers - Daytrip: ? total: 6???
Gas: $22.00
Lodging: Hotel Del Lago $45
Day 20 Tuesday April 29
Inside the church at Catemaco plaza
NO TRAVEL DAY
Rained hard all day, went in search of internet to update blog but no luck, hung around the zocallo watching the local “Festivo de los Ninos” get rained on. The wet didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. There were very large bundles of presents and piñatas for each of the surrounding communities and large groups of school kids but the rain was too heavy to chance any great amount of photos.
Spent the rest of the rain-time boning-up on my Spanish while Sue caught up on her reading.
No breakfast, lunch or supper….we ate nothing but cake and pastries all day and of course the mandatory beer!(beers)
Took a late stroll in the dark with Susie along the Malécon after the rain, listening to the birdsong and the chorus of peepers, frogs, toads, what have you….
Very relaxed day!
Hotel del Lago $45
Day 19 Monday April 28
Sharing some pineapple
NO TRAVEL DAY
Temp: 38 degrees C
Hazy, humid, & Hot
Pretty slack day, we didn’t get out till mid-morning, scouted out the local internet café, spent the next three hours with a unreliable, intermittent and very slow connection trying to update the blog and look after mail.
We picked up fresh fruit, went down to the Malécon for lunch, strolled back to our room and everyone crashed for two hours!
Went strolling around the outskirts of the town and stopped for dinner, as always, great food…then back to get the bikes and tour around the lake down to the Nanciyaga Reserve ( where Apocalypto was filmed ) as well as Sean Connery’s “Medicine Man”.
Tomorrow we plan to do a boat tour of the lake and see part of the reserve.
Kilometers - Daytrip: 0 total: 6493
Gas: $0.00
Lodging: Hotel Del Lago $45
tree near the Nanciyaga Reserve
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