January 15 to 21, 2009 ; Veracruz (city), Veracruz (state) to Campeche ( city ), Campeche ( state ), Mexico
Thursday ; Today started out cloudy and warm, with intermittent light rain. We had planned to go to downtown Veracruz first thing this morning by bus, but Sandy wasn't feeling well, so we delayed going until mid-morning. We took Bo for a long walk on the beach. We did some off leash, long distance obedience work. Very well done, Bo, good dog !
We chatted for awhile with a young man from England who is in this campground. Kevin and Sandy enjoyed chatting with another Brit. Recently he cut his hand while in the United States. He needed emergency treatment at the hospital, the cut in his hand requiring five stitches. The bill was $5000 ! ! !
In Mexico there are no defined bus stops. One just flags down the bus. We had received instructions from the campground on how to use the bus to get into Veracruz and back. Three different bus routes pass this campground. We wanted the Penacho bus. We stood on the highway, and waved our arms at the busses as we saw them approach. The first bus that came by wasn't the Penacho service. The second bus that came by a few minutes later didn't even stop. Guess that wasn't the Penacho service either. We waved at the third bus that came along a few minutes later. It stopped, we hopped on, and away we went to Veracruz. Geeeeezzzzzz ... buses don't even slow down for the topes. What a tooth jarring ride ! The bus followed the highway into Veracruz, through the suburb of Boca del Rio, and into downtown Veracruz. We got off at a central park, Parque Zamora, and began looking for a bathroom. We had to ask directions three or four times but we eventually found a public bathroom. From there we wandered over to the Mercado, the central market area, a few square blocks of indoor / outdoor vendors of all sorts. We wandered around for awhile, marvelling at the wonders of a foreign ( to us ) marketplace. The Mercado was divided into sections of sorts. We walked around the restaurant / food section and decided on where to have lunch. We had wonderful tortas, large sandwich type things made with thick flat breads heaped with grilled meat, cheese, and an assortment of grilled and fresh vegetables. Kind of a Mexican version of a sub sandwich, I guess. From the fruit stand behind the torta shop we got a huge glass of freshly squeezed melon juice. It was a great lunch !
After lunch we continued wandering around. Joanne and Sandy bought some fresh vegetables and fruits, including a lovely, ripe papaya, half for us and half for Kevin and Sandy. A cheese vendor gave us each a sample of Queso Hualco, a stringy cheese. It was very good ! We bought some, as did Kevin and Sandy. I was fascinated by the fresh meats / butcher section of the Mercado. Various chunks of beef and pork hanging from hooks overhead. Fat, yellow chickens laid out on the counters. We found out last year that chickens in Mexico are not the same as in the United States and Canada. First of all, the chickens are very fatty. And second, they're yellow because in Mexico marigolds are used as chicken feed. The fish shops had all manner of fish and seafoods laid out in tubs on counters. The entire fresh meats / butcher section of the Mercado had an unpleasant odour. I guess that's not surprising for an area filled with unrefrigerated meats of all kinds sitting out in the warm, humid air. After we had had enough of the Mercado, we walked around downtown. WOO-HOO ... found a panaderia, and stocked up on pan dulces. WOO-HOO ... found a dulceria ( candy store ), and bought some Mini-CocoNugs and Nugs Crujientes.
Kevin wanted to walk along the malecon, the waterfront walkway on the beach. As we walked the ten blocks or so to the beach, the rain changed from mist to drizzle. By the time we got to the beach we were beginning to feel wet. We walked a few blocks, then decided to return home. We began to walk back towards Parque Zamora to catch a bus. As we walked I saw a bus approaching marked Antón Lizardo, the name of the small village near our campground. I waved, it pulled over, we hopped on. Easy as pie ! By the time we got back to Campamento El Rey, the rain had become steady, and it continued to rain for the rest of the day.
When we got home, I was giving some attention to Bo when I discovered a series of inflamed bumps on his abdomen. Each one had a little black dot in the centre, and when I probed, I realized they were extremely tiny, little ticks. HEY ... that must be chiggers ! I plucked about two dozen or so off him. Each one left a big red welt. Poor Bo. He is allergic to flea bites, and gets flea bite dermatitis. Same thing with chigger bites, obviously. We treated the big red welts with Aloe Vera lotion, then treated him with a flea and tick spray. I wonder if he got the chiggers from the beach, or the grassy sand dune area that is the campground ? I wonder how many more are on him that we haven’t found yet. Or how many more he’ll get before we leave here tomorrow ? We’ll examine him regularly for the next few days, I guess.
After we got home, I was hungry for a late afternoon snack. I had Queso Hualco with some crackers, and a galleta coco con lima ( lime coconut cookie ) from yesterday. MMMMM ! By evening, the rain and wind had increased to create quite foul weather.
Friday ; Veracruz ( city ) to Catemaco, Veracruz ( state )
EEEUUUWWW ... I don't like fresh papaya ! Today was raining most of the day. The part of RV life that I dislike the most is preparing for departure in the rain. Oh well, at least it was warm rain. We were awakened this morning at 6:15 A.M. by the damn caravan of 18 rigs loudly preparing to depart. We left Campamento El Rey about 9:30, backtracked through Boca del Rio and Veracruz to Hwy. 150, then headed south on Hwy. 150 and Hwy. 180 along the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico, curving around the "bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, to Catemaco. Tonight we are in a lovely campground on a river in the tropical jungle.
As we drove through a small village today there were a number of stands on the side of the road with vendors selling something in glass jars. We stopped to take a look. They looked like jars of preserved berries of some sort. The vendors called them "hoba". In Spanish that would be spelled "joba" or "jova" because "b" and "v" sound similar in Spanish. Our dictionary had no such word. The woman looked in the Spanish side of our English / Spanish dictionary, and could not find the word. I asked, in Spanish, if they were sweet or sour. She said sweet, opened a jar, and gave each of us a sample. I thought they were sweet pickled olives of some sort. Joanne thought they were sweet pickled cherries of some sort. We asked, in Spanish, if they were olives. No ! We asked, in Spanish, if they were cherries. No ! Aw, what the hell ... we bought a jar for 15 pesos, just slightly more than a dollar. Continuing to drive, Joanne came up with the idea of using them in a chicken breast over rice recipe. She invited Kevin and Sandy to join us for dinner, as they had agreed to share the purchase of the jar of "jobas".
We arrived at our campground in mid-afternoon. The Hotel Tepetepan ( & RV Park ) on the banks of the Tepetepan River, in the tropical jungle surrounding the town of Catemaco. We got set up in our sites, then took care of some chores before going out for a brief exploration of the town with Kevin in their toad. Sandy stayed home to do laundry. We drove around the little town, found a grocery store, and restocked a bit of groceries. The RV park has Wi-Fi, although it won't reach our trailer. I sat outside on the roofed patio doing catching up on e-mail and updating my blog. We had Kevin and Sandy over for our chicken breasts simmered with the jar of "jobas" and "joba" juice. It was ... well ... okay. A bit odd, I thought. Joanne, Kevin, and Sandy seemed to quite like it.
( sigh ) Repeatedly today I found chiggers embedded in Bo, and plucked them off him. They have now been on him for 24 hours or more, and so they are getting filled with blood, expanding to many times their original size ( like their much larger Canadian cousins, wood ticks do ), which is about the size of the head of a pin. And I found one flea on him, also. Poor Bo ! Welcome to Mexico, Bo.
Joanne's last words before going to sleep tonight were ... "AHHHHH ... Yomi Lala and a Nugs Crujiente ... what a great way to end a day". HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Happy 10th Birthday to Joanne's niece Madeleine
Darn ... another rainy day. I slept late, which was nice. For the last week of travelling, I have been getting up early, and haven't had my regular afternoon naps.
Joanne did some laundry this morning. This campground has a washer and dryer. Late this morning when the rain finally stopped we went for a hike through the neighbouring jungle with Kevin and Sandy. We looked at many interesting birds. We watched fishermen on the Tepetepan River. We saw bananas growing, and what we think was probably avocadoes. When we passed by the occasional residence, the young children, perhaps five years and younger, seemed awe struck. I think the young ones had not seen white skinned people before. We could hear one father encouraging his young daughter to go out to the trail to take a closer look at us. A few minutes after we had passed, the little girl came running down the trail with a bag of peanuts for us. How sweet. We gave her two pesos, about 15 cents. Back at our campground I noticed local townspeople walking home from a service in the iglesia ( church ) down the road from our campground. I gave a CANADA pencil to a little girl walking with her mother and sister. The little girl was too shy to take something from a big gringo, but the mother took it and thanked me. As soon as it was in the mother's hand, the girl was eager to have it.
After lunch we went with Kevin and Sandy in their toad for an afternoon of exploring. We drove into the town of Catemaco, and followed the shoreline of Lake Catemaco, the beautiful lake the town is beside. Then we drove about 7 miles southwest to the 150 foot waterfall at Salto de Eyipantla. We walked down about 260 stairs to get to the base of the waterfall. Quite lovely ! Apparently a movie by the name of Apocolypto with Mel Gibson had some scenes shot at this waterfall. I've never heard of that movie. We climbed back up the 260 steps and then walked over to see the top of the waterfalls. As we were driving back to Catemaco we passed through a small village where we saw a panaderia. STOP ! Ahhh ... bought some pan dulce and some sandwich buns. As we drove through Catemaco we saw another panaderia. STOP ! This one had chocolate muffins and chocolate loaves displayed in the window. Ahhh ... bought more pan dulce. What a great day ... two panaderias. HA HA HA !
Back at Hotel Tepetepan we sat out in lawn chairs until it got dark, chatting with two young men from England that we met at the last campground, near Veracruz. They are spending an extended period of time touring North America in two small motorhomes. Kevin offered me a beer, and we sat around drinking a beer and smoking hand made little cigars made locally. One of the young British fellows got a small package of these little cigars from a local store that wasn't able to make exactly the correct change for a purchase he made, so the shop keeper gave him the little package of cigars to make up the difference. Hey ... it's Mexico !
Sunday ; Catemaco, Veracruz ( state ) to Villahermosa, Tabasco
Today was the first sunny day we've had in Mexico since entering nine days ago. Last night a gecko climbed into a power box in the campground, blowing out the power to some of the sites, including Kevin’s and Sandy’s. As you might expect, the gecko did not survive the incident. And we were a bit delayed departing this morning because I really needed to get some online work done this morning on Wi-Fi which was not working last night. All infrastructure services in Mexico, such as power, water, Wi-Fi, etc., are extremely unreliable. They are not functioning more often than they are. That's just a fact of life in Mexico.
I have just noticed, while outside at 7:40 P.M., that a very large spider is spinning a very large and intricate web between the roof of our trailer and the mirror on the Limey's motorhome.
We have noticed that the vast majority of RV's travelling in Mexico have Canadian license plates. Of the dozen or so rigs in the campground we were in last night, one rig was American, and they lived in Vermont so close to the Canadian border that they could be honorary Canadians. Three rigs ( with American license plates ) were people from England, and the rest were Canadian. I guess Americans just really don't like Mexico. And / or the Canadians and Brits are that much more adventurous.
We continued heading "down" Mex 180. We are now travelling east "under the bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, headed for the Yucatán Peninsula. Guatemala is just a bit southeast of us. Our big challenge of today was getting through the city of Minitatlán. There were no signs directing us on the highway route through the city, and there were a number of "T" intersections where we had no idea whether to go left or right. We followed the main flow of traffic and eventually made it through the city.
We stopped for the night at a campground on the outskirts of Villahermosa. It's a s***hole of a campground, even by Mexican standards. It's part of a balneario, a swimming pool / water slide complex. It's nothing but a mud pit. The sites are so shallow a camper van could back all the way into a site and still be sticking out onto the muddy road. We each had to "parallel park" our rigs, each taking up about six sites. Doesn't matter, there's no other RV's here ... thank goodness. Given the less than ideal conditions, Joanne refused to pay the fee of 250 pesos, telling them we would pay 200 pesos. They could either accept that or we would leave. They accepted the 200 pesos. That's my girl !
There's no sewer connections, there's no water connections, the electricity is 15 amp incorrectly wired outlets. RV's require 30 or 50 amp outlets. Before plugging into any Mexican electrical outlets, I test them with a circuit polarity tester device. It's rare to find 30 or 50 amp outlets in Mexican campgrounds. Usually there are only 15 amp outlets. It's extremely rare to find an outlet that is correctly wired. My circuit polarity tester indicates that all the outlets here are "open ground" / not grounded. My 30 amp RV cord is plugged into a 30 amp to 15 amp 3 prong adaptor, which is then plugged into a 3 prong to 2 prong adaptor on which I have fabricated a ground wire connection with an alligator clip, to attach to something to ground the circuit. Thanks to the advice provided by Baja Winters, the caravan company we travelled with through the Baja last year, and Church's Mexican Camping book, I am fully equipped to handle all circumstances ... I hope.
The rough roads and innumerable topes have created a lot of "kitchen chaos" in our trailer, similar to our experiences driving through Newfoundland. While driving, drawers and doors pop open, utensils and dry goods fly out, etc.. The latch on one of the bedroom closet doors broke today. At the end of each long, difficult day of driving I have to take a few deep breaths, try to relax, and remember "Flexico".
I have just noticed ( at 10:00 P.M. ) that the constellation Orion is directly overhead. That doesn't seem right, does it ?
Monday ; Villahermosa, Tabasco to Isla Aguada, Campeche
Well, today was our first really great day in Mexico. Great weather, good roads, great adventure.
Today was sunny and warm. This morning before departure I checked the air pressure in the truck tires. That's my regular Monday preventive maintenance task. I sat down on the muddy grass beside the truck, and began to unscrew the metal cap off the metal valve stem of the outside rear dually tire, and ... ZAP ... I was electrocuted ! ! ! Thanks to the ungrounded, incorrectly wired electrical outlet, our entire truck and trailer rig was electrified. When I sat down on the wet muddy grass, and touched the metal valve stem, providing a path to ground through me ... ZAP ! I had heard stories of that happening with RV's, but it was a first for me.
Prior to leaving the s***hole campground, I chatted briefly with a retired couple from Steinbach, Manitoba, just east of Winnipeg, who were tent camping through Mexico. We drove into Villahermosa and found our way to Parque Museo La Venta, a combination of zoo and museum. Getting our rigs parallel parked on the street was a bit of a challenge, more so for Kevin than for me. I got the first and easiest parking spot, Kevin missed the opportunity and had to drive some distance through rush hour traffic, make a retorno ( u-turn ), drive back, make another retorno, then park. Not very easy in a large motorhome in a Mexican city during rush hour.
The zoo portion of Parque Museo La Venta was an interesting tropical zoo. The museum portion was our reason for being there. The Villahermosa region is the centre of the ancient Olmec culture. The outdoor walking path museum contains many Olmec "Heads", the statues of heads carved into rock by the ancient Olmecs. We enjoyed walking around the zoo portion, and enjoyed seeing and photographing the Olmec Heads even more.
We left Villahermosa shortly before noon, and drove 236 km. / 147 miles to Isla Aguada ( Eesla Agoowahdah ) in the state of Campeche ( Compeshay ). It took us about 4½ hours, which was much faster than we've been able to travel on previous days. The roads were mostly very good, fresh asphalt, wide, with paved shoulders, not very many towns, and therefore not very many topes to slow us down. When we passed from the state of Tabasco into the state of Campeche, we had to stop at a food inspection station. The state of Campeche imposes restrictions on foods being brought into the state. We knew that, and had adequately prepared by eating all prohibited foods over the last few days. The polite inspector who came into our rig searched our fridge and freezer. He asked about the oranges in our fridge. I told him they were mandarins we had purchased in Mexico. He was satisfied. He searched the fridge and freezer looking for eggs, poultry, and pork. We had only beef, which is allowable. The polite inspector who searched the Limey's rig was dissatisfied with the mandarins because he felt that some of the skins showed blemishes. He required them to peel their mandarins, and discard the peels at the state border. They were allowed to keep the peeled mandarins.
We came around the "bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, and entered the Yucatán Peninsula. We are now headed northeast into the Yucatán, still following the Gulf Of Mexico coast line. The Caribbean Sea is on the other side of the Yucatán. Guatemala and Belize are now a bit to the south of us.
We arrived in Isla Aguada, a fishing town on the coast with lovely beaches. We found our way to the only campground in town. When the American owner refused to honour the Passport America rate, despite being listed in the current Passport America directory, and verified by Kevin on the Internet two days ago as a Passport America affiliated campground, I threw a hissy fit and refused to stay. I knew from Church's Mexican Camping book that there was a nearby abandoned large ferry dock that RV'ers sometimes use for boondocking. We found our way to the ferry dock, and with some careful manoeuvering through a somewhat narrow entranceway, we parked at the far end of the ferry dock, all by ourselves, looking out over the water and the adjacent beaches. It was lovely !
We sat out in our lawn chairs, chatting, being amused by children from nearby homes playing on and around the dock and beach. The children, mostly boys, were fascinated by our rigs. A huge trailer that is obviously our home, and the Limey's huge motorhome, obviously their home. The children were very amused by a little gringo dog, on a tie out cable, hooked to the Limey's toad, wearing a bandanna, and with very eager social skills. Not at all what these kids perceive when they think of "dog". A few of the boys practiced what little English they knew by pointing at Bo and pronouncing "doag". And they were even more amused and stunned by seeing a cat in a tent. HA HA HA ! Some small children who were playing at the water's edge, catching little crabs, came over and offered some of their little crabs to Joanne. HA HA HA ... how sweet, but no thank you ... no, gracias.
Finally came the highlight of our day. Beside the ferry dock, on the beach, was a small family operated restaurant, Restaurante Familiar Memin, ( the Memin Family's Restaurant ), an open air restaurant under a thatched palapa. Since we had not spent money on camping fees, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We struggled to decipher the menu. We were doing pretty well, actually. Our Spanish ability has increased tremendously in the last ten days. Joanne was having difficulty understanding the price of the fried fish dish on the menu. We couldn't understand the waitress's explanation. She left and came back with a large platter with three different sized fish on it, each with a different price written on a scrap of paper. She explained that we could share, if we wanted. Great ... we ordered the largest of the fish, for all four of us to share. Pescado frito al gusto / seasoned fried fish. While waiting for the fish to be prepared we ordered tres cerveza y uno limonada / three beers and a lemonade. She served complimentary home made tortilla chips with freshly made mole ( pronounced "molay" ). Mole is a paste made from mashed bananas, some kind of unsweetened chocolate or cocoa bean powder, and crushed chili peppers of some kind. It's very unusual. I've had it before on a chicken dish and did not like it. But with the tortilla chips it was great ! It was so good I went and asked for another serving. The waitress and the cook, whom I think was the waitress's mother, looked extremely pleased with my request for "mas, por favor".
I asked what kind of fish it was. It was Robalo. The fish had been gutted, but otherwise left intact. It was thinly coated with a seasoning, then fried, then cut into large pieces, so we could share. It was served on a large platter with slices of tomatoes, cucumbers, and strong onions. It was accompanied by a ceramic bowl full of freshly home made tortillas, a staple of most Mexican meals. Oh, my goodness ... what a simple but wonderful meal ! ! ! Our total bill came to ... wait for it ... 180 pesos. About $13.50, for a meal and drinks for four ! For dessert, we ate Joanne's freshly made chocolate and cranberry sauce cake served with ice cream provided by Sandy, sitting in our lawn chairs in the dark, on the ferry dock beside our rigs, looking out over the dark water and starlit sky.
A great ending to a great day ! We need more days like this.
Tuesday ; Isla Aguada to Campeche ( city ), Campeche ( state )
Today was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day. We started our day by sitting out on our ferry dock "patio", enjoying the brilliant morning sunshine and warmth, and watching pelicans fish. Before departing at mid-morning we went for a long walk along the beach. I picked up some pretty shells and a very nice piece of sponge. Bo romped in the Gulf Of Mexico and played with the Mexican dogs that followed us along, as always. He's now smelling kind of "fishy". And the inside of the truck is now very sandy. A young boy asked us what was the name of our perrito ? In Spanish, "dog" is "perro", and the suffix "ito" indicates "little". Hey, Bo, down here in Mexico you don't even qualify as a full fledged perro. HA HA HA ! By the way, I discovered that somebody ate the small starfish that I had put on the back floor of the truck a few days ago to dry out.
We continued on Mex 180, the "free" road, trying to avoid Mex 180D, the toll road. Sometimes we have no option but to use the toll road, and the tolls are outrageously expensive. Yesterday our tolls were over 300 pesos ( $25 ), and we used the free road as much as possible. We are now driving northeast on the Yucatán Peninsula heading towards Cancún, still following the coast line of the Gulf Of Mexico. Today's drive was 160 km. / 100 miles of driving alongside endless beach, emerald green water, and wide, white sand beach. With nothing ... no towns ! We've noticed that the roads in the state of Campeche are considerably better than they have been in the other Mexican states we've driven through. And less litter. Not clean, by our Canadian standards, but less litter nonetheless. Perhaps the Campeche state government is more efficient than the others ?
The last few days we have occasionally seen fairly large, bright green lizards, and fairly large, bright green snakes on the road. Obviously we try to avoid hitting them, as much as possible. I did run over a snake. Sometimes we have to "straddle" the lizards, hoping that they stay still as the vehicle passes over them.
We arrived at our seaside resort campground, Club Nautico, on the outskirts of Campeche, in early afternoon. By Mexican standards, it's a great campground. Nevertheless, getting into our site proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge. The campsite has properly wired 30 amp outlets with 30 amp breakers, water, and sewer. But ... as usual, the water pressure flows at a trickle, perhaps a flow rate of a few cups per minute. When we arrived here, the Adventure Caravans group of 18 rigs was already here, but it's a large enough campground for them, and still lots more. After wrestling into our site, getting set up, and having a late lunch, I worked on getting our fresh water tank refilled, a lengthy process given the poor water flow rate. Kevin and Sandy went off to play a game of tennis. Joanne, Teddy and Bo all sat outside in the shade of the Tamarind tree on our campsite. I did some minor maintenance chores, fixing things that have broken and tightening things that have loosened over the last eleven days. I took my laptop outside and did computer work. AHHHHH ... what a beautiful afternoon ! ! !
Late in the afternoon we joined Kevin and Sandy in their toad and headed into Campeche for some sightseeing and grocery shopping. I brought along an empty five gallon water jug, hoping to find an agua purificado ( purified water ) place to refill our jug. We drove through the village of Lerma and into the city of Campeche. We drove around, semi-lost for quite awhile, looking for a supermercado / supermarket. Found an agua purificado place. A five gallon refill cost doce ( dosay / 12 ) pesos y cinquanta ( sinkwahntah / 50 ) centavos, a little less than a dollar. Asked a man for directions to a supermarket. He was no help. Asked a woman for directions to a supermarket. She gave us good directions to the Mega supermarket. It was really ... well, Mega ! I bought some fresh fish fillets for supper. They were a fish called Bagre Oriental. Never heard of it. But we had also never heard of the fish we had yesterday, Robalo. Two fillets cost 16 pesos y 68 centavos, about $1.25. Bought lots of pan dulce. I've decided after seeing the open air market in Veracruz, and this large supermarket in Campeche, that I will only buy fresh meats, fish, eggs, etc. at the large supermarkets where the fresh products are properly handled and refrigerated. By the time we left the grocery store it was already dark.
I barbecued the fish, seasoning it with Tony Chechere's, a Cajun seasoning mix from Louisiana. It turned out very nicely. I spent the evening working on photographs from the last few days. Late in the evening we sat outdoors chatting with Kevin and Sandy.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I lent Kevin my drill so that he could do more modifications to the plumbing vent cap that he had installed in the Rio Grande Valley that is proving to be unsatisfactory. They are getting waste holding tank odours in their motorhome as they drive. We sat around for awhile enjoying the fine weather.
Mid-morning we headed into the city of Campeche with Kevin and Sandy in their toad. We parked outside the fortress walls of the historic "old town" contained within the fortress walls. We wandered around inside the fortress walls, which contain the original old city of Campeche, built about 1540. We visited a church and a cathedral. We wandered outside the fortress walls along the waterfront to walk a bit on the malecon. We found our way to the Mercado, the open air marketplace. Most of the vendors were selling fruits and vegetables.
On the inside of the Mercado we found a "food court" of sorts. We wandered around looking for something interesting to have for lunch. At one of the vendors I saw a woman sitting at a table eating an interesting looking bowl of soup. We sat down there and I ordered a bowl. Joanne ordered a fried chicken plate, although it wasn't anything like what you would expect to be defined as a fried chicken plate. Kevin and Sandy liked the look of the soup, and ordered it also. When it came I tried to get the waitress to explain it to me. I was having difficulty understanding, so a nearby woman helped. She explained it a bit better, but when I asked her to write it down on a notepad, she told me she didn't know how to write. Oh ... I hadn't expected that ! It was sopa de mondongo y menudo y balzita, a tomato broth based beef tripe soup made with stomach, intestines, and either spine or tail bone. It was ... well ... interesting ! Probably won't be on Tim Horton's lunch menu anytime soon ! HA HA HA !
After buying a bag of tomatoes for siete ( seeyetay / 7 ) pesos, just a bit more than 50 cents, and a pineapple for doce ( dosay / 12 ) pesos, a bit less than a dollar, we returned to where the toad was parked. It was my turn to drive. I offered to split the toad driving with Kevin when we go on outings, because the driver has little opportunity to sightsee. We found our way to the agua purificado place so that Kevin and Sandy could refill a water jug. We left the city, refilling the toad with fuel on the way back to Club Nautico, our campground.
While Kevin and Sandy went to play tennis, we took Bo for a walk along the waterfront. The Club Nautico resort has a concrete wall along the water, so there's not really a beach, just the rough surf crashing into the concrete wall. We spent the late afternoon and early evening sitting outside relaxing, me working on photographs on my laptop, Joanne doing crosswords, Kevin and Sandy reading. I spent the evening updating and analyzing my investment files with data I downloaded a few days ago.
DSK
Thursday ; Today started out cloudy and warm, with intermittent light rain. We had planned to go to downtown Veracruz first thing this morning by bus, but Sandy wasn't feeling well, so we delayed going until mid-morning. We took Bo for a long walk on the beach. We did some off leash, long distance obedience work. Very well done, Bo, good dog !
We chatted for awhile with a young man from England who is in this campground. Kevin and Sandy enjoyed chatting with another Brit. Recently he cut his hand while in the United States. He needed emergency treatment at the hospital, the cut in his hand requiring five stitches. The bill was $5000 ! ! !
In Mexico there are no defined bus stops. One just flags down the bus. We had received instructions from the campground on how to use the bus to get into Veracruz and back. Three different bus routes pass this campground. We wanted the Penacho bus. We stood on the highway, and waved our arms at the busses as we saw them approach. The first bus that came by wasn't the Penacho service. The second bus that came by a few minutes later didn't even stop. Guess that wasn't the Penacho service either. We waved at the third bus that came along a few minutes later. It stopped, we hopped on, and away we went to Veracruz. Geeeeezzzzzz ... buses don't even slow down for the topes. What a tooth jarring ride ! The bus followed the highway into Veracruz, through the suburb of Boca del Rio, and into downtown Veracruz. We got off at a central park, Parque Zamora, and began looking for a bathroom. We had to ask directions three or four times but we eventually found a public bathroom. From there we wandered over to the Mercado, the central market area, a few square blocks of indoor / outdoor vendors of all sorts. We wandered around for awhile, marvelling at the wonders of a foreign ( to us ) marketplace. The Mercado was divided into sections of sorts. We walked around the restaurant / food section and decided on where to have lunch. We had wonderful tortas, large sandwich type things made with thick flat breads heaped with grilled meat, cheese, and an assortment of grilled and fresh vegetables. Kind of a Mexican version of a sub sandwich, I guess. From the fruit stand behind the torta shop we got a huge glass of freshly squeezed melon juice. It was a great lunch !
After lunch we continued wandering around. Joanne and Sandy bought some fresh vegetables and fruits, including a lovely, ripe papaya, half for us and half for Kevin and Sandy. A cheese vendor gave us each a sample of Queso Hualco, a stringy cheese. It was very good ! We bought some, as did Kevin and Sandy. I was fascinated by the fresh meats / butcher section of the Mercado. Various chunks of beef and pork hanging from hooks overhead. Fat, yellow chickens laid out on the counters. We found out last year that chickens in Mexico are not the same as in the United States and Canada. First of all, the chickens are very fatty. And second, they're yellow because in Mexico marigolds are used as chicken feed. The fish shops had all manner of fish and seafoods laid out in tubs on counters. The entire fresh meats / butcher section of the Mercado had an unpleasant odour. I guess that's not surprising for an area filled with unrefrigerated meats of all kinds sitting out in the warm, humid air. After we had had enough of the Mercado, we walked around downtown. WOO-HOO ... found a panaderia, and stocked up on pan dulces. WOO-HOO ... found a dulceria ( candy store ), and bought some Mini-CocoNugs and Nugs Crujientes.
Kevin wanted to walk along the malecon, the waterfront walkway on the beach. As we walked the ten blocks or so to the beach, the rain changed from mist to drizzle. By the time we got to the beach we were beginning to feel wet. We walked a few blocks, then decided to return home. We began to walk back towards Parque Zamora to catch a bus. As we walked I saw a bus approaching marked Antón Lizardo, the name of the small village near our campground. I waved, it pulled over, we hopped on. Easy as pie ! By the time we got back to Campamento El Rey, the rain had become steady, and it continued to rain for the rest of the day.
When we got home, I was giving some attention to Bo when I discovered a series of inflamed bumps on his abdomen. Each one had a little black dot in the centre, and when I probed, I realized they were extremely tiny, little ticks. HEY ... that must be chiggers ! I plucked about two dozen or so off him. Each one left a big red welt. Poor Bo. He is allergic to flea bites, and gets flea bite dermatitis. Same thing with chigger bites, obviously. We treated the big red welts with Aloe Vera lotion, then treated him with a flea and tick spray. I wonder if he got the chiggers from the beach, or the grassy sand dune area that is the campground ? I wonder how many more are on him that we haven’t found yet. Or how many more he’ll get before we leave here tomorrow ? We’ll examine him regularly for the next few days, I guess.
After we got home, I was hungry for a late afternoon snack. I had Queso Hualco with some crackers, and a galleta coco con lima ( lime coconut cookie ) from yesterday. MMMMM ! By evening, the rain and wind had increased to create quite foul weather.
Friday ; Veracruz ( city ) to Catemaco, Veracruz ( state )
EEEUUUWWW ... I don't like fresh papaya ! Today was raining most of the day. The part of RV life that I dislike the most is preparing for departure in the rain. Oh well, at least it was warm rain. We were awakened this morning at 6:15 A.M. by the damn caravan of 18 rigs loudly preparing to depart. We left Campamento El Rey about 9:30, backtracked through Boca del Rio and Veracruz to Hwy. 150, then headed south on Hwy. 150 and Hwy. 180 along the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico, curving around the "bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, to Catemaco. Tonight we are in a lovely campground on a river in the tropical jungle.
As we drove through a small village today there were a number of stands on the side of the road with vendors selling something in glass jars. We stopped to take a look. They looked like jars of preserved berries of some sort. The vendors called them "hoba". In Spanish that would be spelled "joba" or "jova" because "b" and "v" sound similar in Spanish. Our dictionary had no such word. The woman looked in the Spanish side of our English / Spanish dictionary, and could not find the word. I asked, in Spanish, if they were sweet or sour. She said sweet, opened a jar, and gave each of us a sample. I thought they were sweet pickled olives of some sort. Joanne thought they were sweet pickled cherries of some sort. We asked, in Spanish, if they were olives. No ! We asked, in Spanish, if they were cherries. No ! Aw, what the hell ... we bought a jar for 15 pesos, just slightly more than a dollar. Continuing to drive, Joanne came up with the idea of using them in a chicken breast over rice recipe. She invited Kevin and Sandy to join us for dinner, as they had agreed to share the purchase of the jar of "jobas".
We arrived at our campground in mid-afternoon. The Hotel Tepetepan ( & RV Park ) on the banks of the Tepetepan River, in the tropical jungle surrounding the town of Catemaco. We got set up in our sites, then took care of some chores before going out for a brief exploration of the town with Kevin in their toad. Sandy stayed home to do laundry. We drove around the little town, found a grocery store, and restocked a bit of groceries. The RV park has Wi-Fi, although it won't reach our trailer. I sat outside on the roofed patio doing catching up on e-mail and updating my blog. We had Kevin and Sandy over for our chicken breasts simmered with the jar of "jobas" and "joba" juice. It was ... well ... okay. A bit odd, I thought. Joanne, Kevin, and Sandy seemed to quite like it.
( sigh ) Repeatedly today I found chiggers embedded in Bo, and plucked them off him. They have now been on him for 24 hours or more, and so they are getting filled with blood, expanding to many times their original size ( like their much larger Canadian cousins, wood ticks do ), which is about the size of the head of a pin. And I found one flea on him, also. Poor Bo ! Welcome to Mexico, Bo.
Joanne's last words before going to sleep tonight were ... "AHHHHH ... Yomi Lala and a Nugs Crujiente ... what a great way to end a day". HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Happy 10th Birthday to Joanne's niece Madeleine
Darn ... another rainy day. I slept late, which was nice. For the last week of travelling, I have been getting up early, and haven't had my regular afternoon naps.
Joanne did some laundry this morning. This campground has a washer and dryer. Late this morning when the rain finally stopped we went for a hike through the neighbouring jungle with Kevin and Sandy. We looked at many interesting birds. We watched fishermen on the Tepetepan River. We saw bananas growing, and what we think was probably avocadoes. When we passed by the occasional residence, the young children, perhaps five years and younger, seemed awe struck. I think the young ones had not seen white skinned people before. We could hear one father encouraging his young daughter to go out to the trail to take a closer look at us. A few minutes after we had passed, the little girl came running down the trail with a bag of peanuts for us. How sweet. We gave her two pesos, about 15 cents. Back at our campground I noticed local townspeople walking home from a service in the iglesia ( church ) down the road from our campground. I gave a CANADA pencil to a little girl walking with her mother and sister. The little girl was too shy to take something from a big gringo, but the mother took it and thanked me. As soon as it was in the mother's hand, the girl was eager to have it.
After lunch we went with Kevin and Sandy in their toad for an afternoon of exploring. We drove into the town of Catemaco, and followed the shoreline of Lake Catemaco, the beautiful lake the town is beside. Then we drove about 7 miles southwest to the 150 foot waterfall at Salto de Eyipantla. We walked down about 260 stairs to get to the base of the waterfall. Quite lovely ! Apparently a movie by the name of Apocolypto with Mel Gibson had some scenes shot at this waterfall. I've never heard of that movie. We climbed back up the 260 steps and then walked over to see the top of the waterfalls. As we were driving back to Catemaco we passed through a small village where we saw a panaderia. STOP ! Ahhh ... bought some pan dulce and some sandwich buns. As we drove through Catemaco we saw another panaderia. STOP ! This one had chocolate muffins and chocolate loaves displayed in the window. Ahhh ... bought more pan dulce. What a great day ... two panaderias. HA HA HA !
Back at Hotel Tepetepan we sat out in lawn chairs until it got dark, chatting with two young men from England that we met at the last campground, near Veracruz. They are spending an extended period of time touring North America in two small motorhomes. Kevin offered me a beer, and we sat around drinking a beer and smoking hand made little cigars made locally. One of the young British fellows got a small package of these little cigars from a local store that wasn't able to make exactly the correct change for a purchase he made, so the shop keeper gave him the little package of cigars to make up the difference. Hey ... it's Mexico !
Sunday ; Catemaco, Veracruz ( state ) to Villahermosa, Tabasco
Today was the first sunny day we've had in Mexico since entering nine days ago. Last night a gecko climbed into a power box in the campground, blowing out the power to some of the sites, including Kevin’s and Sandy’s. As you might expect, the gecko did not survive the incident. And we were a bit delayed departing this morning because I really needed to get some online work done this morning on Wi-Fi which was not working last night. All infrastructure services in Mexico, such as power, water, Wi-Fi, etc., are extremely unreliable. They are not functioning more often than they are. That's just a fact of life in Mexico.
I have just noticed, while outside at 7:40 P.M., that a very large spider is spinning a very large and intricate web between the roof of our trailer and the mirror on the Limey's motorhome.
We have noticed that the vast majority of RV's travelling in Mexico have Canadian license plates. Of the dozen or so rigs in the campground we were in last night, one rig was American, and they lived in Vermont so close to the Canadian border that they could be honorary Canadians. Three rigs ( with American license plates ) were people from England, and the rest were Canadian. I guess Americans just really don't like Mexico. And / or the Canadians and Brits are that much more adventurous.
We continued heading "down" Mex 180. We are now travelling east "under the bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, headed for the Yucatán Peninsula. Guatemala is just a bit southeast of us. Our big challenge of today was getting through the city of Minitatlán. There were no signs directing us on the highway route through the city, and there were a number of "T" intersections where we had no idea whether to go left or right. We followed the main flow of traffic and eventually made it through the city.
We stopped for the night at a campground on the outskirts of Villahermosa. It's a s***hole of a campground, even by Mexican standards. It's part of a balneario, a swimming pool / water slide complex. It's nothing but a mud pit. The sites are so shallow a camper van could back all the way into a site and still be sticking out onto the muddy road. We each had to "parallel park" our rigs, each taking up about six sites. Doesn't matter, there's no other RV's here ... thank goodness. Given the less than ideal conditions, Joanne refused to pay the fee of 250 pesos, telling them we would pay 200 pesos. They could either accept that or we would leave. They accepted the 200 pesos. That's my girl !
There's no sewer connections, there's no water connections, the electricity is 15 amp incorrectly wired outlets. RV's require 30 or 50 amp outlets. Before plugging into any Mexican electrical outlets, I test them with a circuit polarity tester device. It's rare to find 30 or 50 amp outlets in Mexican campgrounds. Usually there are only 15 amp outlets. It's extremely rare to find an outlet that is correctly wired. My circuit polarity tester indicates that all the outlets here are "open ground" / not grounded. My 30 amp RV cord is plugged into a 30 amp to 15 amp 3 prong adaptor, which is then plugged into a 3 prong to 2 prong adaptor on which I have fabricated a ground wire connection with an alligator clip, to attach to something to ground the circuit. Thanks to the advice provided by Baja Winters, the caravan company we travelled with through the Baja last year, and Church's Mexican Camping book, I am fully equipped to handle all circumstances ... I hope.
The rough roads and innumerable topes have created a lot of "kitchen chaos" in our trailer, similar to our experiences driving through Newfoundland. While driving, drawers and doors pop open, utensils and dry goods fly out, etc.. The latch on one of the bedroom closet doors broke today. At the end of each long, difficult day of driving I have to take a few deep breaths, try to relax, and remember "Flexico".
I have just noticed ( at 10:00 P.M. ) that the constellation Orion is directly overhead. That doesn't seem right, does it ?
Monday ; Villahermosa, Tabasco to Isla Aguada, Campeche
Well, today was our first really great day in Mexico. Great weather, good roads, great adventure.
Today was sunny and warm. This morning before departure I checked the air pressure in the truck tires. That's my regular Monday preventive maintenance task. I sat down on the muddy grass beside the truck, and began to unscrew the metal cap off the metal valve stem of the outside rear dually tire, and ... ZAP ... I was electrocuted ! ! ! Thanks to the ungrounded, incorrectly wired electrical outlet, our entire truck and trailer rig was electrified. When I sat down on the wet muddy grass, and touched the metal valve stem, providing a path to ground through me ... ZAP ! I had heard stories of that happening with RV's, but it was a first for me.
Prior to leaving the s***hole campground, I chatted briefly with a retired couple from Steinbach, Manitoba, just east of Winnipeg, who were tent camping through Mexico. We drove into Villahermosa and found our way to Parque Museo La Venta, a combination of zoo and museum. Getting our rigs parallel parked on the street was a bit of a challenge, more so for Kevin than for me. I got the first and easiest parking spot, Kevin missed the opportunity and had to drive some distance through rush hour traffic, make a retorno ( u-turn ), drive back, make another retorno, then park. Not very easy in a large motorhome in a Mexican city during rush hour.
The zoo portion of Parque Museo La Venta was an interesting tropical zoo. The museum portion was our reason for being there. The Villahermosa region is the centre of the ancient Olmec culture. The outdoor walking path museum contains many Olmec "Heads", the statues of heads carved into rock by the ancient Olmecs. We enjoyed walking around the zoo portion, and enjoyed seeing and photographing the Olmec Heads even more.
We left Villahermosa shortly before noon, and drove 236 km. / 147 miles to Isla Aguada ( Eesla Agoowahdah ) in the state of Campeche ( Compeshay ). It took us about 4½ hours, which was much faster than we've been able to travel on previous days. The roads were mostly very good, fresh asphalt, wide, with paved shoulders, not very many towns, and therefore not very many topes to slow us down. When we passed from the state of Tabasco into the state of Campeche, we had to stop at a food inspection station. The state of Campeche imposes restrictions on foods being brought into the state. We knew that, and had adequately prepared by eating all prohibited foods over the last few days. The polite inspector who came into our rig searched our fridge and freezer. He asked about the oranges in our fridge. I told him they were mandarins we had purchased in Mexico. He was satisfied. He searched the fridge and freezer looking for eggs, poultry, and pork. We had only beef, which is allowable. The polite inspector who searched the Limey's rig was dissatisfied with the mandarins because he felt that some of the skins showed blemishes. He required them to peel their mandarins, and discard the peels at the state border. They were allowed to keep the peeled mandarins.
We came around the "bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, and entered the Yucatán Peninsula. We are now headed northeast into the Yucatán, still following the Gulf Of Mexico coast line. The Caribbean Sea is on the other side of the Yucatán. Guatemala and Belize are now a bit to the south of us.
We arrived in Isla Aguada, a fishing town on the coast with lovely beaches. We found our way to the only campground in town. When the American owner refused to honour the Passport America rate, despite being listed in the current Passport America directory, and verified by Kevin on the Internet two days ago as a Passport America affiliated campground, I threw a hissy fit and refused to stay. I knew from Church's Mexican Camping book that there was a nearby abandoned large ferry dock that RV'ers sometimes use for boondocking. We found our way to the ferry dock, and with some careful manoeuvering through a somewhat narrow entranceway, we parked at the far end of the ferry dock, all by ourselves, looking out over the water and the adjacent beaches. It was lovely !
We sat out in our lawn chairs, chatting, being amused by children from nearby homes playing on and around the dock and beach. The children, mostly boys, were fascinated by our rigs. A huge trailer that is obviously our home, and the Limey's huge motorhome, obviously their home. The children were very amused by a little gringo dog, on a tie out cable, hooked to the Limey's toad, wearing a bandanna, and with very eager social skills. Not at all what these kids perceive when they think of "dog". A few of the boys practiced what little English they knew by pointing at Bo and pronouncing "doag". And they were even more amused and stunned by seeing a cat in a tent. HA HA HA ! Some small children who were playing at the water's edge, catching little crabs, came over and offered some of their little crabs to Joanne. HA HA HA ... how sweet, but no thank you ... no, gracias.
Finally came the highlight of our day. Beside the ferry dock, on the beach, was a small family operated restaurant, Restaurante Familiar Memin, ( the Memin Family's Restaurant ), an open air restaurant under a thatched palapa. Since we had not spent money on camping fees, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We struggled to decipher the menu. We were doing pretty well, actually. Our Spanish ability has increased tremendously in the last ten days. Joanne was having difficulty understanding the price of the fried fish dish on the menu. We couldn't understand the waitress's explanation. She left and came back with a large platter with three different sized fish on it, each with a different price written on a scrap of paper. She explained that we could share, if we wanted. Great ... we ordered the largest of the fish, for all four of us to share. Pescado frito al gusto / seasoned fried fish. While waiting for the fish to be prepared we ordered tres cerveza y uno limonada / three beers and a lemonade. She served complimentary home made tortilla chips with freshly made mole ( pronounced "molay" ). Mole is a paste made from mashed bananas, some kind of unsweetened chocolate or cocoa bean powder, and crushed chili peppers of some kind. It's very unusual. I've had it before on a chicken dish and did not like it. But with the tortilla chips it was great ! It was so good I went and asked for another serving. The waitress and the cook, whom I think was the waitress's mother, looked extremely pleased with my request for "mas, por favor".
I asked what kind of fish it was. It was Robalo. The fish had been gutted, but otherwise left intact. It was thinly coated with a seasoning, then fried, then cut into large pieces, so we could share. It was served on a large platter with slices of tomatoes, cucumbers, and strong onions. It was accompanied by a ceramic bowl full of freshly home made tortillas, a staple of most Mexican meals. Oh, my goodness ... what a simple but wonderful meal ! ! ! Our total bill came to ... wait for it ... 180 pesos. About $13.50, for a meal and drinks for four ! For dessert, we ate Joanne's freshly made chocolate and cranberry sauce cake served with ice cream provided by Sandy, sitting in our lawn chairs in the dark, on the ferry dock beside our rigs, looking out over the dark water and starlit sky.
A great ending to a great day ! We need more days like this.
Tuesday ; Isla Aguada to Campeche ( city ), Campeche ( state )
Today was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day. We started our day by sitting out on our ferry dock "patio", enjoying the brilliant morning sunshine and warmth, and watching pelicans fish. Before departing at mid-morning we went for a long walk along the beach. I picked up some pretty shells and a very nice piece of sponge. Bo romped in the Gulf Of Mexico and played with the Mexican dogs that followed us along, as always. He's now smelling kind of "fishy". And the inside of the truck is now very sandy. A young boy asked us what was the name of our perrito ? In Spanish, "dog" is "perro", and the suffix "ito" indicates "little". Hey, Bo, down here in Mexico you don't even qualify as a full fledged perro. HA HA HA ! By the way, I discovered that somebody ate the small starfish that I had put on the back floor of the truck a few days ago to dry out.
We continued on Mex 180, the "free" road, trying to avoid Mex 180D, the toll road. Sometimes we have no option but to use the toll road, and the tolls are outrageously expensive. Yesterday our tolls were over 300 pesos ( $25 ), and we used the free road as much as possible. We are now driving northeast on the Yucatán Peninsula heading towards Cancún, still following the coast line of the Gulf Of Mexico. Today's drive was 160 km. / 100 miles of driving alongside endless beach, emerald green water, and wide, white sand beach. With nothing ... no towns ! We've noticed that the roads in the state of Campeche are considerably better than they have been in the other Mexican states we've driven through. And less litter. Not clean, by our Canadian standards, but less litter nonetheless. Perhaps the Campeche state government is more efficient than the others ?
The last few days we have occasionally seen fairly large, bright green lizards, and fairly large, bright green snakes on the road. Obviously we try to avoid hitting them, as much as possible. I did run over a snake. Sometimes we have to "straddle" the lizards, hoping that they stay still as the vehicle passes over them.
We arrived at our seaside resort campground, Club Nautico, on the outskirts of Campeche, in early afternoon. By Mexican standards, it's a great campground. Nevertheless, getting into our site proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge. The campsite has properly wired 30 amp outlets with 30 amp breakers, water, and sewer. But ... as usual, the water pressure flows at a trickle, perhaps a flow rate of a few cups per minute. When we arrived here, the Adventure Caravans group of 18 rigs was already here, but it's a large enough campground for them, and still lots more. After wrestling into our site, getting set up, and having a late lunch, I worked on getting our fresh water tank refilled, a lengthy process given the poor water flow rate. Kevin and Sandy went off to play a game of tennis. Joanne, Teddy and Bo all sat outside in the shade of the Tamarind tree on our campsite. I did some minor maintenance chores, fixing things that have broken and tightening things that have loosened over the last eleven days. I took my laptop outside and did computer work. AHHHHH ... what a beautiful afternoon ! ! !
Late in the afternoon we joined Kevin and Sandy in their toad and headed into Campeche for some sightseeing and grocery shopping. I brought along an empty five gallon water jug, hoping to find an agua purificado ( purified water ) place to refill our jug. We drove through the village of Lerma and into the city of Campeche. We drove around, semi-lost for quite awhile, looking for a supermercado / supermarket. Found an agua purificado place. A five gallon refill cost doce ( dosay / 12 ) pesos y cinquanta ( sinkwahntah / 50 ) centavos, a little less than a dollar. Asked a man for directions to a supermarket. He was no help. Asked a woman for directions to a supermarket. She gave us good directions to the Mega supermarket. It was really ... well, Mega ! I bought some fresh fish fillets for supper. They were a fish called Bagre Oriental. Never heard of it. But we had also never heard of the fish we had yesterday, Robalo. Two fillets cost 16 pesos y 68 centavos, about $1.25. Bought lots of pan dulce. I've decided after seeing the open air market in Veracruz, and this large supermarket in Campeche, that I will only buy fresh meats, fish, eggs, etc. at the large supermarkets where the fresh products are properly handled and refrigerated. By the time we left the grocery store it was already dark.
I barbecued the fish, seasoning it with Tony Chechere's, a Cajun seasoning mix from Louisiana. It turned out very nicely. I spent the evening working on photographs from the last few days. Late in the evening we sat outdoors chatting with Kevin and Sandy.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I lent Kevin my drill so that he could do more modifications to the plumbing vent cap that he had installed in the Rio Grande Valley that is proving to be unsatisfactory. They are getting waste holding tank odours in their motorhome as they drive. We sat around for awhile enjoying the fine weather.
Mid-morning we headed into the city of Campeche with Kevin and Sandy in their toad. We parked outside the fortress walls of the historic "old town" contained within the fortress walls. We wandered around inside the fortress walls, which contain the original old city of Campeche, built about 1540. We visited a church and a cathedral. We wandered outside the fortress walls along the waterfront to walk a bit on the malecon. We found our way to the Mercado, the open air marketplace. Most of the vendors were selling fruits and vegetables.
On the inside of the Mercado we found a "food court" of sorts. We wandered around looking for something interesting to have for lunch. At one of the vendors I saw a woman sitting at a table eating an interesting looking bowl of soup. We sat down there and I ordered a bowl. Joanne ordered a fried chicken plate, although it wasn't anything like what you would expect to be defined as a fried chicken plate. Kevin and Sandy liked the look of the soup, and ordered it also. When it came I tried to get the waitress to explain it to me. I was having difficulty understanding, so a nearby woman helped. She explained it a bit better, but when I asked her to write it down on a notepad, she told me she didn't know how to write. Oh ... I hadn't expected that ! It was sopa de mondongo y menudo y balzita, a tomato broth based beef tripe soup made with stomach, intestines, and either spine or tail bone. It was ... well ... interesting ! Probably won't be on Tim Horton's lunch menu anytime soon ! HA HA HA !
After buying a bag of tomatoes for siete ( seeyetay / 7 ) pesos, just a bit more than 50 cents, and a pineapple for doce ( dosay / 12 ) pesos, a bit less than a dollar, we returned to where the toad was parked. It was my turn to drive. I offered to split the toad driving with Kevin when we go on outings, because the driver has little opportunity to sightsee. We found our way to the agua purificado place so that Kevin and Sandy could refill a water jug. We left the city, refilling the toad with fuel on the way back to Club Nautico, our campground.
While Kevin and Sandy went to play tennis, we took Bo for a walk along the waterfront. The Club Nautico resort has a concrete wall along the water, so there's not really a beach, just the rough surf crashing into the concrete wall. We spent the late afternoon and early evening sitting outside relaxing, me working on photographs on my laptop, Joanne doing crosswords, Kevin and Sandy reading. I spent the evening updating and analyzing my investment files with data I downloaded a few days ago.
DSK
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