Mexico Trip Day 3

North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Coatzacoalcos
June 22nd 2008

Published: July 5th 2008

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Tengovacas

Photo 1

My room

We arrived sometime after 1:00 a.m. in Coatzacoalcos. Actually getting into the city is an adventure in and of itself. There are only two roads into the city and finding them is not obvious or well marked. We made a few detours and u-turns but somehow found ourselves in downtown where we wanted to be. I printed out my google maps before making the trip but found that they were useless here. The streets weren't marked, didn't make any logical sense meandering every which way, and intersections with 6 streets coming together with no street light was common. By this time I had lost all courtesy for other drivers so I fit right in here and had no difficulty maneuvering the city streets. Karla remembered by sight the way to go so she directed us to an individual we had to meet who would set us up with a room.

We found this person who took us to the location, at 1123 Roman Marin, were we found a very comfortable apartment awaiting us. Our friend provided us with bottled water, bread, sliced ham and juice to keep us going in the morning before heading up. The room was equipped with

Photo 2

My room

air conditioning, fans, a mini fridge, and cable tv. Unlike most habitations in Coatza, this one was bug free and salamander free. We slept like kings.

Sunday morning bright and early we got up to take our showers. The sun was shining and instead of hearing robins, or other local birds sing, we heard the sound of parrots and other tropical birds singing. I was glad to finally take a shower, only to find that there was no hot water! It was hot, yes. But that water was cold. I never did get used to showering in ice cold water. But we survived.

We headed down to the local branch of the Church where Karla used to attend as a child. The building was recently equipped with air conditioning which was very welcome since it was around 90 F with 100% humidity, which was the weather for the entire week, day and night, except that at night the clouds would gather and it would pour rain with a good lightning and thunder show.

After church and meeting with great people, we headed toward the malecon to take a ferry across the Rio Coatzacoalcos, the famed river where

Photo 3

Getting ready

Quetzacoatl boarded a boat and left the people. We boarded our boat and headed across the river to Allende.

Allende is a beautiful place. It is surrounded by massive Pemex refineries and chemical plants amidst tropical jungle, sand streets and brightly painted houses. I feared our rental car would sink in the sand, which it did. There were some streets it could not make up and we would have to take detours, but we made it to Abuelito's house. His house is quaint with a massive mango tree in front. We ate and enjoyed the company of Karla's extended family. The girls enjoyed playing with their 2nd or 3rd cousins in the sand while chasing random dogs, hens, roosters and other "wild" animals roaming the streets.

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