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Photo 1
Nice tire Today was supposed to be our free day. We didn't have to be anywhere with anybody. We were going to go out and explore. First stop, Catemaco, the northern most tropical rainforest in the world and where many movies have been filmed, including sean connery's shaman movie and most recently Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. It took me awhile to find one of those two roads that leads out of Coatzacoalcos, and after finding it I started driving out of the city. Of course it had rained the night before. Of course the road was filled with puddles. It was a game of "how deep is this puddle and can I drive over it". I guessed wrong on one and that was all it took to destroy my tire. I mean completely destroy it. Not only did the tire pop going over the pot hole but the frame on the tire completely bent up. Luckily the rental had a spare and luckily I knew how to change a tire, but unlucky for me the darned thing didn't want to come off.
Now, it was hot. I was sweating like a pig out there trying to turn the lug nuts that were overtightened
Photo 2
Fun times changing a tire in the first place. They did not want to come. It probably had something to do with the shock the wheel undertook on the hole in the road but it was not giving. Karla was calling GMC roadside assistance and they were playing dumb. She told them the exact location of where we were and they were like, "Where are you again?" so they passed her to a local agent and she said I am on 180, one of the only two roads exiting Coatzacoalcos, just passed the only bridge, on the way Minatitlan, in front of the only chinese restaurant in town. GMC's response? "I'm sorry ma'am, we can't seem to figure out where you are." Right. We honestly didn't expect any different, especially after seeing the MEX debacle.
There was a ranch there and the owner came out to help. He failed at twisting those nuts so he came back with a pipe for extra leverage. With the pipe the nuts came off smoothly as did the tire. The spare was put on, we tipped for the help and we were on our way, back. We no longer had time to go to Catemaco. We figured we'd
Photo 3
posing for the camera go to Las Barrillas and Jicacal which was closer. We drove down the road where our turn off was supposed to be but it wasn't there. Or at least we couldn't find it. Hard to tell where to turn when there are no signs or streets identified.
On our adventurous morning we found a great restaurant where we ate breakfast. The girls ate carne asada, Karla ate carne chinameca and Josh enjoyed a coctel de camaron. We all shared a fondue and two jars of orange. The restaurant had a playground and pool. The price was around $20 US. There were mosquitos in the bathrooms that swarmed you when you went in. None of the toilets in Coatza had toilet seats (except the one in our apartment) and none allowed toilet paper to be thrown into the water. So aside from the adventurous bathrooms, the place was great.
After missing our exit we did find a nice mall that is very similar to US standards. There we purchased a gift for Karla's cousin who had a birthday party coming up. Just down the street from the mall was the beach. The area was undeveloped and provided an excellent
Photo 4
Still posing opportunity to explore the beach, dunes and patches of jungle with all the creatures found therein.
The beach here was somewhat dirty so we spent no time at the water itself. We spent most of our time exploring the dunes. There we found native passion vines and flowers of all sorts and sizes, with millions of butterflies. Unfortunately, where there are butterflies, there are catepillars and some of the caterpillars there are poisonous. I sat there admiring this one particularly shiny one with massive venomous spikes as it walked across the sand. I felt something moving across my leg hairs and looked down to see one walking on my leg! I have no idea how it got there but I sent the poor thing flying.
The ants in the jungle are of all sorts. The most common are the cutter ants who walk in single file rows each carrying his leaf. Their pinch is quite painful. Don't cross their path. Trust me. We found a tree with vines hanging and figured we play Tarzan. I found the largest vine, gave it a tug and since it didn't fall, jumped on it. When my weight came down, so did
Photo 5
And a little more posing the vine. Curiously there was something on the other end of the vine. It was a medium size grey colored creature that I sent falling to the ground. It hit the undergrowth and went running away. It may have been a monkey or lizard of some sort, but we couldn't get a good look at it. We spent the day at the beach then headed back.
Karla's friend met up with us and we went out to eat delicious tacos aracherras. With that we called it a day.
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