Detours - not my fault this time

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April 4, Saturday

Checked the bike out of Senor Roman's garage, donated the two Wal-mart blankets to him, I think he can use them as he apparently sleeps in the garage on an old car seat. Our plan was to head for Vera Cruz, and see how things went along the coastline, figuring that we'd stop for a hotel somewhere near the tourist area. We had a fairly late start out of Papantla, and as we headed for the coast on Mexico 180, we came to a halt in traffic. 180 is a two lane "major highway" that's one lane in either direction. We inched along, in the heat and direct sun, wondering what had happened. Eventually we came upon a flat-bed semi, opposite direction, that had taken a turn too fast and dumped its load of 4 foot diameter pipes across the road and down into the ravine as it turned over on it's side across the entire road. Somebody's day was ruined. We were detoured off the main road about 20 feet from the accident, and down a gravel/dirt/rock road, into the ravine, along the creek, and unexplained stop and go traffic for about 2 hours ! At one point a few cars started coming in the other direction, which made me think that there was another problem up ahead, and it was one way at a time there too. A man walking up the road looked at us on the bike, and pointed to the open lane on our left, and said "go". So I went. Passing about 100 cars ( no one beeped ! ) we finally crossed a one lane, under construction, bridge. More hardtop alternating with dirt and eventually we ended up back on 180, probably about 3 kms from the accident. Poor Bear was ready to overheat, and his clutch was not happy either. This little time detour caused a bit of a change in plan. I turned down the road to Tecolutla and got stopped by the Army. An important looking soldier walked over and wanted to know what was in the bags. So, I pointed at them and said "La tienda y las Ropas y la computadore y las zapotas y" he waved me on. Guess either he believed me, or my accent was bad enough that he figured it wasn't worth really trying to figure it out. Once in Tecolutla, we stopped for a cold lemonade at a seaside restaurant, and turned down an offer of una mesa - a table - on the sand for 60 pesos ( $4.80 - the peso is now a rough multiple of 8, meaning multiply pesos by 8 to get US dollars ). As we got back on the bike, a gentleman from the hotel next to where we parked tried to talk us into staying there. 500 pesos. I looked askance. 400 pesos for us. Not bad, but not as nice a place as we had hoped, and Tecolutla was not the prettiest oceanside town we'd seen. On the way out Deb spotted a sidewalk fruit vendor, so we stopped for some. We'd really been missing fruit for several days. Back to the main road again, and on towards Vera Cruz. As we rode through the wide spot in the road called Guadalupe, we passed a cute little hotel called "Hotel Coral". The sign said camping also, so we did a 180 to check it out. Carlos, the manager, showed us a great little room, for 500 pesos, and told us we could put up the tent anywhere we liked for 130 pesos per person. The pool, showers and bathroom were included with camping, so we picked the best spot under the palms on the edge of the beach and set up the tent for the first time in Mexico. After a swim in the gulf, a little sun, a swim in the pool, and more sun, we walked the beach up to "town" to find something to eat. The Mendaro's ( tiny food places ) set up their tables and chairs about 20 feet from the edge of the road. Trucks, dust and diesel fuel all add much to the ambience, but that's the choice for fine dining in Guadalupe. We walked home along the road, another adventure in itself since there is really no curb or walkway and the 1 and 1/2 lanes per side get used completely. It's not unusual for a car to pass a truck while the opposite direction truck eases over to the far edge. 1 and 1/2 on each side does indeed equal 3 lanes total. Back safely at the Coral, we got showered and into the Big Agnes for a good nights camping sleep.

April 5, Sunday

We decided to stay another day under the palms, so this was a swim and sun day. I finished the last English language book I had, now I'm waiting impatiently for Deb to finish hers, since it's the only one I've not yet read. After that we'll be out of reading material. Today was a banner day for the Hotel Coral, I think all the rooms were booked, and about 10 to 12 more tents were added by nightfall. Carlos was proud to offer us coffee this morning, but it had the sugar already in it, and it took me forever to finally figure out that they just made it that way. Fortunately, Oscar, the young boy that seems to do all the work at Hotel Coral, was able to slowly and carefully explain it to me. I'm pretty impressed with his ability to communicate with me while not using English. Sometimes I feel like he figures I must have ridden the short bus to school, but that's okay if it all works out. The next cup was Nescafe. This seems to be a pretty standard offering in Mexico, folks don't drink regular coffee except for possibly one cup first thing in the morning. You'll go a long way before you can find a cup of real coffee anytime after about 11:00 am. I'm not thrilled with Nescafe. Roadside supper, a "mango on a stick" and bed again.

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