To catch you up with our travels...
Left Tuxtla and couldn`t find a place for breakfast so just kept going. No problem, because the Big Mac from the previous night was still digesting. Stopped by the side of the highway for brunch at a place by the side of the road called Economical Kitchen in spanish. Wood fired stove, hand made corn tortillas (yum) and we had large pieces of chicken in broth with some large vegetable. There were 3 types of peppers for a garnish ranging from fiery to killer. Open air place, all the plastic tub chairs were full with families because this was Saturday and a great place. Delicious. This is the way to eat in Mexico.
Tip about gasoline. There is only one supplier here, Pemex, the government oil company. The bronze gas makes my engine ping, so I have to use the high grade. Even that pings under stress. So don`t bring a car requiring premium here.
I mentioned the twisty roads before, but they were nothing like the road down from Tuxtla to the coast. The pavement is brand new, beatifully smooth. But it dropped about 1000 meters in 10 kilometers. Thats 10 to 1 slope. And twisting all the way. Our butts got blistered from sliding side to side. Some hairpin turns were like right hand turns in the city. Going to get the brake pads checked to see if there is any lining left. The mexicans do this road without braking to save their brakes, but I can`t understand how they stay on the road. Of course there are lots of those little dog houses on the side of the road, memorials to people who died there. The temperature went from a cool 68 degrees to an uncomfortable 82 at the bottom. It was just like a midway ride, a real hoot all the way.
Along the west coast we were watching miles and miles of orchards, trying to figure out that purplish green fruit hanging from these trees. Very large farms, big trucks packing them to ship to the world. Stopped in a town when we saw that they were mangos, available at fruitstands. Talked with a local who was carrying his 18 mo daughter, and he went to the stand and asked the operator to get some green ones from inside which she washed for us. So we took a bag of yellow ones and the green ones. Yahoo, mangos for a week for a couple of bucks! We gave that guy a lift to his town and he told us he worked in Cancun, and was going to return there. Cancun treats him well, they pay him well and provide him a room for him and his family. In this town he works for Pepsi where he earns $60 Pesos for 8 hours work. Thats $6.60 Canadian.
Went though a medium sized town and came to an unmarked intersection with a red light. There was a 1-legged man there and I gave him a couple of pesos. He pointed to turn left and said Mexico. I thought we were in Mexico, so I drove straight. Later the road declined to dirt, so I circled back to that intersection. Again at the red light the 1-legged man was there with a huge smug grin on his face, pointing vigorously to the left hand turn. I thanked him sheepishly and he blessed me again. When you make a mistake, don`t lose the lesson. Now I know Mexico means the Mexico state highway.
Got to Huatulco around 6. The Bays of Huatulco is the next great resort area for Mexico. It is absolutely the best Mexico has to offer. The government took the whole area over, and built great connector roads between the beaches, built a village for the workers and tourists, complete with a town square, but thankfully with wide streets. There are lots of very large luxurious hotels here. Water is drinkable, sewage is all treated so nothing gets into the ocean. The water is clear with gorgeous life reefs for snorkelling. Water temp was slightly cooler than Playa, maybe a degree, but still you can still swim and snorkel forever without getting cold. We stayed in a large 4 story beachfront hotel with subservient staff. 3 pools, ocean view, with a balcony overlooking the middle of the hotel. Could get a great breeze through the room, so didn´t need air conditioning, thank goodness. There were only 5 rooms used out of 80. We payed Cdn $70 a night, the most since we left the USA, but it was great value. It even included breakfast, but waiters brought what you wanted, so I couldn`t make waffles.
On the beach where snorkelling is great I met a Mexican retired man, chemical engineer he said, who was vacationing up the coast like us, and told us where to stay in Acapulco. He noticed I was having a beer and asked if I liked Mescal. Don`t know. Do I like Tequilla. Yes, the good stuff. He explained Mescal and said it is the real drink of Mexico, and the clear stuff is the kind to buy. He waited till noon, and went to his car and brought back a 600 ml coke bottle full of mescal, and poured me a shot. I thought it tasted like moonshine, maybe 100 proof, but pretended to like it. Ardell didn`t pretend to like it, and he said it is only for men. The amber Mezcal is for women. He said he goes to the factories and buys it in bulk. I can understand that because he proceeded to drink the whole bottle.
For lunch Ardell ordered the seafood soup. Huge shrimp complete with eyes and feelers, octopus, fish fillet, and the highlight, a large fish head. I thought it was going to sing to me like that mechanical fish trophy that was all the rage a few years back.
Well thats enough for now. Heading west next.
peter and ardell
0 comments:
Post a Comment