Lake Catemaco tour

In the morning, Marianne, Monique, and Francaise, went shopping for sewing supplies. The conversation was held in three languages, Spanish, English, and French, quite interesting. Marianne was the only one who spoke Spanish.

Marianne spoke to Eileen, who had just gotten out of the hospital, after surgery on her shattered elbow.


After lunch, Richard, Marianne, Monique, and Cliff walked down to the Malecon, and chose a boat and a tour. We opted for the more expensive 500 peso group tour, which included all the stops.

Cliff and Richard got off at El Tegal, where the grotto where the Virgin de Carmen was seen by the fisherman in 1714. The statue in the basilica was left behind as a sign.


The stop to see the monkeys was not great, kind of like a bad zoo.


We enjoyed the stop at the Nanciyaga eco-resort. This included a walk through the jungle, and a visit to the crocodile pen. We were even lucky enough to see the local monkeys swinging through the treetops. Our tour was in English, although our guide was not a master of the language. She did not understand questions in English. There were opportunities to pay more for a mud facial, or to have a shaman perform a ritual cleansing, which we passed up. We drank from the mineral spring; they are so environmentally conscious that they composted the leaves we used to drink the water! They have rustic lodges, but we had heard earlier that a honeymoon couple was eaten up by mosquitoes. The photo is of Marianne and our guide in front of the Temescal, the ritual native sauna. After Nanciyaga, we saw a spectacular bird, the Purple Gallinule. We were dropped off at La Ola, where we had a drink, and then walked home.

We received a happy phone call in the evening announcing the birth of Marianne's first great grandchild. Marianne was on pins and needles waiting for the call. All is well with mom and 6 pound 8 ounce baby girl, born at 4:49 PM.