When Richard arrived at Montepio, he walked down to the beach, and saw one of the rivers. The beach was nothing to write home about, at least in heavy overcast and spitting rain. He was told that he could get to the other side by walking back to the main road, which he did. Crossing the first river put him in 2 de abril. He kept walking, crossed the other river, and ended up at Revolution de Abajo. At that point, he saw another pirata, and decided to take that pirata back, rather than get back to Catemaco late. The taxi driver said that to find the waterfalls, it was best to go to Revolution de Abajo, and pay a kid a few pesos to lead you to the falls.
The ride back seemed longer, if that was possible. Richard chatted with the driver, and learned more about the business of these collective taxis, known as piratas. The truck costs around $15,000 US, and lasts about three years in that very heavy service, with heavy loads on bad roads. They buy the trucks on time. There are only 15 pirata licences; the licences are occasionally sold from one driver to another for about $14,000 US.
Richard got home just before dark. Marianne was chatting with Gene, and we chatted for a while until we went to mass. We chatted a bit with the young girl who was at the church store selling religious articles; she asked where we were from, and told us her brother was in North Carolina, and had been there about three years; they had not seen him, since he had no papers.
The mass was about the same, with the friendly younger priest that we saw our first Sunday. He is very nice, smiles, and his Spanish is easy to understand. Marianne was concerned about the little people at mass who seemed to have nothing, the people who had no work, the people who were separated from family, and felt sad.
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