Sontecomapan Lagoon

In the morning, we discussed Sontecomapan with Cliff and Monique, and another Canadian couple, Kieth and Ruth. We decided to take the Pirata pickup truck to Sontecomapan, as we could not get six people in the car, and the road is not good. Marianne rode in the cab, and chatted with the driver; he went to the USA on a visa, and saved enough money to buy a house in Catemaco and the pickup truck he was driving. He came back because he missed his wife and two kids, but he really liked the USA.

We had lunch in Sotecomapan village. Richara and Marianne split a Mojarra fish, served with the head. We think that Mojarra is Tilapia, which is farm raised here. It was very good.

We selected a boat and captain, and agreed to pay Jorge a total of 600 pesos to take us to the jungle river, the mangrove river, and the beach at La Barra. We went a long way up the jungle river, with limbs completely overhanging the river in many areas. The water was clear, and Jorge said that the water was free of pollution, so free that he drank right out of the stream. In the mangrove river, he showed us the three kinds of mangroves, the red, the black and the white.

We stopped for 20 minutes at La Barra, and walked over to the gulf side of the spit of land, picking up sand dollars from the beach. While we were stopped, Jorge's boat floated away into the lake, with the wind and tide pushing it pretty fast. Jorge borrowed another boat to retrieve his own boat, and did not seem too concerned. We then headed back to Sontecomapan. One young man introduced himself in good English and shook our hands, to be friendly and practice his English. We took the pirata collectivo back.

On the way back, Marianne and I chatted with the people in the cab of the truck. As we were driving on the potholed road, all agreed that the government was very corrupt. One of them, Judi, a beautiful Mexican woman, was married to a Swiss music teacher and symphony director, who works part of each week in Veracruz, and part of each week in Catemaco. They live in Dos Amates, just downhill from the Ecobiosfera lodge that we visited the day before! It is a small world. Her brothers live in the USA, and have not been home in ten years; she says that they are speaking English and doing well in their work. Judi was astounded when she went to Switzerland, the roads were excellent, everything was perfect.

We relaxed when we got home, had a drink, and ate beans, rice and tortillas.