Hanging out in Paradise

We slept in, as usual here. Richard went out with Cliff and Monique to buy them a cell phone. She needed the phone because she proofreads translations. The person doing the translations is pretty good, but sometimes makes mistakes or leaves out something, and her job is to check the translations. He emails her the translations, and she checks them out. He needs to be able to contact her when he has work for her to do. Monique is a Quebecoise, and grew up in Montreal, and is a native French speaker.

Richard took part in a conversation, mostly in French, with Gene, Michel, and Rachel. Michel and Rachel have traveled throughout the world, including RVing in India, Brazil, and other countries. They particularly enjoyed Iran and Turkey, exotic RV destinations, especially for Americans.

Marianne struck a deal with Gaby to teach her English and have Gaby teach her Spanish.

Cliff, Monique, Marianne and Richard went out shopping for meat and vegetables. The roasted chicken are good.

Tomorrow is Sunday; Richard plans to take a pirata to Sontecomapan, and check out the scene there.

I have included a few pictures of our casita.

Arachnids in Paradise

We slept in a bit, and then Ian came over and gave us a ride to Bodega, a kind of Walmart, in San Andres Tuxtla. It is kind of a warehouse atmosphere, not like a regular Walmart, but with Walmart products. One amusing incident had Marianne asking, in Spanish, where the Pepto-Bismal was. He took her firmly by the elbow and guided her to the pharmacy, while Richard trailed behind, amused. We stocked up, and Ian dropped us off at our casita.

Richard went for a long walk through the city, walking to the other end of downtown, including the ADO bus station and the place where the "piratas" leave from. The piratas are pickup trucks used as buses in the rural areas. There are piratas going to La Barra, on the gulf of Mexico, but only two a day, so a bit inconvenient to get there. One leaves Catemaco at 12:30, we will aim for that one.

On Richard's walk, he took our radio to a radio repair shop. They said that they could special order a replacement antenna, or just install a screw at the end of the antenna. The technician said that he would starve if he went tothe USA, as Americans don't fix things, they just throw them away. Richard did not argue with him, ended up paying $1 for the screw, and was happy to have the antenna functional, after it being broken for several years. Always happy to learn a new trick.

We walked with our neighbors, Cliff and Monique, from Ottawa Canada. We strolled down on the Malecon, ostensibly to show them the restaurant, and ended up eating with them at La Ola, a restaurant owned by Gaby's family. A good meal in an almost empty restaurant.

Richard called his buddy Mike on Skype. Mike was favorably impressed with the audio quality, which is saying a lot, since he used to work for Bell Labs.


We had two large spiders in the bathroom. One was a tarantula, perhaps the largest spider that we had ever seen inside. Richard removed them from our casita. Even paradise has arachnids; Marianne hates them, but Richard is willing to deal with them.

A quiet day in a tropical paradise

We had a quiet day. Richard walked downtown to get a SIM card for his cell phone, and took a few photos.


The photo above is a sign that the Municipal workers put up because they did not get their Christmas bonus, required by law. The incoming administration found that the outgoing administration had left the coffers empty, hence they were unable to pay the bonus.
The church is beautiful on the inside, as you can see. The Basilica de la Virgin de Carmen is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who is said to have appeared on a local island. The offerings below include photos of family members, locks of hair, and clothing for the Virgin.

We did a little birdwatching; Richard thinks that he saw some Snowy Egrets and Neotropical Cormorants. Marianne got introduced to the park parrot, Kiko.

We relaxed, and Ian came over to visit and drink a beer. Ian is a paddler who Richard met on the internet. He retired here in Catemaco, and likes it very much. He invited us to go shopping with him on Friday, in the next town, San Andres Tuxtla. Richard hopes to paddle with him next week.

The excitement in the hotel/park is that the pool is being emptied, in an attempt to get it clean. The owner has run out of ideas, and hopes that new water will solve the problem.

Marianne cooked a simple dinner, which required washing a lot of dishes, and we played Skipbow.

A quiet day in our tropical paradise.

Veracruz City to Catemaco

We slept in a bit, and then Richard went out for a walk around town, and to get some pesos. Our hotel, the Hotel Hawaii, is a block or two from the hotel we stayed in 2000, the Emporio. The Emporio is under renovation, and is closed until sometime in 2008.

We ate in the Gran Cafe de la Parroquia, on the Malecon. But our meal was poor; even the coffee was poor. We strolled down the Malecon, and watched young people dive for pesos that the tourists threw into the water. Marianne wanted to toss some US coins, but they only wanted Mexican money.

We took a taxi to the bus station, and a nice ADO bus to Catemaco. The drive was slow, but beautiful. With stops, it took 3.5 hours. Our taxi driver took us to the hotel, where we met Gene, our host. He is married to Gaby, a Mexican lady. Our casita is quite nice, adequately equipped, and overlooking pretty grounds. The world here is all in shades of green.



Gene told us where to shop, so we strolled downtown, and bought groceries at the Supermercado Rodeo. After stopping at a panaderia and fruteria, we bought a roasted chicken at Carniceria San Miguel, and then took a taxi back to our casita.

We sat outside, watched the egrets fly by, ate chicken, and drank wine and beer. The chicken was very good, they even threw in tortillas, rice, and salsa to make a complete meal. Gene mentioned that one of the RVers was from France. Richard chatted with him in French, and was pleasantly surprised that he could understand what he was saying. The French couple was in the midst of a two year trip from Halifax to Tierra del Fuego, a huge trip.

Boulder to Veracruz

Richard dropped off the cat at the cat boarding place. Mike took us to the bus stop, thanks, Mike. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and took Continental to Houston. After dinner in Houston, and talking to a man from the Check Republic, we caught a small jet to Veracruz.

In the Veracruz airport we spoke to a small group of church folks who come down to Mexico on mission work. This trip, however, was vacation for them; they were going to Cordoba Veracruz. We ended up giving a young man with a backpack and a guitar into town in our taxi. His name was Tree. He took the name Tree two years ago, his birth name was Holland. The taxi driver suggested a couple of hotels to him, but he thought that they were too expensive, so he got off to look for a cheaper hotel. Our hotel, the Hawaii, was adequate, with a large room. We were happy to lie down after a somewhat long day, ending after midnight.

Off to Catemaco, Veracruz, Mexico

We are leaving Tuesday, January 8 for Catemaco, in southern Veracruz State, Mexico, as you can see on the map. Click on the map if you want to be able to read the names of the towns. Catemaco is both the name of a town and the name of a lake. Catemaco is a three and a half hour bus ride south of the city of Veracruz. We will fly to Veracruz on Tuesday, and then arrive in Catemaco on Wednesday.

Catemaco is known as a kind of ecotourism spot, famous for beauty, birding, and for witches. We have not been to Catemaco before. We are renting a little house for three weeks in the town of Catemaco. We don't know what we are going to do exactly, although we will surely take a lancha tour on the lake, and visit the surrounding towns. There is a national Biosphere Preserve nearby, so we hope to visit it.

We hope to maintain our blog frequently during our trip.

Richard

Adrian to Bicycle Museum to Louisville to Colorado

I met Rosemary for breakfast. We had a nice chat and then got one of the nuns to take our picture. I really enjoyed my visit, almost like going on retreat.

I got on the road, and stopped in New Bremen Ohio, the home of the Crown fork lift truck company. The owner of the company has been collecting bicycles, and started a very nice museum. The town is very tidy also, with many of the old buildings fixed up and used for company offices. Some of the bikes were those that I remembered from my youth. Perhaps the one that hit closest to home was the 1967 Schwinn Town and Country tricycle. The summer that I worked in the Reynolds Aluminum plant, I rode a tricycle just like that, same color, as well as fixing them. I had a lot of hours on and around those bikes that summer.

The other bike pictures were the Hopalong Cassidy bike and costume, and an army bike with rifle.

I stopped at my mom's house in Louisville to install an updated life safety alarm for my mother. Unfortunately, the new box did not solve the problem, so I made arrangements to have a new phone jack installed and move the box to a more central location.

I turned in my rental car at the Louisville airport, arriving in plenty of time to catch my flight back to Colorado.

Richard