0087 20th Aug - Veracruz to Coatzacoalcos

A cloudy therefore relatively cool pack up, and I then set of back to the road on the track through the jungle. (No monkeys in the trees yet, but that apparently comes next month !!)  I had to drive about 15 kms back to Veracruz because the road I had camped near was a dead end road up the coast to a little village of Anton Lizardo.  Drove along the beach front of Veracruz, and before long came to a traffic jam.  Normal pushing and shoving, and eventually find a march of some kind, banners and all, marching down the road covering 3 lanes, leaving just one lane for cars !  I don’t like to be too obvious taking photos of these kind of things in case either they or the accompanying police get upset for some reason. 

On the way out, saw a guy on a motorbike that was just a tad too small for him – And the poor little kid behind him was hanging on tight because there wasn’t very much seat space left for him !!  Then it was back out on the open road, and I went most of the time on the toll roads – For the day some 450 pesos on tolls – About $40.  These roads are usually better, but not always, so you have to keep your eyes open all the time to watch for surprises !

The next couple of days were going to be over very flat coastal plains, following round the southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico – There are a lot of rivers, and swamps, and bridges all along the way.  Lots of sugarcane growing, and there were also a lot of roadside stalls offering pineapple juice – But I hadn’t seen any pineapples growing yet !!   But shortly before Coatzacoalcos there they were – Acres and acres of them beside the road !!

Coatzacoalcos was not the most inspiring place, so when the directions for the one camp site I had details for took me out of town, I was not upset.  But I just went further and further out into the fields, through areas where they we burning off beside the road, and it was pretty hot (about 34 deg), so I was starting to wonder………  Well, they said it would be clearly marked (for a change !) at the 11 km marker – Which I passed with no sign !  So came back on the other side of the split highway and there was the camping sign beside the road – Trouble was no property around there knew anything about camping, although one restaurant said that if I wanted to I could camp in their car park !  But I persevered, and eventually a girl at a roadside taco stand pointed at a gate, and a shed behind the gate and told me to go there – And Yes, they were the “RV Park”.  Got taken about a km back into the fields, and sure enough there was an RV Park all laid out – Lits of sights, swimming pool, cabins, toilets and showers, recreation area – Trouble was it was totally overgrown, the pool was green and collapsing, the cabanas were collapsing, the rec room was

obviously where the cows spent their time (based on what was on the floor), the toilets and showers were disgusting and there was no water. But, as the man proudly pointed out, one of the electric lights worked.  Oh dear.  (I had photos of them all, but they seem to have self destructed on my computer, which is probably just as well !)  I was tired, and I figured a night in the fields was OK, but then he told me the price of 250 pesos, which is what you normally pay for a reasonable (ie working) site.  But rather than argue, I told him that if he got the water turned on, I would pay it.

I then went and set up in my field, and cooked my supper, and went to bed !!  Lots of biting insects in the grass too !!

Pics here
https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0088VeracruzToCoatzacoalcos?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvu1oKDnvGYMQ#