Subject: Isla Aguada to Veracruz
Hello to Everyone, Well, I once again find myself in a place with no internet so I will write an update or two and send them when it's possible to do so. I think it's the 21st of April but I never really know for certain......we're now in the state of Veracruz at the Tijon ruins. Once again, I need to go back about a week or so....... We left Pelenque and went right to Isla Iguada which is almost to the Yucatan. We'll go all the way there next time. We wanted to see the gulf coast and our first sighting was amazing. The area of the coast where we arrived was white sand beach, blue/green water and with a huge lagoon just the other side of the ocean from the road. Beautiful. Isla Iguada is one of many islands formed between the gulf and the lagoons just inland. There used to be ferries to get folks like us down the highway but now there are bridges, toll of course. The campground we stayed at for several nights was near one of the bridges and on the lagoon side. You cannot see the land on the other side of the lagoon from this locatation....it's very big. The ocean (gulf side) was a short walk under the bridge around the corner. We could see several small islands out in the huge lagoon. They looked deserted and would have been fun to go visit. We, unfortunately, were too lazy to go see them in our dinghy. We did actually take it off the top of the camper in anticipation of visiting the islands and the bay, but changed our mind. Next time.
We spent a relaxing few days at Isla Iguada and then started up the gulf coast. The morning we left it was raining and we know why! We had washed the truck the day before. We do the best we can with the truck but as you can see from the photo, it's been hard on big rig being down here in Mexico all this time!! Ha Ha. We saw a Ford dealer in Cuidad del Carmen and decided that maybe we could find the right engine oil to get an oil change. It was time. So we inquired and they had the correct oil for our diesel engine. And they could do the job right away. So we said okay and bought the oil. It cost $350 for the oil! I am not kidding! Now, we do take a bit of oil, 15 quarts to be exact, but.......come on......this is a bit pricey. So we inquired. They told us that the oil cost them almost $20 a quart, twice what it did a year ago.....they even showed us on the computer what they were being charged. They were super nice and gave us a 25% discount, which reduced the cost of the oil to about $270. The good news is that the full service, check everything, oil change only cost about $45 bucks!! I do plan to inquire with Ford later as to what the heck is going on.......life in Mexico keeps on truckin'. We made our way up to a place called Catemaco, which was very nice. There is a huge lake and it is in the Northernmost rain forest (jungle) in the world, so they say. The town was interesting, and we took a boat tour on the lake to see birds and monkeys and the like. We went to an interesting spa/hotel/restaurant/tour place that gave us a lot of information about the culture in the area and also we had the opportunity to have a facial and buy the stuff they used. It's supposed to be all natural and they did it on me and I loved it. I'll be giving everyone facials for years with this stuff. It's great......truly. Anyway, after the boat trip we had a beer at the La Panga restaurant and watched the funny little sailing vessels. It was a very cool place. So - then we left for Veracruz, in the state of Veracruz. Handy. The campground was kinda boring but there was an English guy there who liked it. I wanted to tell him that there were way better places to go than there but who am I to say? Anyway, Veracruz itself was fun to see. We took the bus and walked about a million miles. This is the oldest port in Mexico and there was (and still are ruins of) an old fort there right in the new harbor. There is a huge Navy presence in Veracruz and also a Costco - which we enjoyed visiting for sure. On to the next event or two.....
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