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We seem to have done everything we wanted to do in Orizaba, so this morning we took off and headed south. To break the unusual extreme heat, the rainy season must start. Now we’re having a down-right intimate relationship with tropical storm Alberto. This storm will hit the Mexico coast and is dictating where we can go and where we shouldn’t. We decided to try a couple of days in Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca.
We have always wanted to go back here since our first and only trip about 10 or 15 years ago. Why?
1, It’s WAY up in the mountains.
2, Most of the clouds are below you.
3, It is uniquely unlike other Mexican villages.
I could also talk about the thriving narco-tourism industry where fresh magic mushrooms are easily available but, that’s not why we came here. No. Really.
We found a convenient hotel room in centro that also had parking. This was where Tammy took a much-needed rest from the switchbacks and steep mountain foolishness. Since we’re in centro, we headed across the street into the mercado and found a tasty dinner of simple mole with chicken and rice. The simplest things are quite satisfying.
It started to drizzle while we were eating so we quickly returned to the hotel to wait it out. The drizzle turned into a shower, then into a storm and then it just refused to stop. What we were trying to avoid still managed to find us. The storm continued through the night which made us question the condition of the roads to get back down the mountain. We decided to leave Huautla while it was still safe, hopefully. We meandered through Huautla to a gas station on the outskirts to fill up for today’s evacuation. Once the tank was topped off, I simply took my foot off the brake. The downhill thrill-ride though fog, rain and mud had begun. The guardrail-less turns were stimulating enough to kept me awake, considering the road gave you only one option that didn’t involve a plunge to certain death.
At the bottom of the mountain, we were back in the state of Veracruz. The road wound through and around a series of lakes that eventually took us to Tlacotalpan. This is a proud little riverside town, UNESCO World Heritage Site with each building freshly painted in bold colors. From a distance, it’s like peering at the confetti inside of a cascarone. Lot’s of vibrant color and… well, you crack it over someone’s head then go about your day. Yeah, that pretty well describes Tlacotalpan; very pretty but that’s about it. We stayed the night at the Casa Blanca, walked the malecon in search of dinner, then nighty-night. After the downhill 5 hour deluge of sky water we both were exhausted. I won’t discuss dinner. It was terrible. But we did sit by the river and were entertained by a group of grackles, otherwise known as “sky rats”. They warmed up to us as we fed them by hand.
This next morning we continued north, around the city of Veracruz, to the area known as “Costa Esmerelda”. We spoiled ourselves with an extended stay on the Gulf of Mexico at the Hotel Mar de Estrellas. We had a huge room and patio with a private entrance, great a/c and the only room that looked out directly to the ocean. We have driven through this area several times but have never stopped. This room alone gives us plenty of reasons to stay here more often.
Keeping the weather top-of-mind, we made the long, nine-hour drive from Costa Esmerelda to Monterrey. Our map was dotted with red warnings of possible flooding and roads washed out. But Mexico 85 gave us an “all clear”, directly into Monterrey and to our favorite hotel, “La Kavia”. Monterrey was the bulls-eye for Tropical Storm Alberto. Fortunately for us by time we arrived everything we needed was high and dry.
Our plan was to enjoy our 25th wedding anniversary in Monterrey but we’ve been in Mexico a long time now and seem to have lost track as to what day (or month) it is. Our first night back in Monterrey, we returned to our new favorite restaurant in the Antigua area. This was after a long day of driving so back to the hotel for a nightcap and sleepy time. Tomorrow will be the celebration day. Okay. Maybe not…The weather has different plans for us. The storm also took out the roads to the national park that we have now scratched off our list of places we “could” have seen. It’ll be a while till anyone that’s not hiking will get to go in. Oh, well. Not all was ruined. We can find fun in otherwise benign circumstances, like the local mercado, full of it’s food vendors and creepy cult supplies.
That evening, we returned to our steakhouse where we watch the evening parrots fly in. We had the place to ourselves where the owner and his girlfriend entertain us with lots of stories. They introduced us to the entire staff of cooks, bus boys and elevator repairmen. Soon after this social hour, we had an excellent Monterrey Tampiqueña plate that wasn’t on the menu and a little different. Quite the entertaining evening.
On the way to the border crossing heading home we realize, oops, today is our anniversary. A day early a day late, at least we’re still happily together for many more adventures.
There’s no crying in Mexico, Umphrey’s McGee
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