Catamaco to Mexico City
March 2007
After a wonderful time in the state of Chiapas, we headed north and east from the capital city of Tuxtla Gutierrez toward the gulf coast and Veracruz. Having read a little bit about the mountain area of Lago Catamaco, we decided to stop in and see what it was all about. We found a great place to camp called Tepetapan R.V. Park without too much trouble. We only planned to spend a night or two but ended up finding so much to do that we spent several nights. We did some exploring in the area, including a drive to the town of San Andres Tuxtla and the impressive Salto de Eyipantla. One of the unexpected highlights of camping in Catamaco was meeting the Hopalog family: Kitty “MomaHops”, Jamie, Jesse, Pike, Ellen and Sissy. This wonderful family has been on the road for over three years, pulling a trailer with their van, documenting the entire journey on their website. As always, it was difficult to leave Catamaco with its peaceful atmosphere, beautiful setting and wonderful people. We continued on towards the city of Veracruz, stopping only to swap out our back right tire with our spare due to a softball-sized blister which developed on the inside wall of the tire. The amazing thing is that, A) the tire didn’t blow out, B) a nice cab driver flagged us down pointing out the problem, and finally, C) this was the first time on our entire trip that we had a problem with a tire. We ended up spending two nights camping on a beach just south of Veracruz, where we tried to get a replacement tire at Costco. Since our tires are not a very common size we were told that we would need to wait a week for the tire to arrive. We decided to continue on down the road using our spare tire and postpone ordering the replacement until we were going to be in one place long enough to receive the new tire.
Veracruz was very interesting with its massive port and historic downtown area. We saw some surf potential, as well as the remains of the recent Carnival celebration. Veracruz is home to the largest Carnival celebration in all of Mexico. Heading west, we stopped in the beautiful city of Xalapa for a visit to the Museo Anthropologico Xalapa or MAX. The museum was amazing. The architecture alone was truly unique as well as the massive collection of regional artifacts and the famous colossal Olmec heads. Despite being late in the day, we continued west towards Mexico City camping at 10,000 feet of elevation along the slopes of the snow-capped Malintzi volcano outside of Puebla. The weather was so enjoyable that we spent two nights camping. The altitude was such a change for us that we were huffing and puffing just walking around. The drive from Malintzi to Mexico City was pretty simple and not too long thanks to some helpful tips from a very nice bus driver. En route, we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant that served typical dishes as well as edible worms, wasps, snails and moths. Eric did his best to be adventurous dabbling a bit; however, Sarah stole the show trying at least one of everything. We are thinking of sending her in to win us some money on “Fear Factor.” The locals were extremely impressed. At the end of the day, we arrived in the town of San Juan Teotihuacan, a town on the outskirts of Mexico City famous for the ruins of Teotihuacan. San Juan Teotihuacan’s trailer park was a great home base for our explorations into Mexico City. We ended up making several day trips utilizing the inexpensive and plush bus service in conjunction with the city’s Metro system.
If you have never been to Mexico City, we highly recommend visiting this megalopolis. We found such an abundance of sites and interesting places that we were quite overwhelmed. The highlights for us were the Palacio de Bellas Artes where we saw some very beautiful murals, amazing stained glass and art deco architecture. Not to mention getting to go inside the opera house where we saw the famous Tiffany Glass Theatre Curtain. Basically, it is a massive stained-glass mosaic stage curtain depicting the volcano and valley of Tenochtitlan. We also visited the Templo Mayor, Zocalo, Palacio National, Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Museum of Anthropology and Chapultapec Park. We took a double-decker bus tour of the city to round out our visit which was fun despite the rain.
One thing we have come to love about traveling with an open time frame is the people you meet. While we were in San Juan Teotihuacan we met an amazing woman named Erna Brugman from the Netherlands. She has lost the use of her legs and was told seven years ago that she had three months to live. Well, she puts the “live” in living. Our days always started and ended with Erna and we even loaded her up in the van and took her to the pyramids one day. To our amazement she was determined not only to visit the ruins but to actually climb the 60 + stone steps to the highest point accessible on the Moon Pyramid. Without using her legs, she employed her strong arms to lift her body up each stair. With unflinching will and determination, she reached the top and later safely descended back to the ground completely on her own power. GO ERNA!!! You are our hero and we are forever grateful for meeting you. We had often asked ourselves or been asked by friends, relatives and fellow travelers, “What place, experience or moment stands out from this journey?” We would throw out different locations, people or sites in a sort of mental recap of the trip. But after our adventure with Erna on the Moon Pyramid, we don’t hesitate when someone asks what one memory stands out above the rest. Thank you, Erna, for sharing your strength with us.