Author: keelhauler

We woke up at 5 AM had a nice breakfast and drove over to where I could get Wi-Fi so I could post yesterday’s blog. We headed for the border and go across with no inspection by 6:30AM, a nice early start. It was dark and the traffic was heavy heading North.

We got to Valle Hermosa to get pesos out of a bank machine (Cajero Automatica). I tried 5 different machines. No luck.

One thing that was good, I had paid in advance to have my Telcel Banda Ancha stick activated on this day. It worked, I could get on the internet and send e-mails.

I should have tried my other bank card but I didn’t. We wasted 30 minutes and didn’t have many pesos left from last year. When we got to MX83, I saw that a Pemex gas station had a bank machine. I used my other card no problem, I tried the first card to make sure it was not the other machines, no luck.

The roads were fairly good and fast. We got to Ciudad Valles by 2:45PM and found stopped traffic the way we planned to go, so I pulled into a Pemex. I turned on my Telcel, there was a really strong signal. I tried calling my bank with Skype, yea it worked. I got the same girl I told that I was going to Mexico, she said it should have worked. After about five minutes of hold she came back and said they had deactivated the card since it has not been used for a while, but they turned it back on. So off to a bank machine, yea it worked. I now have two working bank cards and plenty of pesos.

This place really is not a campground but I can get level and they have nice toilets and showers. The also have a restaurant and cabins. They run adventure tours out of here but this is where I hope to meet up with Tom McEwan and possibly paddle one of the local rivers.

So even with all of the delays trying to get the bank card to work we still got here at 3:45 PM. Plenty of time to have a walk, take the pictures and have a great dinner prepared by Peggy.

This is the Rio Micos at the camp. This is the takeout when running the waterfalls of the Micos.

I found they had a good cell signal here this year so no problem posting the blog.

The Aldea Huasteca is where we meet up with Tom McEwen who runs Liquid Adventures from the DC area. Tom got seriously hurt last summer kayaking and spent 2 months in the hospital so is not able to paddle this year.

His company, however, is still running their advanced Mexican paddling trip. My plans were to meet him on the last two days of his trip and see where he was paddling. They rolled in after we did on Wednesday after two hard days of paddling with their group of 10 paddlers.

The Micos is a short 2 mile run over about 8-10 waterfalls, one right after another. This picture show the last 4 falls. Actually there is a nice pool between all the falls.

I first ran the Micos 15 years ago on a Keel-Hauler trip. It was very low water.

Last year the water was too high here so I ran the Rio Ojo Frio with Tom & a guide. In 2012 I ran again with Tom and a large group.

This river has Hydro plants on it to take advantage of the big drop from the mountains into the town of Rio Valles.

For comparison I posted three pictures of the last falls before a nice 2 mile paddle back to the camp which is right on the river.

This is what it looked like this year.

This is from 2012 when the river was lower.

This is from our low water run in 2000.

I don’t think I have ever run these falls cleanly and this year was no exception. I’m looking for excuses but when I got to this drop I thought I knew the line. As I entered Diego shouted paddle hard right. I paddled but not hard enough. I was way too far left and slid onto the shallow travertine rock. I rolled in the 3” deep water 3 times, at least one time dragging my knuckles against the sharp rock. But I found myself upright and stopped sliding just before the final drop into the pool at the center of the falls. I caught my breath pushed myself into the current and dropped down into the pool where Diego was ready to give me a needed bow rescue. I made it with scratches on the backs of my knuckles on both hands. No cuts just my bruised ego.

The other paddlers were going to have lunch and run all the falls again and then head to camp. I asked Diego and another girl who was also done for the day to paddle back to camp with me so I could clean up the scrapes and put some Neosporin on them.

On Friday the paddlers were all heading up to run the Rio Salto, I had run that river on our 2000 trip and it was also nothing but waterfalls so I opted for a hike with Peggy to get the first 2 pictures of the falls.

The little park is full of food & craft vendors but the views are worth the 10 peso (0.75) entrance fee. And its not that long of walk from camp.

Here is a picture from Pat & Mike

Saturday’s Driving Plans

The kayakers were driving back to Tampico to fly back to DC. Two paddlers stayed on and I could have run the Micos again but we were getting anxious to get to Catemaco. We got an early 7 AM start and had heavy traffic until we pulled off on this beautiful straight road to our El Higo short cut. After about 17 miles the road really got bad for 15 miles all the way until we almost got to MX127. They are rebuilding and repaving the road from that end. I guess the huge sugar cane trucks beat it to death. It sort of reminds me of Mountain Dale road by our cabin with twice as many potholes and some 6”-12” deep.

The weather since we entered Mexico has been great. No rain, high’s in high 70’s at the Micos but cloudy. Hot in high 80’s and sunny along the Veracruz coast.

We got to our favorite campground on the Emerald Coast, Neptuno. This year we found lots of tropical storm damage, almost all their big palm trees have lost their tops. There is no Telcel internet signal reachable from here. There is an option to drive a few miles to the Italian Coffee Company where free wireless is available, or even better if you have a external modem with an antenna you can reach a signal from El Doral Hotel a few doors away. I was able to get the young boy, that helps out the campground owner, to ask the hotel what their password was. It worked for me. This Alfa Wi-Fi Adapter that I use, is only $20 and it brings in wireless from way further than any computer’s internal wireless card.

There are no other campers here but the pool is busy with daytime visitors.
We parked up front this year since the day trippers were parked  where we normally camp, closer to the ocean.

There are sewers here and better electricity but there is more road noise at night.

Peggy got down to the beach, she is worried she won’t make it back up.

All the hotels and campgrounds along the beach have lost about 5’-10’ of land, which included their steps, palapas and palm trees. There  are lots of trees down all along the beach. We took a 2 mile walk on the nice flat dark brown beach.

My girls keep asking why they never get to see me, I guess I take all the pictures. I had Peggy take this one to show them that I am alive and well.

So early on Monday morning we expect to hit the road to Tepetapan Campground in Catemaco. Gene the campground owner, from Chicago, usually puts on a great Thanksgiving dinner.

Monday’s driving map & plans

It’s about a 5-6 hour drive from the Emerald Coast to Catemaco. The roads are improving every year but it is taking them years to build the bridges on MX180 near Veracruz.

We did some grocery shopping at the Soriana Super Market in San Andrés Tuxtla since it is easy to get in and out of their parking lot.

When you get to Catemaco, stay on MX180 don’t go into town. Right after a big Pemex you will see their sign, they are right down this side road second camp gate for RV’s.

Our little Phoenix Cruiser looks small compared the this big Class A from Mexico. We are the only two campers here and the owner, Gene Gaudi, is preparing a big Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday.

The pools are set to go for the winter guests.

They also have some nice cabins for monthly or seasonal rental.

The lake is popular for taking boat rides and seeing the monkeys on one island.

One block off the Malecon and 4 blocks from the campground, we found this little local restaurant with good food at a reasonable price. Peggy had a shrimp dinner and I had filet of fish Veracruzan style, tomatoes & onions with spices. We each had a Corona and the total price with the tip was only $15 USD.

View of the church from the town fishing dock.

We got here on Monday and it was very hot & sunny, with temperatures reaching into the 90’s^o F. A big cool down came in on Tuesday and it threatened to rain but turned out dry, so we walked all over town. On Wednesday it was even cooler and it lightly rained on and off most of the day so we got in a lot of reading. The Low Thursday morning was 60^o  and black clouds were around but no rain. The sun came out and it warmed to the low 70’s.

Gene’s annual potluck Thanksgiving dinner was another big success even though there were not many campers here this year.

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Friday’s Driving Plans

We haven’t got our sleep cycle adjusted yet to Central Standard time. It has been a two hour change from when we left Cleveland.

Our early morning walk on the beach found the workers picking up seaweed as usual.

Of course our little rest stop under the palapas at the end of the beach is still there but we could find any good seats to rest on yet.

There was one lone Pelican.

There was a new structure at Esencia, the small boutique hotel, right on the beach.

The old water tower, bathrooms and two story beach structure that was between our camp and the beach has been leveled..

Top view from camp, bottom view from beach

Nicole & Stephan built a large palapa to cover their fifth wheel, making this the third big palapa in our camp. It’s starting to look like Paamul. Rob & Shirley’s little Sprinter RV on the right.

We heard that all summer long lots of Germans were passing through on their way to Central & South America. They have big military looking rigs and usually only stay for a short time.

There is not much going on here and we have not traveled around in the area a lot like Gerry & Brenda. Read their BLOG and find out what there is to do in the area, they have lots of nice pictures.

The weather the first week was warm 85^oF but cloudy & windy. The kite boarders had lots of fun.

On Friday, seven of us went to Pizza Leos for his good Mexican pizza which has everything on it including spinach & jalapeno peppers.

It was Guadalupe week so all the kids kept stopping by and singing songs for some pesos.

We really only had rain on two evenings while we slept. The temperature cooled down to the mid-70’s, with lows about 67. But finally on Saturday the winds died down giving me a chance to have a 1 hr. paddle each way to the big cenote near Puerto Aventuras.

On Sunday the water was dead calm, so off I go again in my kayak.

This time to the beach next to the condos in Puerto Aventuras

From here it’s about a 100 yard walk to the pools where they do their dolphin show. I took about a one hour rest before I paddled back to Xpu-Ha.

Today there is a chance a fiberglass boat repair guy may come over to repair my RV bumper that I damaged on my way here.

For the past week the weather has been dry and cool. High’s about 78^oF with lows about 58. Great sleeping.
No seaweed has been coming in to shore and the beaches seem extra wide.

I guess some of the beach goers are thinking of Christmas, see the nice little snowman.

A new sign for the restaurant next to us.

Peggy trying out the bar swings at the small bar at Bonanza next door. This is where they filmed last year’s Corona commercial.

Here is a shot of the beach just past Catalonia, the only big hotel on our beach.

Our friend Richard fly fishing, he likes to catch Bonefish.

The only place with any seaweed is the abandoned resort at the end of the beach where Peggy and I like to hang out.

Remember this graffiti from 2 years ago? It’s a little faded now. Click it for a bigger picture