Leaving Veracruz by about 11am (seems to be about my usual time unless there’s a good reason for an early start) I headed south on Mex 180. It was a bit boring so after a while I starting looking for some more interesting routes. Mike had mentioned a road that follows the coast so found a likely turnoff. The roads deteriorated fairly quickly and soon I was passing through a series of small ragged villages, most with some form of roadworks going on. I was thinking about finding a hotel but nothing I’d seen in these villages looked very appealing. Eventually it was getting late (I like to be done by 5:30 at the latest), but still no decent hotel so it was starting to look like I’d have to take what I could get. I stopped in the tiny the village of Arroya de Oro and found a hotel. Not nice, and expensive for what it was. I asked a local about alternatives and was directed to a cabana not far off the beach.
I was greeted by Juan, friendly guy who spoke decent english from years of working in the US. He’d retired to this quiet little village by the beach, and was loving it. He and his wife share a small house, and rent out a comfy cabana for about $11 a night.
I hadn’t eaten lunch so was getting a bit hungry, so Juan dished up some afternoon tea. Just what I needed!
Did I mention there wasn’t much in this village? No restaurant, so Juan took me to his friend’s a few miles away. In his ’92 bug. Huge fun, I hadn’t been in one since school days when a couple of my mates had them. We used to go terrorizing the neighborhood, with 5 or 6 of us squeezed into the VeeDub. I don’t remember much, but I do remember a lot of body roll and squealing tires. Fortunately Juan didn’t drive like we did!
Juan’s friend had two of the cutest daughters – we had a good time, gave them the iPhone to play with, they were soon taking photos like pros. The littlest was a scream, she introduced herself as “el pollito” – “the chick”.
Next day I had to check out the beach, about 3 minutes walk from the cabana. The beach has a river on one side and a creek a few hundred meters south. Should be idyllic – swim in the fresh water of the river, walk across 20 meters of sand and swim in the ocean. Unfortunately the beach is covered in crap that (I suspect) has floated down the river and into the sea, only to be thrown up on the beach a bit later. Mainly plastic bags and bottles. Plastic in the ocean is a looming environmental disaster, if it’s not one already…
