La Choza El Fuerte

Pretty sure that one speed bump I hit in the dark that made the truck and trailer fly shook stuff down too. .
I thought for sure I'd killed the girls
we hit so hard. Narrow mountain road close to Papantla and we couldn't
even stop and check them for almost 10 miles. The trailer literally
Papantla, Veracruz-Llave, Mexico chrissybz

... Therefore had a wander around markets am, hoping to catch sight of locals in traditional dress - were a few guys with baggy white shirts & bloomers tucked into their ankle boots but no women in embroidered capes - did pick up some vanilla, the best in mexico apparently. El Tajin had a nice jungle setting and a few impressive buildings - the famous Building of Niches with a unique style with, of course, niches ...

Decidemment cette ville n a AUCUN charme! Apres 6h dans un bus inconfortable et des millions de dos d anes, nous sommes atterit dans une ville tristounette ou nous attend notre premiere pluie depuis notre arrivee au Mexique. Nous esperons que la visite de la pyramide d El Tajin en vaut le coup (etape choisie par Max...). Finalement nous sommes alles camper sur le site d'El Tajin pour assister a un festival tres sympathique et un son et ...

... detailing famous Fortelenses who had fought with Pancho Villa, Zapata et al. As it was also incredibly hot we decided to take shelter in a shadowed courtyard for a beer before heading back to los Mochis. Margot was in town for an interview and displayed a impressive lack of directional awareness and conformed to every female stereotype regarding women drivers and inability to locate north. It took us 3 hours to get back (40 mins to get here ...

... Vista. After waiting 30 minutes for someone to show up we then rang the tour company that had organized our Copper Canyon trip. It appeared that they were waiting for payment (would have been nice for them to ask us for this prior). After 2½ hours at the airport we managed to sort it out and we were on our way to El Fuerte. On arrival at the Rio Vista we were welcomed with a beer and a margarita for Alanna and enjoyed finally having made it to the ...

... nice colonial building (murals with the history of the area and somewhat more inspiring than your average UK council office) , the Posada del Hidalgo hotel (where I encountered the Americans) , the Plaza / Church and various other buildings of interest. I took a walk down by the Rio Fuerte where it was great to see some horses had come to swim and cool down in the river ... this is the first taste of weather to ...

... Another fairly lazy day, Mike was busy fixing the water heater whilst I did my cross stitch. A boring day did not do anything. On the moped to the town of Papantla, this is the home town of the Voladores, that is the people who do the flying. It is also where the descendents of the Totanics still live. We were hoping to catch one of their celebrations which we were told would be today, as it turned out it was yesterday! Still we managed to see some of ...

... and posted her card when I got to The States so her actual Birthday card was late once again! It was sad saying good-bye to Lisa as we had got on well and been out a few times, got drunk together and ...

We spent a lovely day here wandering around the cobbled streets of this pretty town. As seems to be the tradition in all Mexican towns the 'Governors Palace' had a mural showing the history of the place...involves lots of men on horses with belts of bullets strapped across their chests.

The pre-inca ruins of El Fuerte are among Bolivia's most important archaeological sites. It's a shame they were not that interesting! The museum in Samaipata had given us a lot of information about the ruins so were able to know what was what. The cold, blustery conditions on top of the hill probably didn't help much. The hot cheese empeñadas at the cafe were excellent though!