Catemaco to Cosoleacaque

I just biked 100 km from La Victoria, Catemaco, to Cosoleacaque. I am staying with a family I met through Couch Surfing. I had a nice dinner and I puts some jabanero peppers in my tacos. I am about to upload a couple recent photos.

Approach

A little update. Mission: the main thing is to pass legislation on the federal level, and it now appears the best acts on the table are the Safe Climate Act and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (one is in the house, the other in the Senate). They capture the best thinking of scientists, economists and lawyers on what we need to do and how we should do it. A potential issue we may need to be concerned with as these bills get considered and passed is how the emission allowances will be administered. They should not just be grandfathered over to the current big polluters. There should be an objective, or at least rational, method of administering the allowances--this is probably already stipulated in the above acts, but I am aware of a campaign is directed at this issue, so perhaps it hasn´t been completely stipulated. I need to research this more.

In light of the time it took for the check card to come in the mail (it came on March 28, six weeks after my dad sent it on Feb 13), and the fact that I am still in Mexico with a little over a month before my sister´s wedding that I want to attend, I am having to reframe and refocus the trip. Overall, I want to establish a route between my house in Maryland and my friends´ house in Brazil that I can take each time I travel between US and Brazil. Now, I have a route established between my house and Catemaco. The question now is whether to trailblaze until the wedding and then fly back, or begin heading back now by bus (North, to Puebla, Mexico City, San Luis Potosi), visiting some friends I made here in Mexico, who I really want to visit, at their homes in the interior of the country, and fly back from some more northern departure point. All of the fossil fuel transportation I use I intend to offset with Driving Green (I already offset the flight with a $16, two-ton offset purchase).

In the long run, I still have to decide if I will try and finish the trip from where I left off, or pursue some other plan.

A question came up about why I chose an expensive hotel when I was in Veracruz. First, I did not choose it; it sort of fell at my feet when the owner´s sons approached me in the town square, very interested in my trip, and told me if I needed ANYTHING, they would do whatever they could to help. As I was penniless without my card, and in the middle of a city, I needed a place to stay. They set me up with a room, and I eventually left three days later without my card, even as they insisted I wait for the card to come. I stayed in touch with Juan by email. On January 30th, still penniless and in Catemaco, I decided to go back to Tlacotalpan for the Candelaria. There, I eventually lost my glasses and my camera stopped working completely, and I was working off money wired to me. When Juan invited me back to Veracruz for Carnival, it made sense to go--I would have a place to stay, I would be able to buy new glasses, a new camera, and wait for my card AND go to Carnival. Immediately when I got to Veracruz, at the beginning of Carnival, I had the card mailed to the hotel. I attended Carnival working off of no money. Even though I had all the numbers of the card, I could not get the glasses or the camera without the physical card, and wiring money costs $35 each time, so I decided against more wiring. Carnival was fun seeing all the artists live in concert--Diego Torres, Julieta Venegas, Alejandra Guzman. But as time went by with out the card coming, I became increasingly frustrated and felt as though the trip was dying. After four and a half weeks waiting, I put my foot down and I had a new one Fedexed for $25. It arrived March 21, and I began to get ready to leave, working on buying new glasses and digital camera. The original card arrived March 28, six weeks after it was sent. Yes, in retrospect, we should have had it Fedexed from the start, but the post office told my dad it would take five to seven days to arrive using First Class! How much more off could they have been? I have learned to not wait indefinitely, and to not use Mexican mail if I need speed.
Turns out, the hotel is very environmentally concerned, both with conserving water and electricity. I treat them now as a sponsor as they put me up for so long, as I waited for my card to come. I appreciate their friendship, hospitality and generosity. They tell me it is my house in Veracruz. Whenever I made a move to leave, they would always invite and urge me to stay longer. Thank you, Juan, Emilio Jr, Emilio Senior, Mrs. Velez, and all the waiters, hostesses, bellboys, cooks, roomcleaners and other staff at Hotel Imperial--a great stay in Veracruz I will never forget!

Photos from Nanciyaga

Nanciyaga

Tonight, I am going to Nanciyaga.

Ecoparque La Punta, Catemaco, where I am staying tonight

I was referred to this place by Cuautemoc Benitez Patino. It is a pre-hispanic sweat lodge and spa, with an eco-park where they are letting me camp. Ecoparque La Punta

Rebuttle to the Swindle film I was looking for; Onward with our work to protect our Climate!

Click Here for an article explaining some of the grave errors and the nature of the Swindle film.

This is my receipt for purchasing offsets for a flight from Chiapas, Mexico (where I think I may take off from), offsetting 4,400 pounds of carbon pollution from Driving Green. This company has an emissions calculator for flights, and the company has been rigorously screened and approved as offering legitamate and certified offsets by Environmental Defense.

Thank you for your order
Your transaction was approved!
Reference # VUHE0F625CF2
Description: DrivingGreen Emissions Offsets
Tax Amount: $0.00
Total Amount: $16.00
Bill To: Paul Park
4405 29th St
Mount Rainier Maryland 20712
US
301-927-5474
pauljosephpark@gmail.com
Ship To: Paul Park
4405 29th St
Mount Rainier Maryland 20712
US
301-927-5474

Tlacotalpan-Roca Partida-Monte Pio-Sontecomapan-Catemaco

Leaving Tlacotalpan, Salon Euphoria, and the Gallosa Family (Thursday).

The Virgin of the Candelaria.

Pic I took of bench in Tlaco plaza before leaving.

Kiosk.

Plaza.

Pet monkey.



A lake in the hills.


Approaching a small village.

Some scenery from the road.

Entrance to a ranch. See the cow/bull skull on the tree.

A nice land-rock formation.

A fun down-hill.

Bridge in Salinas.

Salinas-Roca Parida, a place, like Monte Pio, where a (fresh water) river meets the (salt water) Gulf. A nice place to swim.

In Salinas-Roca Partida, I met a family on the beach. The were having an extended family vacation at the aunt´s house on the shore. They invited me to camp in their yard, and I played with the kids, breaking out a little ball Broken Arrow Cafe in Alabama gave me. We played catch, and then I taught them how to play ¨500¨, where player throws the ball up for the rest to catch, shouting out a number, the number of points the receiver gets. I shared dinner with the family, and we talked about global warming and its solutions.

Mojarra fish farm.

Punta Roca Partida from further away.

A ¨teterete¨ lizard on a tree by the stream, Toro Prieto. Some guy almost killed it right as I was watching it by throwing a rock at it, but luckily it just missed. I asked why the boy was trying to kill it, and my impromptu guide told me that many around here ¨just aren´t educated.¨

Pet parrot.

Pet parrots, Toro Prieto.

This parrot could do the whistle, or ¨chifle¨, that means ¨wow, you´re hot¨.

These parrots live outside in a tree. Miraculously, they don´t fly away. The owner helps them back up to the tree if they fall so foreign dogs don´t get at them. Perhaps their wings are clipped.

The pet gator, Toro Prieto, near Punta Roca Partida.

Head of the gator.

Tail of the gator.

Middle of the gator.

Nice teeth.

Punta Roca Partida, which has a cave you can take a boat into, where they found buried/hidden objects of the pirates who used this region as their base.