Locked Out

 Had you ever told me I might find myself walking out of Walmart with a child's bicycle under each arm I'd have told you you were mad , but this is Magical Mexico and her indeed I was in the city of Comitan, walking out of Walmart with a child's bicycle under each arm.

We decided Monday afternoon to drive 31 miles to Comitan, back up Highway 190 from our campground at the waterfalls of Lagos de Colon. The idea was to buy some gifts for the four kids in the family that manages the campground. It was good plan but after a morning of exercise and swimming and hanging around the chauffeur needed a bit of a nap. That gave us a late start but by 1:30 in the afternoon we were driving through the village. First we forded the streams, no longer a concern...

Then, without asking what time they closed the entrance we drove out of the village and made our way back to the main road.

A weekday afternoon saw more traffic than we had noticed on our way in three days ago. The mountains of Guatemala are still there looming over the horizon:

The Promaster's thermometer generally shows daytime temperatures between 85 and 90 and rainy season hasn't yet started but the cattle stand around in the sun with no apparent discomfort. 

No idea what they are doing, anymore than they probably have no idea what we are doing...

At first glance this looked complicated and at second glance indeed it was, a broken down tractor towing a harrow and the whole lot being towed by the dump truck in front.

Google maps estimates a drive time of more than one hour to cover 28 miles and I have no idea how that happens but they re right and we were buzzing along quite merrily at 50 mph.

I don't suppose the infernal topes help but it surprises me to find an estimated average speed of 25 miles per hour on an open smooth highway.

Half way up the mountain zig zags we passed a group of people peering over the side of the mountain while another group were pulling on a rope. Layne figured someone drove over the edge. It was odd as there were no official vehicles there but that too remains a mystery. Once we arrived at Comintan and stopped at the Walmart plaza at the south end of town we spotted a familiar vehicle from the Rancho San Nicolas campground in San Cristobal. It is kind of weird knowing people in these remote spots but their Fleetwood RV with Québec plates is pretty unique!

She wasn't feeling too well and they were staying in the parking lot a couple of nights to help her recover. Our waterfall hideaway is too narrow for such a large vehicle to camp there and it's another reason we enjoy our van. It feels pretty big in spots we go but it is no wider than a car even if it is longer, heavier and taller.

We did our shopping including salad, a colorful beach towel for Mom, the assorted and complicated bicycles, some electrical tape from Autozone and two hamburgers and fries from the Sam's Club Cafe as we hadn't eaten anything. If you think traveling to Mexico involves total immersion in a different culture think again. There are many differences of course but shopping can be as. similar to what you do at home as you like. We mix it up, and we don't get hung up on getting what we like from American box stores while also shopping at little village stores and eating food from roadside stands. I have been warned against eating street food in Mexico because it will kill me. The usual cheerful dire warnings on subjects unknown to their authors. I don't need to point out I'm not dead yet, do I?

I have no pictures of the return journey as we suddenly realized we were racing the clock. We stopped to top off the tank with 87 Octane Magna at the last Pemex on the way out of town and we raced the fading sunlight. It was about 5:45 and we had an hour before darkness...We almost made it, but by the time we were picking our way through the cornfields back to the campground area I was watching the road in my headlights.  Driving at night in Mexico is not a good idea ever as potholes, topes, pedestrians, cycles and animals wild and domestic are pretty much invisble. But when caught out you do what you have to do.  Until of course you meet a locked chain link fence across the road.

It was an odd moment, the only road in to the village was closed (sun up to sun down we found out later! Pretty obvious really) but as I pointed out to Layne we were in our home and had everything we needed so we parked on the wide shoulder and settled in for the night. We ate salad fro dinner, fresh from Walmart with blue cheese and walnuts also bought at the gringo store obviously and we watched some downloaded TV and went to bed. The only difference being we locked the doors as Layne was feeling unaccountably nervous parking outside the locked down village. No one bothered us in the night of course.

Jenny, the kids mother greeted us with a smile when we drove in Tuesday morning. Apparently word got round the village in the night that the idiot gabachos were camped outside the chain so she was expecting us. I don't doubt had a key been available they would have come to let us in busby the time we got up around 7 the chain had been down for an hour according to the gatekeeper.

I overhead Christian telling his sister he was looking forward to showing up at school on his bicycle as one of his classmates was very proud to be able to roller skate to school.  They call it human nature because we are all alike I suppose.

We decided to stay on an extra day and do some swimming and lounging after our hard day yesterday only this time we tried running the rapids downstream from the campground and I managed to draw a little blood on my leg. But on the plus side I did not lose my glasses.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, absolutely positively we are leaving for Puerto Madero now known as Puerto Chiapas on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, 90 minutes away Google says. Probably it will take us a week. Right now I need a swim followed by a nap.