Monday, January 13 was a quiet day. We did school and chores in the morning, and more chores in the afternoon. We didn’t venture out until dinner time.
This time we walked farther down the causeway, to the restaurant at Flamenco Marina, which was about 1.5 miles away. It was a gourmet food court with a fancy bar in the middle, and Eric was eager to give it a try.
Continued from yesterday… At 0400, we approached the anchorage for the large boats coming from/going to the Panama Canal. We could have done circles for two hours until dawn broke, but since the ships were not moving, were lit, and all had AIS, we were confident that we could navigate safely.
Even though there was plenty of space for us to navigate between the vessels, we still felt quite close to the monstrous ships that we passed.
A couple small pangas came really close to us during the twilight approach to the marina. At one point dinghy zoomed across our the bow so close that it made our hearts skip a beat. Here is a photo looking back at the large vessel anchorage as dawn broke.
This week has been pretty fun. On Saturday we went out to eat again at the marina. On Sunday we didn’t do anything in the morning. In the afternoon, we were planning to eat at the marina restaurant, but dad talked to boat people for too long and didn’t get back before it closed. So he COOKED DINNER FOR US???!!! On Monday we rented a car and went to a town called Puerto Madero. We had a really disappointing meal, then we got dessert in the closest real city, Tapachula.
Cette semaine était plutôt amusante. Samedi on a mangé à la marina. Dimanche nous n’avons pas fait beaucoup de choses le matin. Pour dîner, nous voulions manger au restaurant de la marina, mais papa a parlé avec des personnes pendant trop longtemps, et le restaurant a fermé. Donc, IL A CUISINÉ LE DÎNER POUR NOUS ???!!!. Lundi on a loué une voiture et on est allé à un village qui s’appelait Puerto Madero. Notre repas était décevant, puis on a été manger un dessert à la ville la plus proche, Tapachula.
Friday, January 4 continued… We hopped into the car and drove a short distance through town of Tuxtla Chico to the main highway. We passed a herd of goats wandering the streets.
A very short way down the highway, Miguel turned into a driveway and parked. He announced we were at the historical Mayan ruins. Directly ahead of us was a small pyramid.
We realized that since the Mayan ruins were literally on the outskirts of town, that meant that Tuxtla Chico has been an established town for thousands of years.
Continue readingSunrise, Friday, January 3
Miguel picked us up from the marina at 0800. We drove for about 45-minutes to a town named Tuxtla Chico, but Miguel kept referring to it by its nickname, Chocolate Town. Along the way, Miguel chatted non-stop, explaining to us what we were seeing along the ways (what each of the buildings were, what produce was being farmed, what kinds of trees were along the road, etc.) and about Mexico’s economy, history and culture. Miguel was a history buff and enthusiastic about his own heritage, making him a wealth of information.
Our first stop was a park that was a tribute to the town’s Mayan heritage. In the middle of the park was a sculpture depicting a ring and a black ball, which were the components of a game that the Mayans played. In the game, the ball was made of rubber (rubber trees grew in the area). Embedded into the ground around the sculpture was a ring made of small stones that had etchings at regular intervals.
