Day 4 was a a restful and beautiful river boat ride day.
Lalo had showed us how to use the coffee grinder in the hotel so that if we were the first ones up, we could go ahead and make coffee. This is the hotel that has been in the family for a few generations and they only use the kitchen for family and some staff meals. Lalo actually grew up in this hotel in one of the rooms with his parents. His Aunt and Uncle currently live in a few of the rooms. Rosaura (Chagua) , Lalo’s Tia (aunt) and younger sister of Luzma, was up and made traditional Veracruz style enchiladas with eggs and beans, salsa, and queso. Enchiladas Veracruz style are the ever present home made corn tortillas but instead of being filled and rolled and covered, they just fold them over, the sauce on top, then whatever fillings and cheese are thrown on top or off to the side. It was delicious.
We walked down the beach for a quick morning look and ended up walking all the way down to the breaker where the river meets the ocean. Not thinking that we were going to be out so long, we of coarse forgot to put on sunscreen and since this was not tourist season, there were none of the carts trolling the beach with all kinds of inflatable toys, sand buckets or sunscreen. We walked on beach and out on the first sandbar – there are generally three sandbars along each portion of this beach. We found some shells and three complete sand dollars.
We ended up leaving the sand dollars at the end of the beach for someone else to find. We then walked up the river side of town and saw hurricane destruction that was more prevalent or just hadn’t had the time to be completely repaired or cleaned up. Most buildings are concrete, so it is in the roofs, windows and downed trees that you notice the damage. I can see why some of the poorer sections of town have makeshift roofs and do without windows. It must be hard to try to replace them after every bad storm.
We Walked back thru town, stopping to see a few of Lalo’s friends along the way. Walking through town with Lalo feels like you are walking with the mayor. He stops to shake hands/fist bump or just greet just about everyone. Even when he isn’t stopping on his own, someone will see him and pull over their car to talk, or run out from nowhere and greet him.
Lalo’s cousin had been in town with his girlfriend, so we headed back to spend a bit more time with them before they were to leave that day.
To cool off, we sat with our feet in pool for a bit. I had been watching the kids nanny braiding and caring for Meranda’s hair every day, so I asked if she wouldn’t mind braiding mine for something different and to keep it out of the gulf breeze as we took the river boat ride later. Breeza (sp?) who is just sixteen or so and lives with the family, made quick work with my hair and had it complete in no time. Paola’s husband died a few years back and so live in help became a must so that she could continue to work. Anyone would want Breeza in their home though as she is a lovely hard working young lady who, much like most people I met on this trip, would brighten any room.
After saying goodbye to Lalo’s cousin and his lovely girlfriend, we then walked to the malecon on the river side. This is where we met Lalo’s friend Luis Eduardo (el gordo) and took a boat ride on the river with Ricky (Rickytin). We learned about the three types of mangroves (manglares) – red (roots anchored from top to bottom, closest to the water), white (roots from bottom to top, middle) and black (roots from bottom to top, farthest from water) and the conservation efforts of certain groups in the area. We saw a spotted turtle (tortuga pinta), five crocodiles (cocodrilos), spider crabs, red crabs, black crowned/white crowned/yellow-bellied egrets, vultures, an eagle and a royal duck. We got 32 oz micheladas from the party boat and would troll up to the tourist boats to provide refreshments and treats.
We came back to the hotel and ate pozole and talked with Luis Eduardo. I took a nap while the others talked politics, then came back and we played Unstable Unicorns which is a card style game that is a fun way to end any day.