Monday, February 24, 2003
The temperature this morning is a very pleasant,
sunny 70 degrees. We went for breakfast at Café
Quiptic on the Zócalo. I ordered huevos rancheros and
Tom ordered breakfast tamales. The meals came with
coffee, orange juice, bread and strawberry marmalade,
and of course tortillas and salsa. It was great and
we were stuffed. The whole thing set us back about
seven bucks.
Templo de Santo Domingo
Our destination for today is the Lagunas de
Montebello National Park, also known as the Lagunas
de Colores. These mountain lakes are very deep, which
gives their waters wonderfully rich colors. There are
over 60 lakes in Montebello, and the park is set in a
thick pine forest, much like the Smoky Mountains.
Dual lagos - Esmerelda and Encontada
Montebello is one hour from Comitán. Our combi
driver was a speed-demon I've unaffectionately named
"Zippy." We're lucky to have gotten there alive.
Lunatic.
Encontada
The combis stop at Bosque Azul, the largest lake
in the park, where a number of guides immediately
come and accost you. We had our choice of hiking,
horseback riding, a boat ride, or a tour by pickup.
We ended up hiring a hiking guide, Daniel, to show us
to some of the lakes, as we did not have a map of the
area. We gave him 70 pesos to take us on a 30-minute
walk we could have done ourselves. Oh, well. He also
picked me an orchid, which I'm sure is illegal, as we
are in a national park. We went on a longer hike
later by ourselves.
Esmerelda
The lakes are muy bonita. We visited Bosque Azul,
Encontada, Ensueño, Esmerelda, and Lagunas Agua
Tinta. The park is supposedly quite busy on weekends
and holidays with families from Tuxtla and Comitán,
but there was hardly anyone visiting today, so we had
the place almost to ourselves!
Ensueño
On the combi ride back to Comitán was a French
couple. They were speaking to a Mexican woman in
Spanish, and she commented she was surprised when she
got on board and it was all gringos. The French
couple told her that they aren't gringos; they are
from Paris. The Mexican lady didn't comment. Paris? I
don't think that exempts them from gringo status. It
automatically includes them! Wankers.
Back in Comitán, we taxied up to Mirador Belisario
Domínguez for an expansive view of the city. Then we
walked down a steep path leading to steep streets and
back to the Zócalo. We passed the Templo de
Guadalupe, where we saw a woman praying and walking
to the altar from the back of the church on her
knees. Do you suppose she did something really
bad?
El tortuga
At the hotel, we were taking pictures of the cute
tortugas when the proprietress came out to feed them.
Mexican tortugas eat cut-up hot dogs - at least these
do. There were ten turtles. The oldest and biggest is
12 years old and is named Rambo. The proprietress
said tortugas can live to be 100, but probably not
these - too much cholesterol! She also said they eat
only every fourth day, so we were pleased to be there
on a feeding day. She let us feed them too!
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