The Cactus Trip Diaries

What did you do on Sunday?

We visited Comalcalco, is a city located some 60 km northwest of Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco. Near the city is the Pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Comalcalco, and that’s where we spent a pleasant morning strolling between and climbing the two large pyramids. They are said to be the most western Maya settlement, and due to the lack of limestone in the region, it is constructed of fired bricks, held together by mortar made of oyster shells. We made the local Mexicans laugh by turning our backs on the pyramids and taking pictures of epiphytic cacti growing in the tops of the trees.

We then visited another local attraction, Hacienda La Luz, where Ana Parizot Wolter, of the third generation of the Wolter family, gave us a private tour of the gardens in perfect English. She explained that it was important to keep with traditional methods of growing cocobeans that require the shade of taller neighbouring trees to produce the tiny flowers from which the surprisingly large fruits are produced. It is a complete ecosystem. See http://www.haciendalaluz.mx for more. Very interesting, with lovely chocolates made material to finish!

As it was still early in the afternoon, we went on to the beach, similar to the one visited on a rainy day a few days earlier, but this time heaving with people. We clearly stood out as foreigners and were viewed with curiosity.

I had forgotten to enter the coordinates of the hotel in SatNav, and yet, when we got closer to town, Alain’s mobile phone SatNav and my Garmin brought us to the same place.

We had seen a Steakhouse in town, on the internet, and so took a taxi that way, enjoyed a T-bone steak and some beers before taking the taxi back to the hotel.

That’s what we did on Sunday!