Sancomb & Company

Well, it was off to Tampico, Mexico to visit Matthew and Holly. Well it was sort of off to Tampico for ol' Peg. Thanks to a Winter storm, it was off to a seven hour bus ride which arrived 45 minutes late in Newark missing the connection. However, that provided several compensation opportunities; to stand in line for two full hours to make alternative arrangements, to get to be on stand by for the flight to Houston, TX, to negotiate for a place to spend the night, to arrive at that modest accommodation after midnight, and to cap it all off, to hang around Houston all day till the single, late-afternoon, Continental flight to Tampico. What Joy!

The good news is that J. T. was traveling on Friday, (long story) so ol' Peg and J. T. met up in the Houston airport, had a beer, and continued on to Tampico together. Just like old married people do.

Friday night was spent at Casa Sancomb in Tampico which is absolutely beautiful; located on the second floor of a beautiful masonry building, it sports a large living-dining-sitting area, two bed rooms, den-computer room, three baths, maids quarters, two balconies, and a partridge in a pear tree. (Or was that a boat-tailed grackle in a palm tree?) Following a delicious dinner at a local outside/street side restaurant, (get that, outside/street side in February) we turned in in preparation to begin a three day road journey to surrounding communities.

Saturday night found us at the Riviera del Rio in La Pesca, (The Fish) The sunrise was nothing short of spectacular and we were treated to any number of water birds flying around which was a harbinger of things to come later in the day. I was really surprised by Matthew's ability to "chat-up' the locals which he did at the drop of a sombrero (It is taken for granted the Holly is fluent in Spanish) Matt put his facility with Spanish and he legendary negotiation skills to good work and hired a fishing guide to take us out on the local waters later in the morning. I say "Fishing Guide" and fishing trip, truth is we dangled our bait for little more than twenty minutes, before turning to our true love, bird watching. In the course of our three hour outing we saw more, and more varied, water birds than you can imagine: Brown Pelicans, White Pelicans, Oyster Catchers, Cormorants, a huge King Fisher, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Tri Colored Herons, Great Blue Herons, Water Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, and several more that we could not identify. However, the crowning glory for the day was the discovery of a flock of Flamingos, thanks to our "Fishing Guide" come "Flamingo Finder". The first flamingo we saw was just a brilliant, almost florescent pink, and reflected the sunlight in a breath-taking flash of color. Later in our trip we would see Cattle Egrets in abundance, and one Black Hawk. (And probably more that I can't remember)

Sunday found us traveling from seashore to mountains. Our destination was the town of Gomez Farias which is located in the Sierra Madre Oriental in the state of Tamaulipas in northeast Mexico and in the El Cielo biosphere reserve. We stayed at the Hostal Casa de Piedro. (Stone House Hotel) I love to say, "If it gets better than this, I want to do that too". Well it can't get an awful lot better.

Monday found us taking the journey home to Tampico with several stops along the way including a refreshing stop of at a beautiful canyon the name of which will have to come later. After an overnight at Casa Sancomb, it was off by bus for J. T. and Peg to the mountain town of Xilitla. (say HE-let-la. I don't know why, that's just how they say it.) Talk about a mountain town. Well just ask Peg when you see her, she will tell you it's a mountain town. Along with its quaint central town square, and its abundant market place streets, it is adjacent to one of Mexico's most famous sights, Las Posas. This fanciful creation of the English multi-millionaire, surrealist, eccentric is as they say, "A piece of work". (And I am sure he was as well) Years in the making, and built of concrete and all kinds of materials, it winds endlessly into and around the mountains where he lived. Never did get to the end of it. (Might never have gotten back????)

After returning to Tampico from Xilitla, (Did you catch that? J.T. & Peg, who speak virtually no Spanish, (Ok, so Peg can count to twenty, I'll give you that) took the five hour bus ride to Xilitla, AND BACK, by themselves, and made it.) So where was I? By now it was time for Peg to think about readying for the trip home, and J.T. to think about what he would do with the extra day, Saturday. (Now don't forget, Peg got to ride around in a bus back home for a day. That's got to count for something.) Saturday was spent doing some domestic things and ended with quite and adventure to the near by La Rivera area in Alto Tampico. Great lunch, what with our own mariachi band, personally conducted boat ride, more birds, sunset. The whole nine yards. (For now I will leave off the part about Matt bribing the traffic cop to get out of a ticket, and the part about getting stopped by the Mexican Army for a drugs and weapons interdiction. More about that some other day.)

Mexico is hard and brown. The first thing that strikes you about Mexico is that the local building material calls for cinder blocks, motor, and concrete. Due to a clay rich soil, it is dusty. Wood appears to be a precious commodity. It is not New England. (Why would we need two New Englands?) But where it is green, it is breath taking. There are different types of palm tree, one particular variety is absolutely magnificent, wish I knew it name.

Commerce is every where. Just about everybody seems to be in business. As opposed to working for someone else, everyone seems to be in business for themselves.

Everything is a "Work in Progress", especially in the countryside, or so it seemed to this observer. There seems to be relatively less middle class. Can't say we got to see it, "up close and personal", but while they may be happy and more prosperous then they seem, I don't think I would want to live in much of the countryside housing we saw.

The vast, vast, majority of people we encountered were civil, friendly, engaging, interested, and interesting. Thanks to Matt and Holly and their ability to communicate in the local language, we made new friends at every turn. Without them it would have been a much less interesting, Walk on The Beach. (and various other places) You have heard it said, "Everybody speaks English". Forget it! There is hope for the world. During our nine day stay in Mexico, (northeast Mexico which is not an Anglo tourist destination) we encountered just two people who could really speak a passable version of English. At the same time, several people, hearing us speaking English, asked us where we were from, and expressed interest in knowing where we had come from to visit their area. They were genuine.

Stop Signs, and especially Stop Lights, are a precious commodity in northeast Mexico. You have heard that; "The race belongs to the swiftest". Well in Tampico, "The intersection belongs to the boldest". Unbelievable!

All in all: an engaged people, who live in stone houses, with lots of dust, don't worship grass, have endless spectacular beaches available to most, are civil, speak Spanish, and like us all are trying to make their way in the World.