Sunny & Surreal

Feb 18/09: Had my bags all packed this morning, ready to press on. Then I opened the door of my hotel room, stepped onto the balcony and saw that the sky was clear, pondered for a moment and booked my room for another night. Just can´t tear away. From my balcony I could see the silhouette of the peak I´d looked for in vain yesterday which I now learn is known as Sellito, I think, a striking, snaggletooth rocky thing poking up in the distance. After a few moments of vascillating about which direction to go, I decided to see where that road leading upwards that I walked for a while yesterday led. Up I went; and up and up. The pavement ended and yet more up, through little settlements, more coffee, oranges, flowers, the ususal trappings of paradise; coffee drying on the roofs of many homes, the usual scruffy dogs and chickens; passers by always with a ¨buenos dias¨(until noon when it switches to ¨buenas tardes¨, Mexicans have an unfailing sense of the exact moment of the change). Killer views out over the ranges of the Huasteca receeding into the steamy distance. Stopped by a house to make a photographic record of the view and the resident señora greeted me with the obligatory ¨buenos dias¨and after the obligatory response I raved about the view and she agreed, then gestured at the coffee cherries drying on her roof and said, ¨café¨, I agreed, then she pointed at the orange trees and said, ¨naranja¨and I agreed. I asked the name of the big cliff towering above us and she told me it is San Antonio. I asked if one could walk up there and she said yes and indicated a path further on. I followed what I interpreted her directions to be and took a path up through the jungle, negotiated a barbed wire fence and joined up with a concrete road leading upwards. It didn´t go far, as it turned out but by then I´d gone far enough anyway, it was getting hot and I was soaked in sweat. I picked a few oranges to eat and as I was doing so, I heard voices and saw three young men approaching up the road. My first response was fear. There I was again, the vulneralbe lone old gringo. Then they smiled and said ¨hola¨and I relaxed. They just had work to do up there. So I sat with some horses looking on, eating oranges admiring and photographing the view. Then, as I strolled to the end of the road there appeared another young machete weilding man and again a jolt of fear but, again, he smiled with a ¨hola¨and asked if I´d seen his buddies. I said I had and that they were down the road. With a wave and a smile he followed them.

Time for other adventures so back down I started. As I passed a group of men hanging out on their porch, one old timer waved me over insistently and, with some reluctance, I complied. They cleared a chair for me, sat me down, introduced themselves and tried to engage me in conversation which I did my best to oblige. I learned that the elderly man who initiated the invitation to me was Nahua and proud of his bilingual ability. A younger man offered me a beer and his wife attempted to tell me more about San Antonio, the star that has been placed at it´s summit and the gold mines up there. Her husband went to get what he insisted was a gold nugget and offered it for sale to me which I declined. After a bit I bid them adieu and proceeded down the road to town, exchanging greetings all the way. One man stopped, beamed at me like I was a long lost friend, extended his hand and welcomed me to this beautiful place with an expansive gesture indicating the whole area.

Back in town I had a delicious mole verde lunch at the public market. I´m feeling more adventurous about food, partly inspired by a gringo couple I met here who eat just about anywhere without bad results.

After lunch I was lured back to Las Posas by the prospect of immersion in one of those beautiful cold pools. It was getting hotter and steamier and my clothes were sticking to me and the prospect of a cool dip was irresistable. As I headed down the road to the park, another man stopped me and proudly pointed out the peak, Sellito, as if he´d conjured it. I admired it with him and went on. By the time I reached those pools up a long, arduous stairway I was drenched again and after I´d followed the river up a ways to what I thought would be a secluded spot, I stripped and plunged in. Esctasy!!! Sat there for some time blissing out, photographing butterflys and then, to my consternation along came two teenagers. There I was, a naked old gringo with all of my belonging there on the side of the pool, camera, money belt, clothes and they smiled and ¨hola-ed¨me and on they went as if there were usually naked old gringos there.

Back in town now and I really do have to press on tomorrow. As strong as is the attraction here, as beatiful as it is, it is a tad toasty for me.

And further adventures await.