The morning after the day/night before. At the end of our challenging day yesterday we made it to a shop which was about to close (the building behind the tent) because we needed water for our now planned stay on the beach. The man hearing our story offered his garden, which he hastily raked over and removed a tree stump from) and a bag of food of cooked chicken and rice which we assume he was planning to use for his family – there was so much of it. Thinking the camping angels were on our side we soon realised they had other plans. At 8pm the local community hall began its Saturday night’s entertainment which was the loudest and most bass level sound you could imagine and it was in the building next to the shop 50 metres away. What little sleep we had didn’t begin until the music finished at 1.45am Obviously there was no one around when we left, presumably sleeping in after their exciting night out, so we conveyed our thanks and appreciation as shown.
This is the courtyard of the hotel in Paraiso where we should have been last night if we hadn’t run out of daylight – 12km short. After a day on the sand tracks and a night sleeping in/on the dirt we and the bikes were a mess. The clean up operation began with the bikes (a subsequent degreasing of all the oily bits took place after the bikes were dry), followed by the tent, and finally ourselves.Although we had only cycled 12km on a quiet Sunday morning the clean up operation was as exhausting as a full day on the bike. The nearest restaurant supplied the necessary dinner to restore our energy. Sights like this always amuse us – how does the liquid hand dispenser remain in place on the sink?Everywhere we looked we saw people wearing orange boiler suits and we were curious to find out why.We asked a fellow in the takeaway queue and he proudly explained that Paraiso has an onshore terminal of 566 hectares which employs 40,000 people and is the largest in Mexico, possibly the world. Whilst this town was clearly more prosperous than many we had been through the young chap labouring on this road crew was barefoot.
This is how tortillas are mass produced.The level of prosperity is such that even the taxis are a newer make and model compared to the old bangers we’re used to seeing.
Mexico and Belize 