On the way to Catemaco - Arbolillo

A few years ago this windswept village on the coast of Veracruz between Veracruz City and Alvarado on the way to beautiful downtown Catemaco was not even worthy of a "tope" (speed bump).

Since then, beginning with a lonely restauranteur offering fresh shucked oysters and other succulent seafood, the village has boomed and now maintains almost 20 competing "eating" palapa & concrete establishments a good baseball pitch from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

Competition is so hot, entrepreneurs import women from nearby Tlacotalpan, famous for their beauty and outstanding attributes, to provocactively wiggle at passing motorists.

Where those fresh shucked oysters come from, I have no idea.

But thank G., there are a now a few speed bumps to focus motorists attention.

Catemaco - Vista Hermosa

The only remaining forested corridor connecting the Los Tuxtlas biosphere reserves of Volcano San Martin and the Sierra Santa Marta lies north of Laguna Catemaco, Veracruz encompassing a range of small volcanic hills separating the laguna from the Gulf of Mexico.

Access to that region is inhibited by the condition of its access roads. One village accessible with a high lift vehicle is Vista Hermosa, an almost abandoned hamlet with breathtaking vistas along its route.

Most remarkable are the views of both Laguna Catemaco and Laguna Sontecomapan from the same road, while bird watchers long ago discovered the many species in its forests.

Midway on the roller coaster road is heavily jungled Cerro Pipiapan, topped by communication antennas. Access to the top is via several hundred rock steps leading to a platform which unfortunately at present is overgrown.

Mmore photos at: tuxtlas.com - Vista Hermosa

Catemaco - Lazaro Cardenas

20 miles away from beautiful downtown Catemaco nestles the idyllic village of Lazaro Cardenas nestled between two tall volcanic hills. The surrounding landscape consists of compound curves severely cut by arroyos. Numerous rapid flowing creeks have created small waterfalls with clear cool water, and the sides of the roads are dressed in bromeliads, ferns and philodendrons.

Most potreros (fenced cattle ranges) are tree fenced and contribute to the significant bird and butterfly population. Once in the village a local guide can be hired for a trail walk to Laguna Zacatal, 3 kilometers away.

The road leading from La Palma is covered in gravel and badly eroded in some places. Several creeks need to be crossed, fortunately all have rocky substratum. Nevertheless only high rise vehicle are recommended.

Two cattle gates partially block the road. The first gate is the dividing line between Catemaco and San Andres counties. Near the middle of the road, a wonderful view of Laguna Sontecomapan beckons in the distance. A bit further along a trail to the right leads to Laguna El Charco, stocked with mojarra. The owner may allow you to bring your fishing gear.

Reference:

http://www.tuxtlas.com/san_andres_tuxtla/lazaro_cardenas/

Catemaco - Ruiz Cortines

All roads south of San Martin Volcano lead to the village of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines. This future major transportation hub southeast of the volcano has recently been graced by the completion of a paved highway from San Andres Tuxtla, after considerable ecological opposition because of its passage through part of the nucleus of the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve.

The road leaves central San Andrés Tuxtla, then passes by Laguna Encantada, with a very quick glimpse of both Laguna Encantada and Laguna Catemaco framed in the distance. It then serpentinely climbs to a lookout point, equipped with the usual cross and a broad panorama of the northern San Andres plains. Thereafter the road enters the Biosphere nucleus tunneling through remnant jungle.

Most of the year, especially in spring, the sides of the roads are filled with a plethora of wildflowers. At KM 12, the road converts to a downhill run and enters Ruiz Cortines.

City locals have discovered the village and its agreeable climate, 1050 meters high (3465 feet), and have converted it into a mini weekend resort. Two restaurants now serve the community, several viveros offer their plants and an ecological group “Los Clarines” has sprung up to protect and preserve the area songbirds and environment. The village has now joined the ecotourism boom with the completion of its first ecohut.

Three guided excursions are possible from the village. One trails uphill to a pretty area of nacimientos (springs), another trails to a bat cave featuring both fruit and vampire bats, and an all day trip runs to Volcano San Martin Tuxtla, including a hour ride, and a four hour climb, each way.

The ejido was last founded in 1974, after two previous settlements ended in blood feuds. Its originating folks are from San Andrés Tuxtla, who now struggle to survive on mostly volcanic soils among excessive rain and frequent high winds. The village was reponsible for most of the deforestation in the area and current conversion into cow pastures. Chayotes, (a pear shaped, nutty flavored gourd), are still one of the better known vegetables grown here.

From Ruiz Cortines, three dirt roads branch in 3 directions.

One, via Benito Juarez and Cuauthemoc, returns to Catemaco, passing Cerro Mono Blanco. Another leads to Perla de San Martin where the road splits one down hill via Gustavo Diaz and Mario Souza to Dos Amates and then onward to Montepio or Catemaco, the other via a heavily cattle gated trail leads towards El Diamante and further northwest. This road incidentally is in the planning stages to be improved/paved and to connect to the Gulf coastal highway possibly via Los Organos.

The third roads leaves Ruiz Cortines and enters a bit of remaining cloud forest before breaking out into cattle ranches and joining the road from Perla on its way to La Nueva Victoria, via minor hamlets such as another Benito Juarez and El Diamante.

All three or 4 roads are wonderful scenic drives, but recommendable only to high lift vehicles, preferably 4×4 in the rains.

References & Photos: tuxtlas.com - Adolfo Ruiz Cortines

Catemaco Coxcoapan

My Popoluca partner recently talked me into buying some cheap cattle acreage along the Rio Coxcoapan, down hill from beautiful downtown Catemaco. She forgot to tell me that half of the 200 acres are innundated most of the year. So now I am studying Vietnamese rice plantations, growing fish in shallow ditches, water fowl hunting and drowned cattle resuscitation.

Meanwhile I chopped her land buying Visa card into tiny little shards. Coxcoapan sits along Rio Coxcoapan, off the Catemaco to Sontecomapan road, passing by Catemaco's "famous" hot spring "Agua Caliente" and potentially the town is the gateway to the part of Catemaco that the Catemaco government apparently does not even know exists.

Several dirt roads, impassable during the rainy season ford several rivers to cross into the Santa Marta foot hills and the isolated Gulf beaches near El Carrizal. Cattle ranchers happily use the isolated area to grow hamburgers and there are even rumors of wild cannabis.

The pueblo of Coxcoapan is the usual collection of tin roofed shacks and concrete government edifices. A riverside restaurant serves fresh fish if you honk loud enough about 3 miles before entering the village. A special treat are the giant shimps (Mayacates) allegedly caught in the river waters surrounding the village and priced at New York City fair market values.

If you bring your kayak, the Coxcoapan river will placidly flow you through cattle ranches and mangrove forests to the edge of Sontecomapan city. If you are really courageous, you can enter the river much higher up, near Peninsula de Moreno, and experience one of those death defying shallow river rides to hell.

Ejido Santa Martha

Only about 40 miles from beautiful downtown Catemaco exists, (barely), the ejido Santa Martha, in the Municipio San Pedro Soteapan. The ejido was formed in the 1960´s primarily by Popoluca indians from the Soteapan City region.


For the past 50 years little has changed in the ejido except for galvanized roofing. Women still dress in the colorful Popoluca way and walk behind their men and their horses.


The pueblo controls the entrance to the upper Santa Marta region via a road that used to lead to El Bastonal above Miguel Hidalgo in Catemaco. The road previously had been used for access to an abandoned (1965?) mine near El Bastonal and also Catemaco and was ordered "non maintained" , apparently on orders from the Biosphere Resere of Los Tuxtlas, intent on stopping penetration of one of the few remaining natural vegetation regions in Los Tuxtlas. At present that road is only a paradise for 4x4 off track venturers.


The people of the village are extraordinarily uptight over outsider presence to the point of inhibiting their passing through the village to the upper parts of Santa Marta Volcano. They base their claim on loss of genetic material to international biological company researchers, thefts of plantations by casual visitors, a litany of broken promises to enhance their lifestyle by administrators of the Reserva de Los Tuxtlas and the government of its own municipio in Soteapan, and 4x4 off roaders.


Meanwhile the village rests at about 1,200 m (about 4,00o feet) above sea level, a few kilometers above the city of Soteapan, on a murderous hill climb, harboring most clandestine tree loggers in the western part of the Santa Marta´s and happily burning its surroundings for more milpas (maize growing fields) in order to survive.