Christmas & New Year's Eve under palm trees.

Our first night was good. Yes, there were occasional fireworks right next to us, but the joy of our own bed was greater. The next morning we continued packing and cleaning until the motorhome was fully restored. Now it was time for an exploration tour. The place looked promising and colorful, so we set off. Of course, at the best sun position - shortly after 12... Liselotte and W. galloped ahead and quickly became a small highlight for the locals. W. was annoyed after the first few meters. She doesn't like being looked at or even touched. Somehow understandable. Fortunately, there was a distraction, a small playground. While W. and Mathias explored it, I strolled left and right. Everything was decorated for Christmas. But we weren't in the Christmas mood. Maybe we hoped to experience a "real Mexican" Christmas here. There were three churches.

We visited a local museum and learned about the city's history. About the work and life here by the river. In the garden, we saw hummingbirds flying. A very nice place to get a little overview. Here we also asked if there would be a church service on the 24th. And indeed, there would be. Unfortunately, it was outside our daily rhythm. The service with a bouncy castle and more was at 10:00 PM. We didn't want to subject Wilma or ourselves to that.

We continued to stroll through the narrow streets with colorful houses. Discovered interesting plants. Like the Flamboyant tree, agave, and more. We watched a carpenter making tables and rocking chairs.

We still had one task to solve - how should our Christmas tree look this year. W. wanted a Piñata. Originally, we wanted to make one ourselves, but we lacked the necessary materials. So we asked around and finally found one in a small market hall. We bought a "small" one for the equivalent of 3 euros... "we don't have much space". However, it was bigger than expected and now hung in the motorhome for the next few weeks. Mathias wasn't particularly thrilled about it because he kept bumping into it.

Now we needed a cool down. After all, we were right by the river. I, Caro, found it beautiful but not suitable for swimming. But Mathias and W. didn't care. They went to cool off and came out dirtier than when they went in. But they were still happy.

The next day we didn't have much planned. We played, painted, and watched the agriculture right outside our door. All morning, new cows arrived, unloaded from a truck, and loaded onto a boat. Well, strictly speaking, they were tied to the boat and taken to the lush meadow on the other side of the river. It was exhausting for the men, but also for the cows. We found it really exciting to witness this live. Did the cows wriggle into the water? I, Caro, am convinced they did, so the river was even less my thing.

In the late afternoon, we took a short walk. We just wanted to go for a round and ended up at the "Animal Torture House". We had read in advance that there should be a mini zoo in Tlacotalpan but weren't interested in it. Now we ended up right in front of the door and the horror began. We were still standing on the other side of the street and were waved over. Mathias went ahead and I (Caro) just stared at something. There was a small cabinet in front of the entrance with something on it. As we got closer, we saw it clearly - it was a crocodile. About 1 meter long and tied up. It didn't move. Didn't breathe. It seemed dead or stuffed. Just to be safe, I, Caro, also went into shock and didn't move any further. Mathias and W. approached closer and Mathias touched it. It was alive. It still didn't move. Just lay there but blinked its eyes. A live crocodile tied up on a sideboard in front of the door - terrible. For inexplicable reasons, we let ourselves be persuaded and went inside. They were in the middle of renovating, and a woman showed us around. After the first room, we entered the zoological areas - that's what we would call them. About 4 pools, each 4 x 4 meters, next to each other. Separated by fences. And the fences had seen better days - large holes everywhere. Yes, even in the area where the visitors walked. In the first pool, there was a huge crocodile, and another one next to it. Then there were turtles. About 500 (it felt like) per pool and three babies in a plastic bowl. As we walked along, three tethered raccoons, ducks, and pelicans greeted us. Except for the ducks, all the animals looked terrible. Through a narrow passage, we entered a kind of museum. There were paintings hanging on the walls, and a crocodile in the middle of it all. It was lying there like a pet among all the stuff. Just like that. Was it tied up? NO. Mathias and W. even touched it briefly after the lady said, "It won't do anything"... then our visit to the zoo was over. Thank goodness. We thanked them and left, completely disturbed. Were the animals happy there? We don't know. We weren't happy, and we wouldn't have been as animals either.

We went back home and had to process this experience first. In the meantime, W. had completely different questions... "Does Santa Claus also come to Mexico?"... We put a very excited child to bed.

Now the time had come, December 24, 2021 had arrived. Our biggest concern... how and what would our Christmas tree be. Unfortunately, we didn't have space outside for the Piñata. W. came up with the idea of decorating the palm tree. And that's what we did. Mathias prepared the food. We made some final small purchases, and then Santa Claus actually came and placed a few gifts under our Christmas palm tree. We opened the presents at 1:00 PM and then had a barbecue. Something was different. Oh, right. We forgot to mention that there was not only a fireworks stand next to us but also a bar. It opened on Fridays, and it was Friday. It was blasting on our holy evening/day. For a while, it was nice and even funny, but the evening came, and we definitely wanted to sleep. We went to the bar just four steps away. Two large strange cups came with a drink that wasn't tasty at all. Some kind of beer with Tabasco and a salt rim (Michelada). Terrible. Actually, we had selected the drink based on a picture, and it looked completely different. Delicious, in fact. The bartender was very nice and asked us if it tasted good - no. She laughed. I, Caro, drank something else. I have no idea what it was, but it tasted good. Afterwards, we said goodbye and changed our location. We had dinner at Pemex (gas station). Less noise.

At night, we heard the Mexican Christmas in the distance. Fireworks went off at exactly 10:00 PM, and the loud music continued. We heard families sitting together and children breaking piñatas, and eventually fell asleep.

We spent our first Christmas day on the Mexican roads. Not sure if we should go to the sea or into the jungle, we drove around a bit. W. had the decision-making power and opted for the jungle with a pool. Best decision! The journey to the La Jungla campsite was challenging. We actually ended up in the middle of the jungle, by a lake with crocodiles, several pools, and a waterslide. It was beautifully designed, and we immediately felt comfortable. We met a Belgian family who we had already gotten to know a few days earlier. On our first exploration tour, we met a German couple who were traveling through Mexico by bicycle. Later, we also met a "harbor acquaintance" of Mathias - the yellow postal bus with Bernate (Berni and Renate) from the Ruhr area.

It was a fun and super interesting group. We exchanged stories and experiences about Mexico and many other countries. We love the different travel stories and experiences.

These encounters and this place - everything just fit.

We discovered lush and green nature. Experienced fantastic sunsets and, of course, saw some animals. Right on our campsite, we heard and saw howler monkeys for the first time. During a walk, we discovered many more animals, including toucans and parrots, termites, and more.

In the evening, we saw fireflies, shooting stars, and constantly heard rustling around us, which wasn't always romantic. And walking, standing, and sitting were only possible with socks. Not because it was cold, but because there were countless ants, and they were and still are nasty. Very nasty. The bites hurt and itched and burned for a long time. This topic would continue to accompany us throughout Mexico.

A few days later, we continued on our way. We definitely wanted to spend New Year's Eve by the sea. We had some difficulty finding a place. The distances in Mexico should not be underestimated. We spent one night at a guarded rest area on the highway. Here we met Canadians with a child. They told us about a big beach party they were on their way to and also had to make a stopover. Okay. Wherever they were headed, we didn't want to go there. We wished for a quiet and small New Year's Eve. The night was okay. The next morning, we drove a few kilometers to our first archaeological site - La Venta. Here, we learned about the history of the Olmecs, the ancestors of the Maya. They are known for their giant stone heads and developed the basis for calendars, numbers, and more, which were later adopted and further developed by the Maya. Additionally, the Olmecs are the ones who came up with the ritual ball games using rubber balls. It was really hot that day, and this heat would now accompany us daily. In the jungle, it hadn't felt that intense. We also picked up some pollo (chicken) and ate on the way. After all, we were now on our way to Paraiso (Paradise). We thought it sounded promising, and it was right on the Gulf of Mexico. We made some purchases on the way and arrived in the city a bit late. Everything looked nice. But where was the beach? According to the GPS, it was in an oil refinery area, as big as Hamburg. The locals probably also had their own thoughts about it. Every time we thought - yes, now it's almost there - we encountered tanks, gas containers, or something similar. Since it was already after 8 PM, we gave up. We wanted to go back to the supermarket parking lot and ended up at a colorful and brightly lit cemetery. Why not. We spent the night here. Safe, but in unbearable heat and noise. We didn't sleep, but rather waited for the morning to come. By 7 AM, we already had or still had 29 degrees Celsius inside the motorhome. After breakfast, we wanted to continue and make another attempt to find the beach. But first, we visited the beautiful cemetery. In fact, the cemeteries here embody joy and fun. We like how they deal with death here. Someday, we hope to be in Mexico on Dia de los Muertos.

But now we really wanted to get to the water. Everything looks more relaxed in daylight. Our destination was Poco de Oro. We thought this place sounded good and would offer us water and cooling off. On the way there, we drove through beautiful scenery. We met a farmer selling pineapples and bought one. He even gave us two bottles of Agua de Piña. Ice-cold and delicious.

We arrived in Poco de Oro. Yes, there was water and a beach. We hoped to find a small beach area for ourselves and drove off the main road again. The path led us into the forest. Every now and then, we saw people. But there was no space for us. Too sandy. We turned around and went back to the beginning. Now, two men stormed towards us - one came from the left parking lot and the other from the right. They each wanted to convince us to park in "their" spot. We were totally overwhelmed. Originally, Mathias wanted to get out and check which spot had a better ground. In the end, that didn't happen, and we ignored the warnings from the parking lot guy (right) not to go left. After all, nobody was parked on the left yet, and we also wanted to give the guy on the left some income. He also assured us that we wouldn't get stuck, etc. So we drove to the left parking lot, and what can I say - we got stuck. Great. We tried for about 20 minutes to free the motorhome together. It didn't really work. At least we weren't blocking anyone anymore. We left it at that and decided to just stay there and spend the night.

The beach wasn't beautiful but practical. At least we could finally go for a swim. We had dinner under a palm tree parasol and watched the sunset while swimming. Dreamy, right? It wasn't! Because what happened next is hard to describe. We were attacked. There were at least 100 bloodthirsty mosquitoes per person. We ran back home as fast as we could. Quickly inside. To safety. No! Because all the other mosquitoes were already waiting at the entrance and sneaked into the motorhome with us. I don't know how many mosquitoes we killed, but it was a lot. Honestly. Blood was everywhere on the walls, window screens, doors, cabinets, and more. Another 30 minutes later, we hoped we had eliminated most of them. But that wasn't the case. We slept (or didn't sleep) with closed windows at over 30 degrees Celsius. That's how we roll.

It was December 31, and we just wanted to leave very early. We had chosen a spot that had already been visited and approved by other travelers. Outside, we could already hear some men preparing everything for our departure. We actually managed to get the motorhome out of the sand quite quickly. Departure.

We had breakfast at a lagoon - Atasta - on the way and enjoyed the breeze blowing through the now open windows. The journey was beautiful again. The water around us was turquoise blue and promising.

Shortly before our destination, we passed a toll booth. So far, we always paid the same price as cars because it's based on the number of tires. But at this toll booth, we were supposed to pay over 200 pesos instead of the usual 80 pesos. We discussed it politely with the employee. He said we had to pay an additional insurance fee. But since we are already insured, we showed him our documents. He still insisted on 200 pesos. We were not willing to pay that, and in the end, we continued for 40 pesos. Worth a try. Although we have to say that the employee was still super friendly and calm despite everything.

Now we had arrived - Isla Aguada. The spots right on the beach were taken, by the Canadians and their party guests from the rest area. Great.

We parked a bit away next to a Swiss couple and hoped together with them that this wouldn't turn into something wild in the night.

We went to the beach. The water was very cloudy and somehow not what we had imagined. It looked beautiful, but looks can be deceiving. But okay. Additionally, Mathias and I had kept something for ourselves - the VAT tax return had to be submitted by 12:00 AM (German time). At that point, it was already 3:00 PM (Mexican time). Somehow we managed to send it almost on time. Now the party started, as W. wished for. It was super quiet at the site. No signs of a party mood yet.

We set the table outside nicely. Candles flickered. Snacks and the music box were ready. In previous years, we always dressed up. This year, W. also wanted that. W. was Elsa, Mathias was Kristof, and I was Anna and had to wear a dress resembling a wedding dress. The role play began and didn't stop. We lit sparklers. Kristof and Anna got married, and everyone danced wildly in front of the castle (motorhome). We were the loudest on the site. Around 9 PM, we managed to convince W. that it was enough and that she could go to sleep. We also went to bed at 10 PM. We watched a movie, more or less awake, and drifted into the new year while sleeping.

The new year started with one of us having a fever and being bedridden at 32 degrees Celsius inside.