Catemaco, Veracruz, Mexico

Feb 2008

Catemaco is a small town in the state of Veracruz in southeastern Mexico.  It is about 100 miles south of the city of Veracruz.  The town is built on a lake called, strangely enough, Lago Catemaco.  According to what we read before we got there, the town is famous for its witches.  We saw little evidence of their existence except for a hotel called Hotel Brujo and a taxi stand labeled "Brujo Taxis",  The hotel was a little run down but the taxis looked ordinary enough.  Perhaps the taxis travel by teleportation, but, if you have ever ridden with a Mexican driver, you know that the more ordinary methods are fast enough.  The price was reasonable as well; you can travel anywhere in town for 15 pesos (about $1.50 US).

We stayed in the Hotel Tepetapan Campground.  The campground is beautiful and very well maintained.  It turns out to be very easy to find as well.  We were driving through town looking for it when a car driven by a Mexican lady pulled up in front of us and motioned for us to follow her.  She led us to and into the campground.  The Mexican people are very kind and helpful to lost tourists.  In this case it turned out that the lady, Gaby, and her husband Gene were the owners of the hotel and campground.

Many people in town have decorated their homes by sculpting trees and bushes.  I am not sure what kind of bird this is supposed to be sitting on the birdhouse.  The broad tail is reminiscent of a turkey.  Perhaps it is a renter making a social statement on the condition of the house.

I choose to call this one a ballerina but I suppose it could be a topless, Go-Go dancer.

This is part of the town plaza.  It is a full city block square.

This is a street next to the plaza and is typical of the main streets in downtown Catemaco.  The building with the tower at the end of the street is the City Hall.  However, one of the local people referred to it as "the Palace".  It would seem that Mexican politicians are the same as ours and feel free to spend tax payers money on themselves.

The two pictures below are some other street scenes.

I greatly admire the Mexican people; their attitude, ingenuity and their thrift.  Here is an example of using an item until there is absolutely no life left in it.

Following the shore of the lake is a street called the Malecon.  It is mostly filled with small shops and restaurants such this one.  Most are open-air dining rooms.

This is a scene from inside one of the restaurants.  It is quite airy and filled with plants and flowers.  Also most of them have other notable attributes such as very good and very cheap food.  We ate out every night and at several different restaurants and the food was invariably good and a very reasonably priced; about $6-9 US for a substantial meal.

As a comparison of the economies of Mexico and the US, in the US we have Dollar stores.  The Mexican store in this picture has a sign that says "Everything for Three Pesos".  Three pesos is less than 30 cents US.

While in Catemaco, we went for a boat tour of the lake. 

There are many different species of birds on and around the lake.  Some of which even I recognize, such as this Egret.

These Cormorants all seem to prefer one tree.

And then there were others that I do not recognize like this little guy walking around on the lily pads.

This was one stop on the tour; a place called Nanciaga.  It looks like something you might see in a Tarzan movie.  A separate tour of the area was available for about $4 US each.  Most of what they had to show were replicas of archaeological finds in the area.  Of course, the most valuable part of the tour was the mud facial.  It was guaranteed to take ten years off your age.  I must have gotten some bad mud.

A large number of these monkeys can be found on a small island.  They are not native to the area.  They were brought in for some study being conducted by a university and were left here when the study was completed.  There are howler monkeys on some of the other islands but we never got close enough to take a picture of one.

There are quite a number of fishermen on the lake every day.  These fishermen are netting a small, silver fish about two inches long.  Apparently it is a delicacy of the area.  It is prepared by dropping the fish into a deep fryer; head, tail, bones and all.  It seems to be a sort of fishy french fry.  I took their word for it that they are fantastic.  After all, I have to leave some adventures for the next trip here; or, perhaps, the trip after that.

At the end of the tour, you get a very nice view of the Malecon from the lake.

Catemaco is definitely a place worth seeing.  All the important ingredients are there; friendly people, beautiful scenery, and a terrific climate, at least in the winter.