Mexico Day 55: Welcome to the jungle

Colonia El Meco to Santa Fe Texacal, San Luis Potosí //

The rooster dialed it back just enough last night to allow for a more sound sleep.  However, a stomach bug of some kind got to Adam and his night was not a good one.  Mark and I packed up slowly while telling Adam that we had no qualms with staying another day if he needed to rest.  He told us he preferred to stick with the plan and so at 10:30am we got back on the road.

A few hours to the south, we arrived in the city of Ciudad Valles and made our way straight to Walmart.  Aside from the living room sized tienda we were in a few days prior, it had been two weeks since we’d been to a grocery story.  The plethora of produce, meat, and snacks made me giddy.  The sheer weight of our grocery cart had me wondering where it was all going to go but I didn’t care, I wasn’t holding back.  

One more hour south on Highway 85 would take us to our destination for the night.  In that hour we passed more signs for warnings of animals to watch for in the road than I’ve ever seen before.  And it wasn’t just the sheer amount but also the variety.  We saw signs for alligators, iguanas, coyotes, deer, jaguar, cattle, and armadillos.  Were we driving through a zoo or was this just life in the jungle?  

We eventually turned off the highway and onto a one lane dirt road that brought us into a rural neighborhood disguised by the thick jungle.  A bright white sign that read “camping” in green letters hung on the corner of a driveway and indicated our arrival at “Campento Erafines”, the backyard of a kind Mexican family that allows camping.  

A beautiful expanse of mowed green grass stretched down the hill to the edge of a river.  We drove down the hill, parked near the water, and got set up just as rain began to fall steadily from the thick, grey clouds overhead.  Adam, who still wasn’t feeling well, went straight to bed, while Mark and I spent the evening reading and catching up on work.  Once the light of day passed, every time I walked to the bathroom I wondered what kind of creature I might encounter along the way.  The plethora of signs witnessed on the highway were still on a repeating slideshow in my head.  In this case, I did not mind the security light that shone down brightly on our camp.

We positioned ourselves here in Santa Fe Texacal to begin a tour of the nearby Sierra Gorda mountain range starting tomorrow.  However, the forecasted rain and lows dipping down to freezing have us reconsidering our plans.  More importantly, how would Adam be feeling and what would he be up for come morning?  It was all up in the air.  We would just have to wait and see.

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