We met up for breakfast at 8 as usual. Katy reminded me that we needed to drop off laundry. We found where to do that and completed the appropriate forms, so hopefully we’ll all have some clean clothes by the end of the day.
After breakfast where we spied great looking fresh squeezed orange juice that we decided to order tomorrow, we took off for Pinturas Rupestres de Catavina or the local cave paintings. We had passed the turnoff yesterday on our way into Catavina and it wasn’t more than a mile and a half back towards the west. There is an official parking area and a small palapa to one side with a sign indicating that a guide is required to visit the paintings. Another couple from the hotel drove in when we did and they had a guide with them. We joined them to walk down paths neatly marked by white stones as the guide described the area in Spanish. He did speak some English and was very nice. The desert here is full of fascinating plants growing among heaps of beautiful white granite boulders including cardons (like saguaro but bigger with really sturdy, tree like trunks at the bottom. There are tall boojums which some people describe as “Dr Seuss” like trees. There were many types of cholla cacti, “old man” cactus, and gnarly elephant trees. Bob feels that this area is the most beautiful of all the desert areas he has encountered around the world. Some plants still had flowers, but many had passed as they may well have had an early bloom as we did in AZ and southern CA.
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| Katy with these great huge woman vases outside Dining room |
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| Cardon with multiple crests |
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| Climbing up to the cave |
We made our way up the path that had many steps marked with planks of wood into this fantastic area of rocks. We ascended a small mountain of huge boulders reminiscent of the kopjes of southern Africa. At the top, there was a low cave entrance - open on both sides. Everyone went in though I wasn’t sure I was going to make it as it was pretty low but with some assistance and not hitting my head on the rock, I made it too. The guide who is known as Zorro, the fox, turned over a big rock for me to sit on. We were surrounded by old cave paintings in reds, yellows, black and white. He described them in quite a bit of detail but I could only understand a word here and there. We made our way back down the path and continued to the parking area identifying some more plants on the way. We signed the guest book and then drove a bit further down the road where there was another spot to pull off.
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| Sitting in the cave |
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| Our Guide - the Fox |
There was a small quite new looking building there and a sign about archeological findings but didn't explain what they are. On foot, we followed the sandy road about a 1/2 mile through the desert scrub finding some additional plants and flowers to identify. There was a prickly purple nightshade with a fruit that resembles a tiny melon. There were red thorned barrel cacti with red flowers. We also saw a paper bag bush loaded with "bags."
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| Paper bag bush |
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| Dr Seuss-like Boojum trees |
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| Blooming cactus |
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| Old Man cactus |
We walked back to the car and stopped at the only store in town. The Pinos market is like an OXO but local. Katy and I had chocolate covered ice cream on sticks and we grabbed another gallon of water.
Later in the afternoon, Katy and I took a stroll around the hotel. We had to take photos of how they sell gasoline here. There once was a Pemex gas station and I’m not sure why it closed as it is a long way to the next station, but as a result, there are places where they sell gasoline in red plastic containers - not something we would find at home!
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| Gasoline by the can |
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| View out my bedroom window |
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| Neat metal sculpture fence |
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| More metal sculptures Behind hotel |
As Katy and I sat out of the wind, a truck hauling a big trailer with an elaborate off-road vehicle along with multiple other off-road vehicles pulled in. They had an amazing amount of gear and some of the ATVs hold 4 people so are pretty large. They filled up the whole back parking area.
We went to the bar to have a drink around 5:30. The same waiter from breakfast was there - he has quite a sense of humor. We got Cuba Libre, margarita and cerveza. Then just as the big group of10-12 of the off roaders came into the dining room, we ordered to get ahead of the crowd. We all ordered hamburguesas. They arrived a little while later with the requisite ketchup - good old refillable red plastic container with pointy top. I squeezed but nothing came out. I squeezed a bit more and suddenly all of the ketchup and the top were on my plate and some on my pants and even my sneakers! I grabbed all the napkins I could reach and the waiter brought me a cloth napkin with a smile…. Luckily there is a restroom just around the corner so I went to remove as much ketchup as possible though I found a bit more on one sneaker when I took them off later.
We head for San Ignacio tomorrow.
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