Catemaco abounds in folktales about chaneques which are gnome like creatures supposedly inhabiting most of the landscape, but especially caves and waterfalls. The tales originated with the remaining Nahuas and Popolucas in the mountains south of Catemaco. Most have a violent streak.
If you are an adulterer - stay out of Los Tuxtlas.
Luputìs are black and white spotted tapir like creatures that snare male adulterers visiting a waterfall with a fearsome cold breath, then strip them off their clothes and lick them to death. Sunutìs are their companions, that start off as friendly cats to entice female philanderers, but then turn into mountain lions to devour them. Only intercedence by a chaneque, who will exert a promise of never to screw around, will save adulterers from certain death. To find out more about the weird local creatures, read the book.
It`s the season to be screwing around again in Los Tuxtlas. As of January 1, new mayors took over in all Veracruz municipalities. In Angel R. Cabada, the losing political party stormed city hall, ransacked the place and did not allow the mayor into his office. In Santiago, apparently everything not nailed down was stolen by the outgoing party.
Beautiful downtown Catemaco, as is customary every three years, was the crown jewel of the screwups. The outgoing mayor left the city too broke to pay the electricity bill, and power was cut off to city hall and the central park. To get his microphone to work at his inauguration, the new mayor had to steal juice from a city lamp post. The entire police force left and had to be temporarily replaced by Veracruz state police. And of course the old mayor stole city hall blind, including its computers, much of its furnishings and all of its office supplies. He is now projecting himself as candidate for a federal deputy seat.
On the finger licking side: in my 8 years, almost noone ever recommended a local restaurant. So I was surprised that last week 4 different amigos spouted about a new place serving exactly the same stuff as the the other 30 or so restaurants in town. I checked it out. It's a hole in the wall, with 4 tables occupying the ground floor of a tiny brand new 2 story house. We wound up with 8 sampler dishes, and although they all looked the same as dishes in other restaurants, they were extraordinarily well cooked and tasty including hashed eels, monkey meat and fried guppies. See the menu here:
If you read Spanish, check out National Geographic's January 2010 Mistic Catemaco.
The wether has been schizophrenic zipping from the 90's to the 60's within a few hours. So wear a bathing suit under your parka.
