Catemaco Topes

After a few hundred posts mostly extolling Catemaco, I have a hard time to add something new. Here is something:

The carretera running through Catemaco has the absolutely best topes (speedbumps) in southern Veracruz. They are low, and broad enough, to not bust your oilpan in case you stop too sharp to cross one. They are easily passed over at 20 mph. I would add vibrators to make them more exciting, and advertise them nationally: "Come to Catemaco - Enjoy our Speedbumps".

So unfortunately my "bodyguard" drove me to Xalapa yesterday. Usually I drive, so this gave me a chance to enjoy the countryside, and I started counting topes, until I went ooh, ahh, because the suspension killer in El Tropico had been leveled. So I lost count to tell you how many miserable topes there are now between Catemaco and Paso del Toro (about 20 miles outside of VC city).

But hurrah, the construction nightmare at Paso del Toro now has a picture opportunity. The overpass to the Veracruz libramiento (bypass) is now open. But there remain a few unannounced killer topes on that stretch of road.

After that it was all clear to Xalapa, and I made a pit stop at my favorite Cardel restaurant "La Bamba", (about 1/4 mile on the Cardel main drag, entering it instead of the Cardel bypass). I highly recommend it, which I almost never do for Catemaco restaurants.

Talking about Catemaco: A chef that built a rep in San Andres has now moved to the Playa Cristal restaurant on the Malecon. That promises to be exciting.

As for excitement, the recent shootout in Catemaco obliterated all of the good press the city had been generating the last few months. On a day when about 30 others were killed in Mexico, that particular mickey mouse event, without any reported deaths,  made 100s of national and a few international headlines because of its association with Catemaco and its brujo mystique.

I put together a page for Spanish readers, which is still in draft, because I'm not sure that the story has an end. La Balacera de Catemaco, 17 marzo 2011.

We drove home at night, which I absolutely do not advise anyone unfamiliar with the local roads to do. Traffic as usual was light, and the most prominent  feature were those guys dressed in black, carrying modified M16's on virtually every intersection.  Fortunately none stopped us, driving a very large black SUV, loaded to the ceiling with Xalapa purchases. Must have been my pleasant smile.