Terrific Tacuba

It took tow different hour long chicken bus journeys to reach tacuba from Juayua and on the second one I was lucky enough to meet a really lovely couple Ali and Miguel (american and dutch) who were also heading to mama and papas hostel. We managed to find it easily enough from the bus stop (Tacuba is pretty small) and were soon settled in to the lovely hostel with a nice garden full of animals (cats, ducks, dogs, birds etc) The ducks turned out to be satanically posessed (well in my opinion anyway!) as they charged everyone hissing and trying to bite them, even if you were nowehre near them! It turns out they were also mysogenists as they were far worse with the women- bloody sexist ducks! Mama proved to be an unstoppable force in the kitchen and i soon wanted to adopt her as a pseudo grandma- she was so sweet and highly efficient at looking after everyones needs! The hostel is the family home of mama and papa, who appear to be in their 60`s or 70`s (hard to tell over here as life is hard and ages people a lot quicker than back home!) and also their son Manolo who runs the tours i`d heard so much about. What i hadn`t heard was how mad Manolo was- a true eccentric who has the energy levels and attention span of a small child!!

Within moments of my arrival he was hitting on me, making any excuse to get me alone and trying to offer me massages etc as well as inviting me to see the pictures of his tours which were, rather conveniently, on the computer in his bedroom! I squirmed uncomfortably for a while and then told him that i was shy and English and that English people were far too reserved for all that stuff! He seemed to accept this at last and only bothered me slightly for the rest of my stay!

In order to escape the come ons i headed out into Tacuba to look around. As i said before, its a small town and it did make me laugh when outside the internet cafe stood a solitary white mare.... quite literally a one horse town!

In order to escape the come ons i headed out into Tacuba to look around. As i said before, its a small town and it did make me laugh when outside the internet cafe stood a solitary white mare.... quite literally a one horse town! Following that Mama cooked us all dinner which was pretty delicious and the 8 of us staying in the hostel settled down for a nice chat over some wine and beer.

The following day, 7 of us and two local guides (Manolo was indisposed much to my relief!!)headed off into park national el impossible for a 15km hike involving lots of waterfall jumping. the park earnt its name from the fact that there didn`t used to be a bridge over the river and when they attempted makeshift measn of crossing, many men and their mules fell to their death in the water beneath. Now, withthe introduction of a bridge, the only thing impossible about it is the descent back up after the tour (I nearly died and kept up a constant stream of moaning and "are we nearly there yets" to the poor guide!)

The park is completely stunning- green everywhere with huge hills towering above you when you finally hit the valley floor and find the river. Ohnce we had hiked down, we followed the river and did a series of jumps down from waterfalls into pools below. These jumps ranged from 2 to 8 metres and myself and Miguel were the only ones to do all of thewm- I was v proud! (although i nerly slipped off one before i jumped and had to be seized by the guide, nearlky taking him in with me- ooops!) It was completely exhilarating and our group was really fun so the day passed incredibly quickly. The wildlife and plants in the valley were abundant, most notably the huge butterflies that crusied past us at regular intervals producing awed silences from us all.

Following the hideous climb slash scramble back up to the top we cdollapsed into the open backed truck that met us and were whisked back to the hostel for showers and more of mamas cooking! As everyone was leaving the next day there were no more tous so i decided that i should head off to and go to santa ana to try some more hiking and sightseeing and also get my backpack fixed as the zip had inconsiderately broken making it v hard to close it! I tried to get a fairly early night as we were all exhuasted but was kept awake all night by yet another cockrelwith no bloody idea of the concept of dawn- it started at 11 and crowed constantly til 6!!! When i told mama in the morning she looked grim and told manolo to fetch his gun.... sorry cockrel but sleep is sacred!!

So, slightly tired and ready to make a move, I headed into the village to catch the bus to santa ana for more fun and adventures.....