Refugees?

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Sadly the tours of the chocolate farm were not running. However, we did get to see cacao pod and taste a fresh bean (it didn't taste anything like chocolate). We learnt about the chocolate making process and that Tabasco is the centre of Mexican chocolate production but is only 1% of the world's output.



Interestingly, the owner of the farm has really noticed how the changing climate has been affecting his crop but he was adamant that it was not caused by man and that it was a natural phenomenon.


We got to drink a cup of hot chocolate made from chocolate produced on the farm. It was made with water but it was so creamy and rich it was hard to believe it didn't have some milk and cream in it.

We hadn't got far when this wonderful woman pulled up beside us in her car. She had seen us ride past and chased after us to speak with us. She had a house that she encourages travellers to stay at. She was keen for us to go and visit and have a coffee with her. If we hadn't only just started riding we would have jumped at the chance. She gave us two cakes for the road before waving us on our way.





We were clearly passing through an area where a lot of oranges grow.



The highlight of the day's ride was undoubtedly this wonderfully painted church in Nacajuca. It looked like it was made from licorice allsorts.






Villahermosa is the state capital of Tabasco. Because of the impact of many wars and poor management it was not as grand as other state capitals we have visited. Rachel has mentioned this on Instagram as well. However it was perfect for us to rest up for a few days and to luxuriate in a room with air conditioning for a bit.

We realised that even though the lockring on the crank that I'd tightened a few days earlier was still tight, there was some play in system as the interface between the crank and the spider must have been damaged. Time to find a welder. Luckily there was one round the corner who could weld aluminium. The welder clearly subscribes to the function over form school of thought. It really is an ugly weld but without it the play would just have got worse and worse.






We did a bit of sightseeing while we were there. We climbed to the top of this tower which is half way across a pedestrian bridge. 




We visited the park which is famous for its Olmec heads only to find it shut. We got to see the most famous head through the fence as well as this snake and coatis.





We had a nice walk along the inner city lagoon. There certainly were crocodiles. Mind you the water looked pretty dirty so we were not tempted to swim. We both found it funny that sign needs to warn people not to touch the crocodiles.





Left town to head towards Palenque where we want to visit the Mayan pyramid. The ride was pleasant but not super special. What was lovely was finding that the bill for our lunch has been paid by a señor at an adjacent table. Having food bought for you is such a heartwarming and humbling experience it is hard to put into words just how special it is. 

Lots of photo stops along the way. We had chatted to these mums in the previous town while they waited for the end of school. They clearly wanted their niños to see us as they chased after us in car/moto once the kids came out of school, got a picture with us, then turned round and headed home.





We didn't have a plan for where we would camp so were keeping our eyes peeled. We passed this church which has an adjacent centre for housing refugees and we thought it looked like a good bet. There are no refugees here (and no sign that there have been any for a long time) and we got a space to camp under a shelter, a refreshing cold shower and the use of a bench and table to cook our dinner. We also got serenaded as Thursday is obviously choir practice. From the sounds of things, it is not a Roman Catholic church as the music was very upbeat - we suspect it is an evangelical congregation.








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