Returning South - Matamoros, Tamps. to Cd. Valles & Taninul Resort
Posted by Zihrena

Thurs. September 7, 2000

Today we initiate our return trip from the Texas border back south to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero. Our proposed route will take us through the Huasteca of San Luis Potosi, down the Veracruz coast, then inland to Oaxaca, over the hills to the Oaxaca coast and north to home.

From Matamoros through to Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, there wasn't really a great lot to see along highway 101. The road was good, there were vast skies, fields being ploughed by heavy machinery, grain elevators and a few trees. At San Fernando, the terrain changed from just flat to gently rolling, greener hills, punctuated by Joshua trees.

At Km. 120 cattle and goats were more in evidence, and we passed several outlets offering Machacado (jerkied meat). The largest attraction in this area, as we mentioned on our trip north which took us along this same route, is the Bass fishing and bird hunting area of the Presa Vicente Guerrero, a large dammed lake to which access is afforded by at Km 80 and Km 64 of Highway 101.

Nearing Cd. Victoria are stretches of well-irrigated citrus orchards, and roadside stands selling large sacks of the fruit to passersby.

At Cd. Victoria we turned off Route 101 on to 85, in the direction of Cd. Mante and Tampico, following the Sierra Madre along its eastern side. The nearby foothills and farther-away mountains were intensely green at this time of year. At Km 193 of Route 85 we passed the Tropic of Cancer, marked with a huge, concrete sphere sitting on the side of the road. At the town of Guayalejo, where highway 80 turns off to Tampico, furniture makers were displaying a series of twisted-wood rocking chairs along the roadside.

Past Guayalejo, still continuing along Route 85 toward Cd. Mante, we were driving now through lush, fertile land thick with an unusual mixture of citrus, cypress, palms, bananas and firs. It became much hotter and more humid. Corn and cane fields abounded.

Sta. Isabela/La Gloria (Km 156) brought us to a few roadside stands offering a great collection of honey (both clear and with honeycombs), seeds, nuts, royal jelly, pollen, pickled jalapeños and chile piquin. We stopped to view the wonderful display and pick up some fragrant honey to take home with us.

We then passed through a series of extremely clean, well-tended and prosperous-looking Ejidos (communal farms) and orchards. The yards were swept, fences in good repair, the roadside was devoid of garbage, and flowers and hedges decked the homesteads.

At Km 120 of Highway 85 the mountain range began to fade off into the west. The terrain flattened out once more, but rather than a dry desert flatness, it was a lush, tropical stretch of sugar cane, swampy lands and sugar processing plants. We passed what also seemed to be fields of rice and alfalfa.

Approaching the mountains again at about Km 84 of the highway was a turnoff to the Grutas de Quintero (Quintero Caves), shown to be at a distance of 3 kms. from the highway, and again at Km 75 was a marker pointing to the Cueva del Abra. We didn't stop to explore either of these caves... but if someone has, let us know!

Winding into the foothills we came around a bend and were confronted with several "cal" (lime) plants belching white dust that covered the surrounding vegetation and hillsides. We passed through several small draws in the hills, past a Sedena (Secretary of Defense) checkpoint at Km. 69, and into the state of San Luis Potosi.

We were now in the Huasteca - a beautiful, varied area of Mexico that is certainly worth a visit. In this whole area the shape of the houses changed. Most typical houses sported oval-ended, thatched roofs above white-washed brick walls. Even the "newer" places with metal or wooden roofs conserved the same shape as the traditional thatching.

At Cd. Valles we looked for the Regional Museum, but unfortunately it was closed that late in the afternoon. We decided that it was time to find food and rest for the night, and took a short detour off our planned route to go to Taninul Resort, only a few miles east of town on Highway 80.

Arriving at the turnoff to the resort, we drove up the tree-lined driveway and were confronted with an enormous, sprawling colonial-style hotel surrounded by lush gardens. We checked in (we were the second of only two rooms occupied in the hotel that night) and immediately took advantage of the large pool fed by a natural sulphur hotspring. The water was bathtub-warm and arose gently out of the deep end of the pool (about 3 meters), bringing with it mineral-rich water and depositing a scum on the bottom and sides of the pool that was released in clumps when swimmers disturbed the water. It was a tremendously relaxing swim.

Behind the pool was the entrance to a small cave inhabited by masses of screaming parrots. They perched in the trees in front of the cave mouth and in the niches in the rocks of the cave itself.

We dined in Taninul's large dining room (open only till 9pm), enjoying a regional meal of a Botana Huasteca - a huge appetizer consisting of crisp corn chips topped with black beans, cecina (salted, dried beef), onion, serrano peppers and cheese - followed by Entomatadas (torillas in tomato sauce) with Cecina and the Filete Taninul, a thin beef filet topped with cheese, tasty poblano peppers, cream, onions and cilantro.

Tomorrow, we'll explore Taninul's grounds in the daylight, and carry on through the Huasteca to the wonders of Edward James's enchanted gardens at Las Pozas, Xilitla.