Alamo was bad. The people were nice enough, but it was a mudpit and the hotel I stayed at was the worst one so far. I was out of there early the next morning. Thirty kilometers down the road, I was feeling weak. I noticed a town on my left with a statue of Christ with his arms spread, high on a hill overlooking the town; much like the one in Rio de Janeiro. Thinking maybe it’s time for a rest day, I turned into the town of Tihuatlan, “the place of beautiful women” in the Huasteca language.  I rode to the cabby stand and asked how to get to the zocalo and where the hotels are. The cabbies always know these things. I checked into a new hotel called “Montecasino” ($15usd) and slept all afternoon. When I woke I met Joseph, the owner of the hotel. He was very excited that I was there and said that he would like to give me a tour of the town tomorrow. He also got the staff to do my laundry. The next morning Joseph and his grandson, Miguel came and got me and we piled in Joseph’s pickup truck and rode up a steep road to “El Christo”. There was a nice breeze and a magnificent view of the town from the peak of the hill. Joseph tells me about the town and the statue and Miguel is serving as interpreter. Then we get back in the truck and ride to the municipal palace and we get out and walk around a bit. Joseph explains the meaning of some of the murals to me.  Then we ride to the church and to a cemetery. The gate to the cemetery was a beautiful arch with angels on either side of it. Back at the hotel, Joseph refuses any money for the tour “it’s compliments of the hotel Montecasino” he says with a smile. I ask him if any gringos live in Tihuatlan, and he replies “no and few visit here but that is only because they don’t know about it yet”. I tend to agree with him, I sense a lot of civic pride in Tihuatlan, and the hotel Montecasino was the best hotel I have stayed in so far. I stayed two nights.

Feeling revitalized, I got an early start and took the Veracruz autopista South bypassing the city of Poza Rica. I had forgotten what a good road was like. It had eight foot shoulders and little traffic. I got my ipod out for the first time this trip. The first song that came on was David Gilmour singing
“you say the hills too steep to climb”
“cliiiiiiiimbing”
“you say you’d like to see me try”
“cliiiiiiiimbing”
And so it went as I climbed hill after hill with picturesque scenery on each side of the road. The good times came to an end at the toll booth, then I was on the hwy 180 libre road; a winding road with no shoulder and lots of big truck traffic. It was a dangerous road. At one point they were working on the road and had set up some cones down the centerline; a big truck took out two of them while  making room for me. Behind the truck was a line of cars. Some guy in the fourth car hangs his head out the window and yells “be careful!” at me in English. The last car in the line was an ambulance and he beeped his horn and waved at me. It was like he was saying “I’ll be seeing you later”. I  relegated myself to pushing my bike on the dirt path on the side of the road for a while. Better to arrive late than to arrive dead. At Zamora the road forked and I took the flat 11k road to Tecolutla. It was exciting as I got closer to the beach.  The sea breeze and salt smell in the air; then I could hear the surf. Tecolutla is a beach resort for the Mexicans and this is the “off” season. There must be one hundred and fifty hotels and they are all empty. I find a good one near the beach with a pool, cable television, and internet close by.  My room is on the third floor and catches a great sea breeze. I think I’ll stay here a couple of days.