CORDOBA to VERA CRUZ and CATEMACO: Brief stop by the zocalo (city centre in all Mexican cities and villages) of CORDOBA in the morning for Christine who wouldn't miss one zocalo in Mexico for anything… and then off to… VERA CRUZ: A name that rings an exotic bell to everyone. Once a major seaport and shipyard in the Caribbean, it is today just a mildly pleasant first stop by the sea. Not much to see other than the ships, the harbour, the imposing lighthouse building and the colonial city hall... So we move on to the commercial area just south of VERA CRUZ and stop at the great symbol of US influence in Mexico: Wall Mart (the kids love that shop… the kids include Dad of course…) We are uncertain at this point whether we will go into Chiapas as originally planned because of recent disturbances by the Zapatistas. We have a day to loose to adapt to the revised schedule designed to avoid Chiapas, as planned in our initial schedule. So we decide to ignore the main routes and highways, and waste some time exploring the coast on side-roads from VERA CRUZ to CATEMACO. We drive through BOCA DEL RIO and on to the LAGUNA DE AVARADO separated from the sea by a small pass that we cross over a very modern and beautiful hanging bridge. The photos of fishing boats are taken from the bridge… This part of Mexico is Cigar country. We visit several cigar shops and get a quick look at the cigar factories. Difficult to resist... We decide not to... resist that is... We stop for the night in CATEMACO by a lake known for its island full of "imported" monkeys. We have a pleasant dinner in a restaurant by the lake, and spend a rather noisy night listening to the trucks cruise by our badly insulated hotel room…

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