Jalcomulco – a lucky coincidence for us

How did we find the way to Jalcomulco although we had entered a completely different place about 20km away from it in our satnav for most of the time? Originally, we wanted to have a look at a small village, but it turned out to be rather a collection of 5 houses and the roads are so bad that it is not accessible for us with Ben. A quick change of plan or better said the reversion to the plan “no plan” is announced. Without further ado we decide to drive to the next bigger village Jalcomuco.
We chug through the whole village and quickly realize: This is the Mexico we want to see! Small colorful houses are lined up closely, decorated with partly fancy murals. Everywhere friendly faces and a sociable society.
A little outside the village at a river we have found a spot to camp in an app, which we want to head for. Mimi is a bit skeptical from the beginning, because in the comments to the place it is written of washed-out road and needed 4×4. Of course, we try it anyway. However, when the road comes into sight, which leads from the village down to the river, also Paddy has to admit that this will probably be not a good idea. In addition, there is a lot of water at this time of the year, the riverbed is filled to the brim – accordingly, the place may not even be dry and passable.

We stop briefly at the roadside to discuss how to proceed and where to sleep. The window of the house opposite opens and a friendly gentleman asks us if he can help us. When we explain our situation in bumpy Spanish, he even comes out and tells us about exactly the place we are looking for at the river. On Mimi’s question if we can get there with THIS car, he takes a look at our Ben and shakes his head, but wishes us good luck with the search.
So, we experience the Mexicans almost everywhere, super nice and helpful, but sometimes quite chaotic and unreliable, which shows the time in Veracruz.

But with a short look behind the house we already find our place. A dead-end street, which leads to a sports field and is wide enough that one can still comfortably drive through next to our parked car. We put our Ben in the best night parking position for us and ask the next gentleman if it is okay to stay here overnight: Si, si claro. No problem at all. As long as one more car comes through, everything is fine.

We take a walk through the village and quickly realize that there is tourism here, but only river rafting and that these tourists are rarely seen in the village. So, it is not surprising that the two girls at the cash register in the corner store, where we buy vegetables for our evening meal, giggle loudly about us two tourists.

The village itself is nice to walk through, but a highlight is probably especially the suspension bridge over the wide, currently rushing, river. In the evening it is illuminated with hundreds of small lights.
Here we enjoy a cold beer, before it goes back to our Ben and dinner.

Thank you Jalcomulco for showing us another side of Mexico after the chaotic, noisy and crowded Veracruz!

However, we see another facet here, of which we have already experienced some glimpses on the trip and which surprises us somewhat.

The gap between rich and poor is enormous. The poorest have practically nothing. We have already experienced such poverty on our Southeast Asia trip. For reasons such as significantly higher literacy, better education, and higher median wages in Mexico, we imagined that poverty would not be quite so glaring. The idea that people in the next countries we will travel to will be even poorer is difficult for us to grasp at the moment.