Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, Kirsten downloaded more photos for Beth and then we got ready to leave. After showering we did some
shopping at the supermarket and then drove up into the mountains heading further south towards Tuxtla.
It was a very steep, curvy road and there was a lot of fog, so we didn't get much of a view. We stopped at the
side of the road for a late lunch and then drove into Chiapas de Corzo. We had a look around the small central
square and asked about boat trips along the canyon. This is supposed to be spectacular and we were hoping to be
able to spend the night at the car park where the boat tours leave so that we could get on an early tour tomorrow.
We found the boat tour car park and there was no problem for us to park there overnight. We were sitting in Winnie,
with all the windows and skylights open as it was so hot. Then all of a sudden we heard a loud bang and crack and
felt Winnie shudder.
We knew that something had hit us but we weren't even parked under a tree. We saw an American football coming off
our roof and a boy about 10 to 15 years old chase after it. He grinned at us and ran off.
We darted outside and saw immediately what the problem was. Our front skylight was broken and a piece was missing.
The boy must have aimed at it on purpose, directly from the front otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hit it.
We went straight up to the family (6 adults plus the boy) and explained that there was a problem. For us it was a
major problem. We can't use Winnie with a broken skylight because as soon as it rains, we will get water damage to
the mattress. Plus, we know that we can't possibly get a replacement here in Mexico!
Big problem. The boys mother, at least, was sympathetic to our predicament but the rest of the family didn't want
to know. Eventually they said they would give us $20. We showed them a Campingworld brochure where it showed that
a replacement would cost $100 including labour costs.
We got out the ladder and Kirsten went up for a look. Then the father got up there and tried to take the skylight
off. We were shouting "No, no" but he put an even larger crack in it so that it was barely hanging on to its
attachment!!! (A great help, thanks very much!)
They started to get really insulting and angry and one of the older women (possibly an aunt) tried to give us a
plastic bag to fix the problem! Then they tried to leave. So Helen got a piece of paper and wrote down the two
registration numbers of the cars they were in. (They obviously had money because the cars were expensive and new.)
We finally talked to the parents alone - the others had already got in the cars and were waiting. We managed to
agree to $50. So we walked with them to the cars and the grandparents then really played their faces and were
shouting to the parents to get in the cars.
Both of us were desperately trying to stop them from getting away and as the parents broke away from us, Helen
ran to the drivers side of one car, leant in through the open window and tried to grab the keys. The grandfather
immediately slammed his foot on the accelerator and sped off with Helen still half in the window!!!
We were extremely angry. And we were left with a real problem on our hands.
At the time we had been cooking rice to make a Chinese, but fortunately Kirsten had switched it off in between.
So we quickly packed everything away and drove off. We stopped at a police station but there was no one there who
could speak English. Then we drove !0 miles (15km) to the next big town - Tuxtla Guttierrez - and in the dark we
managed to find the Tourist Information office which was still open at 7pm.
They were really helpful and we managed to find someone who spoke English. We told him what had happened and that
we had the registration numbers of the cars. Then he translated everything to their legal expert who went through
all the options available to us.
Unfortunately, it didn't help. If we want to sue for criminal damage then we have to have an address in Mexico.
Then it will take 4 to 6 weeks and we will have to return (which would cost more than the damage!) Plus we need
independent witnesses - there were lots of people around, including two men from the boat tour operation who were
also swearing at us and waving their arms at us, as if the whole thing was our fault!! So the chances of us finding
anyone who will be on our side, is less than zero!
But the people from the tourist office offered to come with us to the police station to translate for us and it
would take at least 3-4 hours to make a report.
So basically, we can't sue these people and we can't find out where they live. The question was whether our insurance
needs a police report or not, otherwise there was no point wasting 3-4 hours at the police station.
So we were allowed to park outside the tourist info place for the night where there is 24 hour security and we could
then phone our insurance in the morning to find out what they need. It was after 8-30pm when we left the tourist
office and we were really hungry. We didn't want to cook Chinese anymore, so we got pizza and chips from a
supermarket and then parked up outside the tourist office for the night.
We didn't sleep much because we were still angry about what had happened. On Tuesday we phoned up the insurance
who told us not to bother making a report to the police. They would accept our word about what happened but our
policy states that we have to pay the first $100 of any claim. The repairs will only cost $90! So there's no point
making a claim anyway. At least it saved us the trouble of reporting it to the police.
Fortunately the tourist office showed us where there was a fibreglass workshop so we took the skylight in and came
back 3 hours later to fix it back on. (It still leaks, as we found out a few days later when we drove through
torrential rain!)
So we missed going to the spectacular canyon - we didn't want to park Winnie there in case we were recognised and
even more damage was done - and it cost us a lot of time to get things sorted out. Finally, at 12-30pm we drove out
of Tuxtla and went to a children's home called Hogar Infantil where we stayed for three nights.
An American, Nich Anderson began feeding street kids in Mexico's poorest state in 1963. Supported by other foreign
tourists, his work quickly grew into a children's home - Hogar Infantil. The home is solely funded by donations and
there is space for 120 children but at the time we were there, there were only 80 as the donations decreased last
year.
The children are in a big family and certainly are well looked after. A quarter are orphans and all the children were
destitute, abandoned or abused before they were taken in. They are taught practical skills, work on the vegetable
garden and look after the pigs, chickens and sheep that share the grounds! They are also provided with good education
and a number of the children have since become lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers and come back to the home to
help out at weekends and act as role models for the other children.
Take a look at their website where you can also find out how to make a donation:
www.hogarinfantil.org
We enjoyed our three days there and showed the children our photos on our website. We also gave impromptu English
lessons and learned a bit more Spanish in the process. We also watched as the sheep tried to make there escape
through the front gates and some of the children came out to get them back! It didn't stop the sheep from trying
again and again though!
One morning, we got woken up at 6am by a bird who had decided to perch on one of Winnie's wing mirrors and then
chirped his heart out. He certainly liked looking at himself in the mirror but he also left us various deposits!
We also managed to watch the last thirty minutes of Mexico v Panama (1-1 final score) in the World Cup qualifiers on
the TV in the home. We missed Mexico's goal but saw the goal of the Century by Panama!! Corner ball, chested down by
player in box, onto his knees. Still with his back to the goal he kneed the ball twice (once with each knee) and
without letting the ball touch the floor he drop kicked it backwards, into the top right hand corner of the goal!
Superb. The Mexican children were not impressed!!
We spent most of the time working on the computer and trying to get up to date with our website. On Friday, we gave
some of our paperbacks to one of the people who worked there and thanked them. Then we drove towards Oaxaca and went
through a massive rainstorm - we were leaking water through our alcove window and both skylights!! The rain was so
bad that we had to pull over and wait as we couldn't see to drive!
Then we turned onto a mountain road and because there wasn't a Pemex on the way, we pulled over and parked up at the
side of a restaurant for the night and went for a meal there.
On Saturday, we drove off and immediately thought we had a flat tyre. We pulled over and saw that a large stone had
got wedged between our dual tyres at the back. It was stuck fast and a man came by and helped us bang it out with
hammers and sticks. It took 15 minutes and then we were on our way again.
We drove through the hills with great views into the canyon below and then made the mistake of following hand painted
signs to Hierve El Agua (petrified waterfalls) that we wanted to see. These signs started on a brand new highway so
we thought a new road had been built to the waterfalls. But the road soon ended and then the signs took us onto a
gravel road which wasn't the best, and through a town.
Outside the town, and still on gravel, the road suddenly went steeply uphill with switchbacks that were getting more
and more severe. We honestly don't know how we made it up there without having to get out and push! We had to wait at
the top for about 20 minutes as a bulldozer was levelling off the road. The road was obviously still being built!
Unfortunately, on the way down the other side, the road was just loosed dirt and gravel and we knew that Winnie would
not be able to get a grip on such a loose surface to get back up on the way out. So we would have to find a different
way out.
It took us 90 minutes to drive 16 miles! But it was well worth it because the petrified waterfalls are like nothing
we have ever seen before. We spent over 2 hours walking around and under the falls, with great views into the valley
and the desert that was in bloom after the recent rain.
Hierve El Agua.
We spent the night on the car park and Kirsten got up early to get shots of the falls at sunrise. Then we left and
found the other road out. We had to wait 30 minutes for a man with the padlock key to come and remove the chain from
across the road and then we had to pay 10 Pesos to get out!! But at least the road was a lot better.
On the way to Oaxaca, we stopped at the ruins of Mitla and then went to see the biggest tree in the world - the
trunk's circumference is 174ft (58m) and is 126ft high (42m). It dwarfs the 17th century church behind it.
We got to Oaxaca by 2pm and spent 4 hours wandering around the streets and looking at various churches. We also
wanted to deliver a CD to Maria whom we met in San Cristóbal last weekend. She didn't have her camera with her during
the Easter celebrations in the town and asked if we could send her some of ours. We found out that she lives in Kiel,
Germany but is staying in Oaxaca with family. We got her address in Oaxaca and said we would bring her a CD with our
photos on it.
We knocked on her door several times during the afternoon but there was no answer. That evening we had been told
about a free piano concert that started at 6pm. We missed the first 45 minutes because we forgot that the clocks had
gone forward!! But what we did hear was very good.
We parked Winnie around the corner from where Maria was staying so that we could stay the night and hoped that we
would be able to deliver the CD.
