The bus took us through the countryside which seemed to be never ending palm, mango, and pineapple plantations. Our first stop was a gas station for a break. As I stood at the end of a long line of woman, gales of laughter erupted from the bathroom. I wondered if it there was no toilet paper (often a problem in Mexico) but no, it turned out one of the stalls had the smallest toilet ever! Obviously designed for little girls, the women on our bus laughed as they used it. There were no toilet seats so the squat method of peeing meant these ladies had further to squat. It seemed the tallest of our group landed in that cubicle. Originally, the salt of the Cuyutian Salt Flats was not used for food but for silver. Mexico is one of the largest producers of silver in the world and the Spanish used salt to process it. Today, the flats are a co-operative so the salinerios own the salt produced using the sun to evaporate the sea water. The flats are in a lagoon with a naturally high level of salinity. The salinerios pump this water into ponds lined with plastic. When the salt forms, they rake it into piles to dry. Most of the salt precipitates and falls to the bottom of the pond but some floats. This is skimmed off and sold as Fleur de Sel which supposedly is the best salt for those with high blood pressure. Most of the salt we saw piled beside the ponds was not fit to eat but was used to tan leather. Of course, Glen tasted it!
Our next stop was a fruit plantation. It was Sunday so the family were at church but allowed us to roam one of their service roads. Our guide, Hector, showed us the different fruits they grew --jackfruit, mangoes (flowering), and zapote. The zapote were not ready to harvest but the plantation owner allowed a few of us learn how to pick them using a knife and basket attached to a long pole. Glen had fun harvesting. Hector let us sample a ripe one and my piece was delicious. However, Glen received a slice that was not so ripe. He said it felt like all the water was sucked from his mouth. Definitely not tasty.
Another use Mexicans make of their hot sun, is drying bricks. They are made by hand which is back-breaking work. Once the bricks dry, they are baked in an oven created by piling bricks around a fire and sealing all the holes with wet clay. We saw they removing the outer clay to let the 'oven' cool before removing the finished bricks.Paradise Beach is a black sand beach and people were gathering for an 'after church' meal and swim. We enjoyed a 'snack' which was really a hearty lunch. Tortillas spread with guacamole and deep-fried tortilla cylinders filled with mashed potato served with lots of hot sauce. They even had our favourite beer, Victoria Lager. Afterwards we had time to wonder the town until we got too hot and returned to the air conditioned bus. While walking past the breakwater, a taxi pulled up with three 'amigos' crammed inside. They cradled a stand-up bass across their laps with the scroll sticking out the window. We started laughing as they scrambled out and they joined us. No need to speak Spanish!
See my photos here.
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