Acayucan - The eleventh step ... Los Africanos Perdidos - CycleBlaze

October 3, 2021

Acayucan

It gets light enough to ride safely from just after seven o'clock in the morning and today we hoped to be on the road by that time.  To that end I had set my alarm to go off at a quarter to six.  In the end that wasn't needed because loud and lusty noises from the couple in the room next door woke us up at four o'clock.  

There was a bit of thunder and lightning as we started getting ready to leave.  Just as I had started to load the bicycles a violent storm unleashed above us and we ended up leaving almost an hour later.

The storm also knocked out the hotel's Internet connection just as Leigh was trying to send some photo's to my mother.  This meant she received them after she gone to bed because they were only sent went we arrived at our destination later in the day.

Apart from the storm, there is nothing much to say about the ride apart from an enjoyable bit of birding.

Firstly we picked up some Black-bellied Whistling-ducks and pair of Northern Jacanas with chicks.  All quite far away so the photos weren't so good.

The best though was to come.  At about the eighteen kilometer mark we heard a loud grating call.  We stopped and looked up into the tree above us and there sat two Keel-billed Toucans.  When we had to cut our trip in South America short eighteen months ago we were cycling up to Iguazu where one of the objectives was to see Toucans.  So glad we saw them today, albeit a completely different species to what we would have seen in Argentina.

Black-bellied Whistling duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
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Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa)
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Scott AndersonWe saw one of these in Tucson last winter, an accidental well north of its normal range.
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2 years ago
Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus)
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Bill detail.
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The heavens opened again just as we reached our digs for the night in the town of Acayucan.  In contrast to the luxury we enjoyed over the past two nights we are back in a simple country hotel.

Tomorrow we hope to reach the Gulf of Mexico at Coatzacoalcos.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 926 km (575 miles)

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