Heroica Cárdenas

October 6, 2021

There seemed to be a fire starting to burn at the local refinery when we arrived in La Venta yesterday and it was still burning strongly this morning. It seems that explosions are a regular occurrence at the refineries here, with deaths recorded almost every year.

View of the fire from four kilometers away at the point where we rejoined the R180.

Much of today's route was very flat and straight, running through the remnants of the ancient floodplain that was controlled by the Olmecas. It made for easy but very boring riding. The wide shoulder and the rumble strip between us and the traffic ensured we could safely allow our minds to wander and to keep a lookout for interesting birds in the wetlands.

Birding was good for the first thirty kilometers or so and we picked up a couple of new species.

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea). Lots of these today and the only shot I get is a bad one.

Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) - a strange bird related to cranes and rails. We had seen them in Uruguay last year.

Bare-throated Tiger-heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum). Two seen today.

We are staying at the very Hotel Madan in Cardenas. We have changed out plans once again and will tomorrow brave the R180 once more to Villa Hermosa where we plan to spend a few days.

Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 1,120 km (696 miles)

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